Fragile X Awareness

Our neighborhood has a great event every year for National Night Out.  We gather in the cul-de-sac  in the middle of our street and everyone brings a dish to pass.  We bring our lawn chairs and sit down and eat dinner together, chatting with old neighbors and meeting new ones.  Kids ride bikes and scooters and draw with sidewalk chalk.  It's a good time and I appreciate seeing all the neighbors I might not have run into during the year.  Especially since my daughter probably sees them much more often than I do.

This year, sometime during the afternoon before the event, it dawned on me that this was a great opportunity for creating a little Fragile X awareness.  The boys aren't outside as much as other kids their age, since I can't just let them run around like other 5 year olds might.  I try to take them for walks and to the neighbors houses to visit whenever we have the chance, both for their social benefit and so people can see them and get to know them.  But they just aren't as visible as most of the kids on our street.

I created a simple, two-sided card, made about 20 copies, and put them out on the table with the sign-up sheet, the fire prevention brochures, the if-your-child-should-get-lost information, and the police department magnets.

I think a couple of people took them, but a lot of them were left on the table at the end of the event.  Connie, the wonderful neighbor who arranges the whole thing, said she'd keep them and put them out again next year.   I guess if just one or two people who didn't know what Fragile X was before took them, it was worth it.