Question
How can we prepare for difficulties with our mildly autistic child? The PlayStation takes up too much space in his mind. Washing, getting dressed—everything revolves around wanting the PlayStation. How can we shift this focus to free up time and interest for other activities he does, such as aikido, without resorting to duality? Personally, I suffer from this duality. We cannot keep having to “fight” to get simple things done; there is far too much tension. He is a child who knows how to do things, but everything can go wrong in two minutes: refusing to wash when we have to leave… He is becoming a teenager and must take more “responsibility for himself,” because he is capable of it.
We are really tired of these situations, which we have had to manage alone for years. For ten months he has no longer been in school, but is on a waiting list for a suitable establishment. He is “losing” his life.
Thank you.
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
Put him in school, even if it is not a specialized establishment, while waiting for him to be accepted at the other one.
Set limits on the PlayStation and computer: two hours a day at most, and require him to help around the house as well—washing dishes, helping with cleaning, at least his room.
The PlayStation, television, and computer are hard drugs, extremely bad and dangerous for health, the nerves, and the brain. If parents do not control them, who will?
You are in charge; do not doubt that. It is your house, and you must fulfill your role as a parent without duality and without doubt.
Kosen