Are you attached to your family?

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I'm curious about the relation people have with their family members. In relation to this I am also curious about the knowledge about autism within the families.

I can start with myself. Since my parents split up about 9 years ago I have lost some connection with closest family. I currently live abroad by myself, studying. Once every 14th day I speak with my dad over the phone. I rarely speak with my mother, and never with my sister, only the occasional text message. I have some older half-siblings and an uncle I have seen maybe 5-6 times the last 8 years. I have some cousins I don't even know the name of. No grandparents alive.

I don't think I have that much contact with my family, what about the rest of you?

I am sometimes.

I talk to my mom a few times a week, whether it being on the phone, email or on facebook. My stepdad, i don't talk to much unless we go over to their house. My sister, i rarely talk to, even though she is in my parent's house. My brother i rarely talk to either. I have/had no problem with them. I feel uncomfortable around my sister and brother. My sister doesn't get me and had a huge blowup about how she feels she doesn't have a sister anymore and blamed my bf for controlling me (yeah right, i wear the pants, but only if i feel the need to). She has made it worse and has caused tension in the family. I don't even like going over there now cause she is there.

If i had it my way, moving close to family was a mistake. Id like to be across the country again like it use to be.

I feel a sense of obligation toward them. I have difficulty with emotional attachment. I engage in activities with them and perform the socially required gestures (presents, attending events important to them, etc...)

My parents divorced in 2003. I see my father once a month or so (he lives an hour away). I see my mother at least once a week (she desired a weekly meal together) and she calls and texts me often (too often for my taste).

I am attached in a "they are mine" kind of way. I would do virtually anything for them, but I lack the emotion behind the actions.

I talk (phone and email) to my parents regularly. We live in different states. I'm an only child. I email my step-dad occasionally. My step-mom and I only email for things like my asking for ideas for dad for Christmas.

I consider myself close to my family. I do try to email other family members often even if they won't reply.

My family is spread out and sometimes I can go for years without seeing or talking with one of them. However, when we do see each other we can pick where we left off with no trouble. Everyone in my family is special interest oriented and conversation is always easy. We wasted enough time bickering as children so we don't waste time with it now. We are all really bad about keeping up with each other via phone or letter in the interim though, since everyone is focused on their own life.

I like my family but i dunno, I wouldn't say i'm attached.

Are you attached to your family?

Zero, Zip and Zilch.....for as many decades.

sadly which this is unfortunte i dont have a relationship with anybody to me they are my caregivers, for some like my bf i like having him around al lot hes also my jungle gym and helps me out a lot but i dont have a real relationship like i should, my mother is my self help doer weird but she does all the help i cant do, sometimes i wake up and cant put two and two together that she is my mother not jus a caregiver, i cant, i dont even call her mother or mom her name is her first name. my brother is like another person i pass by everyday except we share some jokes and share history behind it. with my father too it was like that, now However with my brother who died, i had a connection with him and really loved him, felt it too, that i cry if i talk about him, when i couldnt speak he would write notes under my door saying he loved me, he would lay next to me and whisper he loved me in my ears, he knew i hated loud noises, he knew i couldnt speak but could read words and he would explain the words love what it means when i feel his big bear hug. He was the only one who also didnt hurt me, never yelled at me, and was always gentle. Other then that no real relationship with anybody sadly not even in my family.

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

I don't talk to my family even though i live at home i don't have any feelings towards them or anyone.

I live at home but I barely speak with my family. I do speak to my parents a bit but only a few minutes a day. I never speak to my brother or sister and by never I mean never. I don`t mind my brother but he is like me introverted and does his own thing. And well I just hate my sister and I hope to never see her again once I move out.(will probably be forced to see her for holidays and things like that but outside of that I will never go see her)
I don't feel like if I should like or anything like that just because she is family. I hate everyone else who is like that so why should I like her?

I've kept a 600-mile "buffer zone" between us for the past 25 years.

That has worked out well for the past 25 years too.

Not that I dislike them (too much), but they can be bossy and overwhelming (esp. in numbers), and I need my space.

I keep in contact with my mother and make sure my boys have all the relationship they want with her. I used to be very close to my mother in a freind sort of way. However the older I get the less I feel I have in common with her. I don't know if it is me who has changed or her but I suspect it's her.

She and my father live about 3 hours away so when we see her we stay for a couple of days. If my father was not with my mother I would go to go to great lenghts to stay away from him. My mother is the only person I know that can say 1 nice word about him and some times she cannot manage it either. LOL We would possibly live closer together and see my mother more if it was not for my father, he is very hard to deal with and unpredictable around my kids.

Other than that I have no desire to have anything to do with the rest of my family. I didn't even feel like one of them as a child. I have 4 brothers 3 of which have families. One of them had another child over 12 months ago and I have never even seen him, despite being secretly interested. Poor little thing cannot help it that he was born to the parents he has LOL.

My brothers all live at least 3 hours away from me. The only reason I know anything about them is because my mother insists on keeping me filled in.

I have a grandmother still alive that I was very close to as a child and lived with while at Uni...... when not living on campus. Since becoming an adult and relaising how evil she is capapble of being I have had no contact with her. I have extended family like my mothers Aunt and another Uncle I have seen more and feel closer to than my own family. However because their age and infirmity I have not been in contact with them for years.

We have had no contact with my husbands large family since his mother died about 4 years ago.

So no other than my mother I do not have contact with my family and am just fine with that.

Most of my parents and siblings are at least an 8-hour drive away. I know that I don't call my mother often enough (I'm doing really well if I can remember to call once every couple of weeks). I forget birthday cards almost all of the time. I can't remember the last time I talked with my brother over the phone or in person. In fact, I hardly ever think about any of them unless they are somehow directly a part of my immediate day. It is probably related to some of my executive functioning issues.

My wife and son, however... I think about them almost constantly.

Perhaps a little too much. First off, I'm 24 and at home, which is bad. And I've always been too reliant on my mom (I live with my dad though) for support and help.

This is quite interesting. I thought I was alone with being disconnected from my family. I forgot to mention in my post that in my family there is no knowledge about autism.

Maybe we'd been better off being raised the same way as K-paxians (for those who have seen the movie).