Parenting Relationships

The relationships between autistic children and their parents can be very challenging. Sometimes the autistic child will not approve of what the parents are trying to do to to have them live a life like a typical child their age would and could give them a hard time. Other times the child may disconnect themselves from their parents (both socially and emotionally) by always wanting to do their own thing rather than their parents including them in something special such as fun activities and going to special exciting areas.

Another factor could be the parents not fully understanding the state of their child’s autism and thus leaving them feel like they’re unable to do anything to help out their child in order to lead a better life.

However all is not lost. The parents will have to do plenty of looking into the autism spectrum disorder with lots of research from articles, documentaries and hearing about what other people with autism had to go through be settling with peace at a certain point in their older lives. The autistic child must also try to learn to cooperate in this situation and understand that their parents are trying to do what’s best for them and also try to explain what it’s like to see their world through an autistic mind. 

For me growing up my relationship with my parents wasn’t too strained as they did do plenty of research for autism once I was officially diagnosed with it. But I will admit there were times when I felt like they didn’t understand my feelings and how I saw the world working through my eyes that I didn’t know how to process correctly and I still feel like that at times today. 

My parents were also always on the same page when it came for making decisions about my discipline and everyday decisions that involved me. They also never treated me like I had a disability. My brother and I were no different. A goal of my parents was to get me to a point where people could not tell I had a disability unless informed. 

A picture of my family and I during this Halloween.