Non-Aspie Children

[Al Swearegen]

Okay as most of you know, I am a happy singe Dad of a non-Aspie teenage daughter.
She is gorgeous and an absolute delight. A source of great stress. Not stress externally but internally. "Am I making her world okay for her"
How do you guys cope or feel or relate to your non-aspie kids?

[Arya Quinn]

I don't have kids (thank God) but if I did I'd just accept them for who they are. I may be an asshole, but I'm not a 100% complete and total dick. 

[Icequeen]

He has some aspie traits, but he's not an aspie...he's not what most would consider a normal teenager either.

Stressed. Some days click, other days don't.

Some days I feel like I really suck at parenting, some days I want a rock to crawl under, and some days I wouldn't trade for anything.

['andersom']

My parents had two types of kids they said.
Me and my middle brother. And the other two.
They loved both types dearly. And we all four were raised pretty autistic. But, we also got the freedom to be who we were. My parents liked to keep to themselves. Though, they also both liked it when people came in for coffee. Their house was open to visitors. But the friends they had could be counted on one hand with ease.
(The open house policy of my parents made that my two non-aspie brothers would gather with their friends in our house, because they felt the most welcome at our place. And somehow that did not interfere with the needs of my other brother and me.)

When we grew up, my middle brother and I kept to a minimal social life. My two other brothers happen to be social talents. Plenty of friends, big birthdays, social occasion after social occasion. Apparently it comes naturally for them, without being raised that way.


Can you make the world OK for your girl? No, you can't, the world often is utter shite. Can you give your girl what she needs? Yes, you can. Love her unconditionally. Provide the place she can come home to, no matter what. And she will be able to take on the world by herself.

['andersom']

He has some aspie traits, but he's not an aspie...he's not what most would consider a normal teenager either.

Stressed. Some days click, other days don't.

Some days I feel like I really suck at parenting, some days I want a rock to crawl under, and some days I wouldn't trade for anything.

Got one aspie kid, and one enigma kid (who still may be an autie after all).

I do find it hard to cater for them what they need. And there are days I think I keep failing. Don't think it would have been easier or harder if they had been "normal". But the lives of my kids would probably be easier, had they been "normal".

[rock hound]

I am the father of an Aspie daughter and the Uncle of numerous Aspie and non-aspie nieces and nephews.   Love them all!   

[odeon]

My non-aspie daughter is very smart and kind and generous, very social and very OCD, but also a typical teen with typical teen views, I imagine. And she talks much and fast, which sometimes brings me near sensory overload. I love her to bits.

My autie son is in many ways her exact opposite. Quiet, withdrawn, very much autistic and with what they label as a "pragmatic language impairment", most noticeable in the way he talks but not at all when he writes. Socially, he doesn't have a clue. He is learning but it's going to take him some time yet. And I love him to bits, too.

Both can be very hard for me to cope with, but I don't know how I'd cope without them. Pretty sure I couldn't.

['andersom']

My non-aspie daughter is very smart and kind and generous, very social and very OCD, but also a typical teen with typical teen views, I imagine. And she talks much and fast, which sometimes brings me near sensory overload. I love her to bits.

My autie son is in many ways her exact opposite. Quiet, withdrawn, very much autistic and with what they label as a "pragmatic language impairment", most noticeable in the way he talks but not at all when he writes. Socially, he doesn't have a clue. He is learning but it's going to take him some time yet. And I love him to bits, too.

Both can be very hard for me to cope with, but I don't know how I'd cope without them. Pretty sure I couldn't.

That bolded bit says it all.

[Jack]

"Am I making her world okay for her"

When the kids were young, once asked mom, how to know if doing the right things. She said I would know I did a good job as a parent when they're adults, and I like them as a person. They're adults and do like them, but find it more poignant that they like me as a person. Some people say parents shouldn't try to be friends with children; have always disagreed with that. 

[Al Swearegen]

I think the biggest thing for me is the fact that I am a pretty solitary dude. I am also socially retarded.
My daughter has gone through a nasty spell of illness that lasted months.
I discussed with her the option of getting into more sports, to raise her fitness levels. (The past few months has her put on a few extra kegs and lose a lot of tone and fitness.)
She has the "gift" of learning physical skills VERY quickly. She went from not knowing one end of a skateboard to being taught how to skateboard in one solid day. (I was packing it as I had not been on a skateboard in 20 years LOL)
I am thinking in preference Boxing, Muay Thai and Kung Fu.
I have taught her boxing and she will fall in pretty easily I think. In fact I showed her and her brother when HE was getting picked on at school.
She is VERY physically confident and took out a male bully a year ago that was hassling her friend. The boys and girls tend not to give her too much shit. That works for me.