How do you feel about our children and technology? I am unsure of when to allow my son to have a phone of his own, for example. A part of me thinks he should have one now, with my number set on speed dial in case of an emergency, and the other part of me thinks its too soon, to introduce him to the world of having a mobile. I am not sure if my son is able to distinguish , at this point, the difference between an emergency and a non emergency situation. I am confident he would ring me up just to say his balloon had a big dummy head, or ask how many yes schools there are until Jack comes for dinner.
I like the fact that my son has not yet discovered video games, and the internet (apart from you tube). I like the fact that he would still rather play in the garden or at the park with his football, than play a game on a mobile or have his own social media account. There are plenty of his friends his age that already have their own facebook account. I am not sure how I feel about that.
Its amazing how he knows how to use my mobile and the tablet, as if it is his own. He knows the password. I have to ask him if i can use my own phone, and if someone calls me when he is using it, he will just hang up on them. Sound familiar?
At this point however, he is only interested in watching videos of balloons on you tube.Its actually suprising how many videos there are of people just blowing up balloons and letting them go again, and probably making quite a bit of money from it. I definately need to re evaluate my money making strategy.
Like many of you, I am unsure on what the boundaries should be with regards to screen time. Although I realise that too much is probably not a good idea, ironically, the tablet calms him down and offers me some respite. While I try to limit the amount of time he watches his tablet, I do enjoy the quiet time I get and I can’t pretend that I don,t.
Films seem to calm him down too. He will quite happily sit and watch a film from the beginning to the end. Ordinarily this would not seem such a big deal, but when dealing with a child on the spectrum, this is a big deal. As parents, we try anything to keep our children happy while also having as less stress as possible ourselves. I cannot open a bottle of Merlot at 10am, so a film on the tablet is a good substitute.
The only problem I find is that we need to watch the same movie over and over again. He will become fixated with that film for a while then move onto something else. First it was Moanna, then Minions and at the moment it is a choice between Horrid Henry, Matilda or the Chipmunks. I am more familiar with Alvin, Simon and Theodore, than I am anything else. And as for the dialogue ! Well me and my son can recite nearly the whole dialogue for all those films. Its like living in Groundhog Day, every day. Its like living in Groundhog Day every day . Its like living in Groundhog Day every day . Sorry ….. I couldn’t resist.
Today we went to the cinema (as we quite often do) to see, The Secret Life of Pets 2. It was very good, I would recommend it. My son laughed so much. I love hearing his laugh, its the most beautiful sound. Anyway, before the film came on, there was an advert that used the characters of the film, I think it was an advert for Sky. When the advert had finished my son announced that the film had finished and it was time to go home. Its the shortest film I have ever been to. It made a few people smile. He often makes people smile with his comments.
Sometimes I worry that he offends people though. After the film we went to the toilet. My son used to be very scared of hand driers. This seems to be a little more under control now, however every so often it rears its ugly head and today was one of those occasions. Sat in the cubicle, a lady outside decided to use the hand drier. My son blocked his ears and then announced very loudly, when she had finished , “Mummy, I hate that lady, why is she using the hand drier, I hate her”. My apologies to anyone that he has offended or insulted over the years. She is not the first and she definately will not be the last.
Autistic children are extremely honest. Up until recently I had never had my eyelashes done. I have always prefered the more natural look. Anyway my friend runs an eye lash business. Emmy at BeautyxBegins. I would recommend her, she does a fantastic job with eye lash extensions. Have a look for her on Facebook and Instagram. Anyway back to the point, she did my eyelashes for me and well I fell in love with my new lashes immediately. Well , so did my boy, it would seem. A couple of weeks later, I decided to have them off to give my natural eyelashes a break. I think this is a myth however, as I dont think they damage your natural lashes at all, but anyway, I decided to have them off for a little while.
When my son saw me without my lashes he cried and said I looked like a teacher? Not sure what he meant but thats what he said. The next morning when I woke up he took one look at me and said “Mummy, I dont like you like that, change your face, you look scary”. I think I will need to get the lashes back on soon.
Siri and Google are so fed up of my son in our house. Google gets told “Poo Poo” followed by a lot of laughter. Poor Siri gets asked a lot of questions to which she does not know the answer. Yesterday , my son told Siri to call the police , which she did! Oh well at least he knows what to do in an emergency situation. Sorry police 👮♀️
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