Special Interest is War

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see my son is so not the hunter explorer type. He is in indoor homebody who loves any and everything electronics! So, he doesn't have that natural instinct, guess that is good for me!

You might be surprised, many times children follow their parents lead, if both parents are home bodies or into electronics then they will likely be interested too. try taking your children out to something awesome, like cave exploring. and if not that, if the interest is electronics, then keep feeding that interest, get the child all kinds of broken down electronics for to fix and then show off.

This spring I intend to take my son cave exploring, and if can afford it he has been asking me to go see old volcanic places, so I may take him to see yellowstone and then the craters of the moon national park this summer as we make our way the long rout to see his grand parents. much of it I think is I watch lots of documentaries with my son, it feeds that curiosity and imagination.

Some of us don't have outdoorsy kids, because they aren't, not because they are modeling adult behavior. My son doesn't do the modeling thing really well, especially with regards to his special interests. They are what they are. He may try to like something b/c mommy or daddy does, but if he does not like it or it bores him, it is quite clear. Outdoorsy things are not intrinsic to all kid even boys. My son has a marked preference for indoors also which he had made clear in his protestations and in his insistence that he wanted to go home during outings. LOL

I think an interest in shooting (as I have a minor interest in) is fine. My husband is a gun nut. He does have a pretty extremist right wing view of the world, but I chalk that up to his experience growing up in a Communist society that ostracized him, and he was lucky to emigrate and come to this country. His logic is rooted in emotion, much like people who are religious or extremely political, and therefore debating any points is futile because there will always be some other extremist paper written to support his views.

As far as survivalism, I do think that it is quite healthy to have a connection and understanding as to how to survive in case of any unforeseen catastrophe. I do think that people have moved so far away from knowing how to truly care for themselves that it is a little bit scary. We have to depend on other people too much to survive, and that concept by itself is very agitating and anxiety producing. I believe that knowing simple first aid, sanitizing water, making shelter and getting/growing food are basic skills that can provide a person with confidence and connection to the world, and feel pretty strong knowing that if anything were to ever happen, they'd be relatively OK, or perhaps better than many others. Unfortunately, my own hangups about the outdoors (dirt, bugs, allergies) prevent me from being a true survivalist LOL

interestingly enough, neither of us are homebodys! I am a complete opposite of a homebody...and DH while he does like to watch TV, likes to get out and we have to pry our son to do things out the house with us.

also, neither of us are electronically inclined. Neither of us are video gamers at all.

We have done many things with him, and he has a miserable time, but we keep on trying!

I have no problem with guns, as long as people are practical and safety conscious. The right wing thing can lead people to dark places, but that varies from person to person, as far as I can tell.



Knowing basic skills seems unquestionably good, if you can. If you look at the recommendations for all citizens at Ready.gov, you find that a certain degree of practical self sufficiency is recommended and that makes sense. On the other hand....

There is a myth of individualism and total self-sufficiency that I have no time for. My wife is an insulin dependent diabetic. Without civilization, she would die pretty quickly. This is true for many of us. I don't know how long I would survive my asthma without medication, but I do know that people die of it quite often when they don't have access to inhaled beta-2 agonists.

More than that, culture and civilization are natural products of our species. Our childhoods are long and our young are dependent on adults during those years. We build things collectively over generations. Our collective works last millennia (e.g., writing, mathematics, science, medicine) these things require civilization. I am a fan of civilization and I don't think it makes sense to plan to live without it in anything but brief emergencies.

If some catastrophe causes a local collapse, I would expect reconstruction and mutual support to be the first priority of survivors--the reconstruction of civilization, rather than an attempt to do without.

Back to the main topic, it is interesting that we have these extreme efforts to control what children think and imagine about weapons in the same culture that has activists pushing for the right to openly carry assault rifles in all public places. The culture is really confused about this issue right now.

Adamantium, have you ever seen the Mad Max Movies? This may be what people are referring to.

Saw them. Enjoyed them. Recognize them as fantasy.

As you have presented a problem, I have searched for a solution(!)

Here's something I might stock up on for your asthma: http://www.bronkaid.com/en/home.php

And for your wife: CINNAMON! http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_nat ... or_insulin

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/04/14/518.aspx

Cinnamon may be more than a spice – it may have a medical application in preventing and combating diabetes. Cinnamon may help by playing the role of an insulin substitute in type II diabetes, according to cellular and molecular studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"Cinnamon itself has insulin-like activity and also can potentiate the activity of insulin," said Don Graves of UCSB. "The latter could be quite important in treating those with type II diabetes. Cinnamon has a bio-active component that we believe has the potential to prevent or overcome diabetes."

LOL, my own son HATES camping (pretty much the only vacation we can afford,) despises the outdoors...but loves caving. Sometimes it is just about finding the right "slant" on something.

When we go on vacation, we always camp near some kind of place that has access to a zoo, caves or a water park or other stuff he likes so that we can all do something we want. He's learned to enjoy hiking (it helps that most videogames are now set in naturalistic outdoor settings, LOL.) Not to say that it's everybody's cup of tea, but my son's idea of a vacation is a luxury hotel room with a videogame system and room service, so we're happy that he's willing to come with us as long as he gets to go caving.

Oh, and kayaking - we just found out he likes kayaking. He agreed to give it a try and enjoyed the heck out of it, and wants to do it again - I think it was the bilateral movement and the autonomy.

I guess what I'm really trying to express here is that if you have a very rigid child, you aren't going to get anywhere if you try to get them to change head-on, but you can sometimes move sideways and thus help them learn to try new things and learn to be a little more flexible. (Same goes if you are a very rigid person - I had HORRIBLE agoraphobia during the kayak trip, but managed to be OK as long as somebody was towing me and I eventually relaxed into it. Was good for DS to see me have a sobbing, frozen-style nonverbal meltdown and come back from it, unpleasant as it was at the time...)

momsparky, try to look at it as a computer program or a formula. Consider that within your son's rigidity consists of a system of rules. You discover the system of rules you can use the rules to make him more flexible.

I'm sorry you had agoraphobia. Are you doing okay? By the way, long time no see how have you been?

I wonder if you can divert this into an interest in military machinery rather than in war per se? I don't know how it started, but my parents took me to airshows and air museums, and bought me airplane models and books about airplanes. Forty years later I'm still a big time aviation buff and a scale modeler .... It's pretty nerdy, but way more socially acceptable than just being a war fan.

Thank you, I'm doing fine - I'm not here as often because things are going extremely well for my son, and I'm putting my efforts into supporting parents IRL instead of online, since I seem to be away from my computer more often these days. I did take a bit of time to check in - glad that everyone is still here even though I pop in and out lately!

Wow, Awesome! It looks like your way of doing things is paying off. I commend you for what work you are doing for parents IRL.

I think you should receive one of these prizes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awards_and ... government

I think you should receive the Presidential Citizens Medal.

It is nice to see you back, for awhile.

The straw that broke the camel's back for the first school my nephew went to, was over the top, graphic war scenes. Cities being carpet bombed. People on fire. Tanks rolling over smashed people. Couple that with the violent meltdowns, it was a one way ticket to being expelled out of the school district. He was 9 at the time.

I think he's on the spectrum, parents do not, and managed to get him in a charter school.

He still does not understand what is the issue.

Hammer home time and place for special interests.