So proud!

Disclaimer: not a parent but an aunt!I am so proud of my nephew who I will call Nugget for the sake of this post.Nugget is 11 years old and will be going to high school after the summer. For any kid this is a massive step and is scary and exciting and overwhelming. For Nugget, this transition is going to be even more difficult due to his severe ADHD and recently diagnosed Autism. This boy is the light of my life and hasn't got a bad bone in his body but he struggles with social appropriateness, excessive energy and impulsive behaviour.One of the things that he's really found hard despite lots of encouragement is going to the toilet on his own (as in he needs to have someone stand outside the door at home etc, not that he needs physical help to use the toilet) and everytime I take him out somewhere, he insists that he has to use the girls bathrooms rather than the boys because obviously I can't follow him into the boys bathroom. Now he's getting older, this was starting to worry me and the rest of our family because it's not really socially acceptable for a boy of his age or older to continue to do this (it doesn't help that he's also very tall for his age).Anyway! Today me and Nugget went to play mini golf and at the end, we both went to the toilet. It's been a few weeks since I took him out anywhere so I wasn't expecting this when it happened... Nugget walked into the boys bathroom on his own without a word, did his stuff and came back out no hesitation.I was gobsmacked and said "Nugget, you just went in there on your own... I've not seen you do that before!"He said "I'm getting older now, I have to"I gave him a massive hug and told him that I'm so proud of him and that he should be proud of himself... Then gave him another even bigger hug!When I pulled away, he gave me the biggest smile, a kiss on the cheek and then another massive grin and said "yeah, I am!"It's a little thing for so many kids but for him this is massive and I'm just so happy. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2HBv8AE