Maintaining Sanity
Image by rosefirerising via Flickr
Some days are great and others… not so great… yesterday was one of the latter!
Unfortunately a family row commenced at home yesterday (something I wont go into on the blog) however I do believe that as a result of this, a series of high-profile challenging behavior was demonstrated by my little man. In all honesty, the behavior was off the scale and I really did struggle to maintain sanity!
I do understand that arguments should not break out in front of children, especially those on the autism spectrum, already easily tipped into an overly anxious state of being, but I’m human and there are times certain situations commence, especially when you find half the arguments are caused by something or another your child on the spectrum may have done or said, worse the person who is arguing with you just can’t leave it a lone, refusing to stop!
I thought it would properly be a good idea to take the children to my mothers, we could see my mum and chill for a bit! Little man could spend some time playing the PS3 with my sister’s boyfriend and all should convert to something far merrier! My plan was going ever so well, though as the evening approached, little man began getting worse and worse… before I knew it, he was throwing a load of nasty swear words at me, why proceeding to kick, punch and lastly spit at me.
God I felt like running away and staying away! When your child has a tendency to throw a load of offensive nasties in your face, you tend to get used to it (in a wrong kind of way) though sometimes such obscenities hurt a thousand times more than any violence… and this time his awful name calling was becoming much to hard to bare. Little man finished his almighty meltdown with a hard punch in my arm and a thump in his sisters back, all while his little brother of two sat screaming! It was at this moment I actually thought… Maybe it would be better if his not here any more, maybe he should live some place else!
I felt such a mix of overbearing emotions as I tortured myself over the thought that had entered my head! I felt assumed and heartbroken how I could even think such a thing! Yet.. at that time as he stood showing no remorse for his actions and I watched how he continued to lash out at his sister, I know I couldn’t help it, I just couldn’t! Every time I stood trying so hard to reason with him, he’ll just laugh and swear! I seriously felt complete despair, lost on where we go from here! I just felt like going to bed forever!
Day’s like this, I wonder what happened to my Little red-haired boy? Though he was always noticeably different, he would sit watching his favorite Thomas video or sit happily playing (even if it was mainly alone… he seemed happy, that’s what counted)! Not anymore! I just see an angry child, who gets anxious, depressed, violent, and often acts in quite an evil and scary manner!
As my Little man grows into someone who actually doesn’t resemble that of a little man at all, I fear for him, I fear for us as a family! At 11 he is reaching the stages of puberty and with it I notice so much more anger, the ability to care less about the people who get hurt in the cross fire. I therefore question my ability to control such behavior, longing for an answer! As the little man grows bigger, stronger and sadly more violent, I worry he will hurt himself, me or his siblings! Though there is one thing that I fear that little bit more…. Asking for help!
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In time when he sees the sense in controlling anger he may apply some self restraint. Personally, I must say, in my experience the anger never goes, mine is either directed back on myself or on inanimate objects. That may sound terrible, but it’s infinitely better that drugs and alcohol, I used them for years, they just made things worse in other ways. However back to my point, I learned not to take my anger out on other people, had we understood what was happening, I might have learned earlier that when I hurt others I hurt myself, violent anger is a terrible barrier to friendship, which may be a useful point of leverage.
Maybe you have already tried these . . .
There is a book called Building Emotional Intelligence by Linda Lantieri that provides a plan for helping children respond in an emotional mature manner.
I’d also suggest Social Skills classes if you can find them in your area.
Truthfully, I think children should be argued in front of. What they need to see is that argument can reach peaceful resolution, that disagreeing doesn’t have to be disasterous. I’ve believe that hiding things makes them feel worse than they are. Of course, while I believe in this general principle, there are other factors that have to be taken into account.
http://www.aass.org.au/