Do you ever feel like me ?
I'm a parent .... I created another name for myself on this website becaused I'm embaressed.
I'm a mother of 2...the 3 yr old is gettin over a fever that has lasted over 3 days...doctor says it's just a virus. Fine. My aspie son, 6 yrs old is bouncin off the walls by now because I've had to devote alot of time to his younger brother.
I've taken away the Pirates of the Caribean plastic blow up sword from the aspie son and takien it in my hands and torn it in half. He's been hitting everything he could find until then with it.,,, including his brother, I had had enough ! !! ! My aspie son has a tendency to find joy in taking sticks and the such and banging them against anything he can find.
I love our boys so much....it hurts me to see him (aspie one) hammerin away at everything with plastic swords etc when my husband and I have shown so much support and unrestricted (for lack of a better word) love towards him.
If I had a deck of cards right now, I'de love to toss them in the air ! !! !
nobodyzdream
Veteran
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,267
Location: St. Charles, MO-USA
a bit off topic... what are you embarrassed about? (re: changing your nick)
My son is like that-he will randomly hit things. He doesn't do it constantly, but he gets really excited/anxious over things and starts up. It seems he doesn't know how to react to the majority... well, who am I kidding, lol-he doesn't know how to react appropriately to anything at all, and I don't know how to explain it to him either, lol. He jumps all over the couch no matter how many times I tell him to stop, he pulls on the curtains, he hits his sister randomly, he spits on things, he hits things a lot, he knocks things over, he throws things... and the list just keeps going.
It really seems to be he just doesn't have much sense of self-control at all. When I ask him why he does these things, he can never answer, he just says "I don't know" and I genuinely believe him, lol, so I don't say a ton about it. I also have this as well (confirmed now) and wind up overanalyzing the entire situation altogether, and let him out of some punishments (I have a really big problem with this, and I'm sure he takes plenty of advantage of it and I'm just a bit naive when he is just simply taking advantage, lol) due to overthinking. I catch myself thinking "if he can't control it, honestly, why is he getting in trouble for it? If it was impulsive and not planned, how can I honestly be upset with him for it when I tend to do the same types of things?"
I dunno, I'd think it's fairly common-but I've also never had any exposure to other situations really besides my own, lol, so I tend to think it's like this for everyone with their child (even though I know it's not, I just can't fathom how much different it could be or just can't put myself in someone else's shoes in my mind). I've removed every single toy out of my son's room before because he was just being horrendous, it didn't phase him one bit. He talked to his shadow instead of breaking things or throwing them
His hitting things with implements is something that's been going on for a long time. He'll pick up a stick at the park or on a walk and stare at it for a while then start waving it around in the air like he's going to hit something w/it. I know all kids probably do that once in a while, but it's pretty much known by experience that he'll do tis daily.
One Easter after church, he and his younger brother were playing with their puppy in the back yard. I was changing into some more comf.clothing when I heard this shreiking yelping cry...it was our puppy...my son had p/up a large rock and ( my dad says, he couldn't get to him in time to stop it, but he saw what happened) held it over the puppy he very much loves, and dropped it from his grip. Thank god it didn't land on the pups head...it broke his foot though...a very costly repair job by the way.
I guess I just get embaressed because I often times feel all alone and this is a place (WP) that I can let it all out. Thanks.
nobodyzdream
Veteran
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,267
Location: St. Charles, MO-USA
I hear ya-RL is much more different people are way more judgemental, and if they haven't dealt with these things and know nothing about the urges and all that we tend to get, and that our children get to just... do things, then they start looking at the parents immediately. It's really frustrating that they don't realize not all situations can just be taken at face value, and maybe they should bother to find out what is going on before making a snap decision that so-and-so is a horrible parent just because they see something out of the ordinary when they go into the back yard...
That's scary about him hitting the puppy. My son puts pillows over his sister's head and will lay on them occasionally. I have to go physically pull him off of her, and when I ask him why he did it, he just says "I don't know-I was trying to play with her". But when I tell him the severity of what could happen, he just doesn't quite get it It's really hard, and I'm horrible at not being longwinded when I speak, so he also tends to lose focus on what I'm saying and his mind wanders onto another topic while I am still talking.
