The Greater Good

There are many times when doing things with Darin is an exercise in determining "The Greater Good". Take for example walking into a building. Darin is always very interested in being independent and opening doors for himself - or pushing the handicap button to make the door open for him. But at times, the door can be very cumbersome and can cause a five-year old some struggles. He is always very determined to do it himself. So, the circumstances might arise when his determination creates a log jam of people waiting for Darin. The Greater Good? Do I hope the people behind us will be understanding or do I upset Darin and force him to go inside giving myself about 5 minutes of attempting to calm him down afterwards?

In an ideal world (or at least my ideal world), I would always be able to do what is best for Darin. But this isn't an ideal world. Sometimes I can't be that selfish. And sometimes the situation gets even worse when a very helpful stranger tries to lend a hand. How do you explain to a complete stranger that you appreciate their help in the situation, but they just made a difficult situation worse by trying to help? Usually, I just find myself saying thank you while I try to take Darin to the side so he can have "his turn" in a minute. And I've become very skilled at learning covert ways of opening doors without Darin's knowledge. I learn many interesting and unique skills in my quest for "the greater good".