Being a father is never easy, especially when your son is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.

That’s the situation National Journal columnist Ron Fournier faced with his son Tyler and documented in his second book, “Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent’s Expectations.”

Fournier spoke about his book at a Nov. 17 event hosted by Urban Air at the Legacy Center in Oxford and organized by Kingsbury Country Day School in Addison Township.

The book chronicles Ron and Tyler’s many road trips together to the homes and libraries of former presidents, as a way for father and son to bond over Tyler’s love of presidential history.

Fournier is a journalist who covered politics and the presidency during the administrations of U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He and his family have moved back to their hometown of Detroit and Fournier now serves as associate publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business.

At the event, he shared his uniquely personal stories and memories with an audience of more than 50 people. His stories included the times when Tyler met former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

During each of those visits, Fournier watched as his son struggled to meet social norms.

Despite those struggles, Tyler connected with both presidents almost immediately. He had a passionate conversation about polar bears and former President Teddy Roosevelt with Clinton and a moving conversation with Bush, which inspired the former president to remind Fournier to “love that boy.”

It was these successes which helped quell Fournier’s fears that Tyler’s differences would keep him from connecting with others, and reminded him that his son has his own unique perspectives to offer the world and others.

Fournier recounted what his relationship with Tyler taught him about parents’ expectations and the role of a father in a son’s life.

Fournier said, through his experiences, he learned some lessons about parenting, including the importance of setting aside personal baggage and the power of presence and being there for one’s child.

“There are a lot of lessons I learned (highlighted) in this book,” Fournier told the audience. “But one (lesson) was, we want our kids to be geniuses. We want them to be popular. We want them to have successful careers. We want them to follow our education paths. And I realized that all of us parents have expectations for our kids – not just the ones that have a disability.

“We want them to be happy, whatever that means. And the problem is, those expectations, if they’re misplaced, don’t just shape our kids. They can misshape our kids,” Fournier said.

While Fournier said he initially struggled to accept his son’s differences, through the guidance of his wife, Lori Fournier, and through watching his son connect in a positive way with the former presidents, he was able to reach acceptance – a phase which he hopes other parents will attain with their children.

“We should all love our kids,” Ron said. “We should love them because of their differences. I love Tyler because he’s off-the-charts smart, I love Tyler because he’s incapable of lying, I love Tyler because he’s the sweetest soul you ever want to meet. I love Tyler because he’s exactly the gift that I was given.”

After the event, Ron and Lori opened the floor for a discussion with the audience and exchanged stories and lessons with other parents facing similar challenges.

Proceeds from the event were donated to the Banbury Cross Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Metamora, which specializes in giving horseback-riding lessons to students with physical and cognitive challenges in order to help them grow emotionally and improve their overall physical fitness.