17 things The Princess Bride taught me about parenting children with autism

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By: KristinCC BY 2.0
Fans of The Princess Bride (did you guys see that A Princess Bride-themed wedding on Offbeat Bride?!) will love this list of 17 ways the film has helped her parent children with autism from Bec, author of the blog Snagglebox. Bec has a fifteen-year-old and a twelve-year-old son who both have autism, and has been able to use lessons from the family fave in her favor:

Affection doesn’t have to mean saying I love you
Reading a story to someone who’s sick in bed, saying “as you wish” or playing rhyming games that annoy your boss… there are many more ways to show love than just those three little words.

Optimism can get you through the fire swamp
Just because you haven’t tackled a problem before doesn’t mean there’s no solution, even for POUS’s (Problems of Unusual Size).

Having a target will help you stay focused
You don’t have the energy or resources to tackle every challenge that’s in front of you. Find your six-fingered man — prioritize your goals, work out which of those you can tackle and then pursue them with everything you’ve got.

You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles
Be patient. Change and growth takes time, and there are no corners to be cut here. Every kid is working to their own schedule and developing at their own rate.

Don’t believe the hype
There are people who make a lot of money from making you believe in the Dread Pirate Roberts. Snake oil salesmen bank on the fact that you will be too distracted by fear to focus on things like facts and common sense.

You can read the rest at Snagglebox!

Comments on 17 things The Princess Bride taught me about parenting children with autism

  1. Works for adult (fans of The Princess Bride) with autism spectrum diagnoses, too! I’m fairly high-functioning (on my good days) and I sometimes approach caring for myself as if I were caring for a child. Thanks for sharing this!

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