I'm worried about not doing enough for him since I was very bored as a child and had uninvolved parents. I'm also worried about pushing him too much though. I'm an aspie as well so there's potential for 2e also.
It's hard for me to imagine a bored infant or toddler, particularly if you aren't leaving him in the playpen all day, but I'm curious if the AS makes it particularly hard to 'tune in' to your children and guess what parts of the world they might enjoy you bringing to them.
Are there parenting support groups for adult aspies? Were these traits part of what drove your parent's uninvolvement?
If you haven't bumped into the ideas of John Holt (UnSchooling)
I would strongly recommend you start there -
http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.htmland see how you do in the role of 'learning facilitator' - particularly given your son's young age.
My hunch is that you have a tremendous amount of life experience and wisdom to off your children and this group - Welcome Aboard - so glad you found us!
Grinity
Thank you for the welcome and all your questions.
I think I'm more just nervous than anything - my daughter seemed easy by comparison. I wish that a lot more had been done for me as a child and I want to be able to do that for my son, but I don't want to push too hard either. Finding that line with my daughter has been difficult - she reacts badly to being pushed at all, but doesn't really take advantage of her natural gifts. Hopefully it is just her age.
I actually find my AS makes it easier to tune into my children. I and many other aspies find the "no empathy" thing to be a myth. We tend to have so much empathy it can be overwhelming, so we show it differently or try to shut it down. I've learned to temper my response over the years and try to read when it is appropriate to express it, though not always successfully. My NT daughter would tell you that I know her better than anyone (including her NT dad).
But like anyone it is hard to think of everything that someone might enjoy, so it will be good to get some ideas moving forward (and thank you for the link - I'll check it out right now!)
As to my childhood - I was actually raised by my non-aspie parent (though I wouldn't describe her as NT) - my father left soon after I was born. I was left in a playpen for hours (and appeared content). The problem was more when I started school. My mom was an alcoholic and refused to work with school for appropriate opportunities for advancement. A few teachers gave me different work, but most didn't have the time. Regardless, I turned out okay - I have a successful career and a beautiful family - I would just like my children to have more opportunities to take advantage of their gifts.
