Parenting is full of incidents that make you laugh, make you cry, and sometimes make you laugh and cry at the same time. Since parenting a child on the spectrum is filled with countless tearful moments – I live for the laughter-filled moments.

As I’ve mentioned in a recent post, Ethan is has just begun soccer; his first practice was earlier this week. From experience, I’ve learned how important it can be to “prepare” Ethan for new situations. So, for a couple of weeks I’ve been priming him with many details about the game of soccer, about special rules, about his new coach, his teammates names, gear for the game…really anything and everything pertinent that I felt would help him feel more comfortable when we arrived for our first team practice. After all of my thoughtful preparations, when we drove up to the field, I couldn’t help but feel that Ethan (who was decked out in his new cleats, shin guards and soccer socks), and I (I’m going to be the Assistant Coach), were ready!

Our first practice day fell on one of the windiest days imaginable. The soccer balls were actually blowing across the fields at times because the wind was so strong. As such, we all spent a lot of time squinting and chasing balls. That, I expected. For that, I was prepared.

What I didn’t expect, was the effect the wind would have on Ethan and the life lesson we would have to learn right there – right then – with no “priming” on the soccer field!

About a quarter of the way through practice, while we were running a shooting drill with the boys, I look over to find Ethan bending over at the waist with a foot-long trail of snot streaming through the air. So, I make myself wait, like the patient mother I want to be, for him to take care of it and move on so that he can have his shot at the goal. After several seconds (which felt like minutes), while everyone is waiting on Ethan, I realize that the mucus issue is not resolving itself (still connected to his nose and blowing in the wind). On top of that Ethan wasn’t sure what to do about it!

In the days since our practice, I’ve come to realize that a highly germ-phobic society with parents and teachers who work so hard day-in-day-out to teach kids “proper” nose-blowing manners, paired with a child who has successfully worked through a near-OCD germ-phobia/hand-washing issue of his own (or so I thought) – this is what happens. Ethan was stuck. (I should add that my purse which typically includes Kleenexes was intentionally left in my car so that my hands would be free to shag balls and coach.) My 8-year-old boy who thrives on structure and rules was stuck on a windy soccer field with stringy snot, no tissue and no idea of how to proceed!

It is not (‘snot) funny…or is it?

My first thought was: “Gross! Just take care of it!” But then I had to stop and consider what I have taught Ethan about blowing his nose over the years…have I taught him to lean over the grass, plug one nostril and blow quick and hard, stop, and repeat on the other side while trying to keep the goop off of himself, his hands and his clothes (like all the boys I used to play soccer with knew to do)? NO! I have taught him to find a Kleenex, blow his nose using several (if needed), throw them away and wash his hands promptly. That was Nose Blowing 101…there was no Nose Blowing 102, 103 or 104.

Hmmmm. So, what’s a Spectrum Mom/Assistant Coach to do? Several yards away, her soon is frozen, not knowing how to proceed with the crazy long snot blowing in the wind (but miraculously still connected to his nose)…I’d like to say I taught him to do what the other boys do. I’d like to say that it was a piece of cake and he handled it like a dream and I have no concerns about this ever happening again.

I’d like to, but I won’t.

The truth is, I instructed Ethan to wipe it off with his hand and wipe it on his shorts! When he didn’t – or more appropriately wouldn’t – I did it for him. Yes, yes I did! In the heat of the moment, I mistakenly thought it would be a one-time issue that we could talk about in the car on the way home and come up with a plan for “next time”. Little did I know we would have several more mucus incidents throughout our first practice – with no tissues in sight. (Apparently Ethan has allergies this spring that he didn’t last spring; I did not see this coming.)

The next time I saw Ethan distracted by snot, hunched over waiting for the wind to carry his mess away, I tried to instruct him to wipe it away and wipe his hands in the grass. Well, that almost worked. Almost.

Except, instead of using the grass, Ethan used the dirt in patches throughout the grass…you can imagine how that turned out.

By that point, frustrated and disgusted as I was, I realized how stinking funny the whole scenario truly was. In all these 8 years of teaching Ethan the “proper” way to handle himself (and his snot) never did it once occur to me that our first soccer practice would end up being such a primitive life lesson. This weekend when Ethan and I have a 1:1 soccer practice together – I’m going to address the snot issue…I’m going to teach him how to snort it out (fast and quick) into the grass like a true soccer star.

The moral of this story (if there is one): Snot Happens. Teach your kids to deal with it. (And then laugh about it!)

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Leigh Attaway Wilcox is a writer and editor for the projectLD family of companies. Leigh is Assistant Editor of the internationally acclaimed AutismSpot.com and her work can be found on many of the pLDNetworks sites. Leigh is the author of ALL BETTER: A Touch-and-Heal Book published by Piggy Toes Press in 2007. Leigh lives in North Texas with her husband and young son who loves reading, LEGOs, Mario Bros. and also happens to live with Asperger's Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Disorder.