He's not allowed to close room doors or anything when he is playing with her anymore, and I check every 5-10 minutes to make sure nothing is going on. I'm also in there instantly if it gets too quiet. Luckily she is very vocal and comes running to me all of the time, lol, or she is telling him exactly what she thinks of him (in gibberish) even when he isn't doing anything to her, lol.
I'm hoping he grows out of it, but am not entirely sure what to do until then. When he has anything he could hurt someone with-a stick, a toy, even a toy gun that shoots balls or anything, I take it away instantly, as I can see what is going to happen before he even starts playing with it usually, lol. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.
nobodyzdream
Veteran
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,267
Location: St. Charles, MO-USA
yeah, my son really has no reason for it, and doesn't know why he does it... I'm thinking it's an impulsive thing. I was doing the opposite when I was little-overly cautious and not wanting to interact with people at all. So it is an odd difference between he and I, and sparks more confusion I think.
The stick thing is a developmental stage that your son hasn't dropped yet. Unless it interferes with other activities, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
As far as hurting goes, that's serious. Dropping a rock on a dog is very, very serious. I would immediately tell him the consequences of torturing animals and children, which is jail. People who seriously hurt others face going to jail and losing their family forever. I have said that to my son to let him know just how serious it is. I don't care what the age.
Children that don't learn that soon enough become very dangerous and can get pulled out of the home. Autism isn't a violent condition, autistics just need to be taught differently.
I would also suggest sending the puppy to a safe home.
My neighbor next door has 4 kids, and I have 3. Out of the 7 of them, only 1 is clearly not on the sectrum, my 3yo, who does have a lot of sensory integration problems, though. Believe me, my friend and I spend most of our days telling our kids (b/c they play together ALL day, running back and forth until they start fighting and we have to send them to their respective homes) why the game they were playing is inappropriate. They literally do not see the danger or consequences of their actions unless you explain them to them logically adn tehy think it through. THen they move on to finding something else fun, yet dangerous to do.
My husband and I go to ToysRUs regularly to buy more foam swords there b/c we'd rather they whack each other w/ fairly safe foam swords than do other dangerous things, like leap from the top bunk, barely missing the 1 year old baby, or putting pillows on each others' heads and sitting on them (very popular here as well. I wonder what is is about suffocating your friends/siblings that's so attractive?)
I understand your frustration and your impulsive act of ripping up the sword in a fit of rage. But, my advice would be to buy some of those foam swords I talked about and tell him what he is and isn't allowed to hit with them. It's very hard to hurt each other with them. My dh usually puts goggle (safety glasses, swim goggle, whatever you can fine) on the littler ones b/c they're more liekly to be whacked in the face. Make sure to explain to him logically what might happen if he hits something he isn't supposed to as a reason for WHY he shouldn't hit it. ANd I don't mean like b/c you'll send him to his room, I mean like "You can't hit the counter in the kitchen b/c you might knock over a glass or bowl, etc, and then we'd have broken glass everywhere and you might cut your feet and bleed a lot." They need THAT kind of explanation for it to really sink in. I know because I'm an aspie myself and if rules didn't make sense, I doidn't follow them until I found out why they were there (i.e when they finally made sense, because either something bad happened or someone finally explained to me why there was such a rule.)
KimJ, I think sending the pup away to another home is over reacting. Many valuable lessons were learned that day....TRUST me ! !
Everyone who has replied thus far, soooooo appreciate your input..keep it coming. We have purchased the soft swords for them to play with, but, I do know that Aspies need more literal explanation of why something they do may hurt themselves or others...for example, (as wendythewierd points out), "not because you'll end up in time out...but because when you're swinging that stick around like that, you could poke your brother's eye out and then he'd cry and have only one eye left ! !!" Anyway, you all know what I mean.
Similar Topics | |
---|---|
Feel bad for not being an extrovert |
27 Nov 2024, 6:08 pm |
Feel like I'm doing something wrong |
08 Jan 2025, 2:47 pm |
Always feel I have to disclose diagnoses
in Bipolar, Tourettes, Schizophrenia, and other Psychological Conditions |
24 Oct 2024, 4:08 pm |
Feel like the only one with little time for dating apps |
08 Jan 2025, 6:12 pm |