I do the exact opposite w my son. He's high functioning asd. When he was like 5ish, he would have panic attacks from just having dirty hands and nowhere to wash them.

Most kids probably do better with this stuff, but dont traumatize you kids. Jeez.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yea I think if my parents did this I'd instantly have lost all trust in them after it came off (well at least if they didnt tell me right after that they were joking). I never was quite that sensitive to dirt on me, but in general what apparently worked best is just explaining the why, which is probably pretty common for autistic kids.

Anyway I just wanted to say as someone whos also on the spectrum I appreciate you actually respecting your sons issues as valid instead of thinking the reaction is unreasonable and he should suck it up, which is sadly all too common.

(Which isn't to say that the panel isn't funny, messing with kids a bit is totally fine, just need to know them well enough to not actually hurt them. Same as adults really.)