Pokemon Nightmares!

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Ohh I don't know what to do! My 6 year olds special interest is Pokemon on the DS but it's causing such massive problems, he's screaming in the night about dungeons and level 100 something or other and crying, really distressed but of course he wants to play it all the time

No one ever took away or limited my special interests, it seems so mean, but he's getting so upset, I suggested he could play lego games for a few days (his previous special interest) but he just screamed and hid under some cushions with the game.

Has anyone ever had their special interest limited or denied? If so what effect did it have?

I have no idea what to do!!

Are you sure he wouldn't just be having nightmares about something else if Pokémon was taken away?

No I'm not, and you are right, I hadn't really looked at it from that angle, I guess it could be unrelated to the pokemon specifically and just manifesting as that because he spends so much time with it

I could be wrong, of course. How would I know?

I don't recall such happening. I imagine I'd be very upset, but who wouldn't be. At worst people have threatened me with taking my interests away from me, but they never actually did.



And neither do I, a shame. I hope someone else can offer advice.

I did, at school (never at home). In my case it triggered meltdowns and defiance, just like every other attempt to force me to change did.

It could be that Pokemon has nothing to do with his nightmares, as someone else suggested.

If it does seem to be a problem for him, I'd recommend not limiting it but encouraging him to play a bit with things that could potentially be new interests for him. I sometimes get depressed when I finish a TV show or game I'm obsessed with, so I learnt over time that when I'm nearing the end of one of those things I'll try to line up something I think I could be interested in as well.

Try to steer him to something less stressful like Pokemon videos, beginner reader books, movies, they have some great sticker books... I wouldn't take Pokemon away but it may be time to give the stressful part a break. I've had to do similar with my daughter. She wouldn't have nightmares but she would go into rages in frustration. Rotate the delivery method but don't remove his drug of choice.

Thanks for your feedback guys, I know there is no sure way of getting it right, but another persons viewpoint is valuable when you are stuck for ideas

I've tried giving him pokemon cards but he showed minimum interest, I did get him off the ds for a while by giving him a list of pokemon printed from the pc

I looked for pokemon books in the bookshop yesterday but they didn't have any and he totally rejected yu gi oh (sp?) so going to try amazon as he loves to read

I like the idea of introducing something new with no pressure to limit his chosen interest as I know how it makes me feel when I can't follow mine for whatever reason

hmmmmmmm what to choose

you have to limit his time in competition, seriously limit it. it doesn't matter if he is competing against the computer player etc, he will start to think they computer is cheating and he is being picked on! also take everything electronic out of his room for sleeping and ban him from using anything electrical 30 minutes before bed. you have let this get way out of hand....... pm me if you like.

How close is he to finishing the game?
Can you help him achieve that goal and "satisfy" the interest in the game?
As another poster pointed out - once it's "solved" it starts to fade.
Maybe he's stuck on a level/boss and you can find tips and cheats online to help him pass it.

And/or maybe the other poster is right it's not pokemon specific just a "nightmare phase".

thats a fantastic idea, aspie kids love cheats and they love it when you pass a level for them. they love cheating, in everything. the love of winning outweighs any guilt of cheating by miles. also cheating breaks the games addictive hold on you and makes you lose interest. still happens to me even.

A low stress Pokemon game online: PokeFarm

It's cute, it's fun and it's free. Lilomeme steered me to this site since she has a Pokeminion as well. Me and my daughter play together and I now know more about Pokemon than I ever have - which she thinks is FANTASTIC.

Anyone who whats to sign up is welcomed to friend us both - it's a cooperative game so it has a bonus tacked on as well.

These are fantastic suggestions thank you, I read the thread before work yesterday but didn't have time to answer, however I have now printed him a walk-through which has been a huge success with him, apparently he had to drop back and level up more, and get more money for potions (so he says )

Last night we took his ds away a while before bed, he grumped and stomped the whole time, but he didn't shout out in the night

Later I will show him the pokefarm site and see if he takes to it

Thanks again!

Sarcasm?
I don't like cheats and I don't like people doing my stuff for me.

The OP understood the thrust of my post and got a walkthru which seems to have set the kid on the right path. So it worked. All those sites are labelled "tips and cheats" which is why I used both words in my post. The objective was to find something to identify the kid's frustrations with the game, give him a new direction, let him know he's not the only one who's come up against a brick wall, and in doing all this, maybe to solve his nightmares.

Seems mom found what was needed for her kid, and it seems to have helped at least a bit.

Glad to hear son is relaxing now. Keep us posted.

no, not sarcasm. what i said rings true with my two aspie nephews 8 and 10. you can't do much for the 8yo, but he will usually give me the controller for 30 seconds to get them passed the part he is stuck on and he is happy. the 10 year old has no pride in doing something on normal or hard, if he does it on easy setting he is just as happy. They are both not above cheating.

I on the other hand am not a child. I have learned to take pride in passing games on harder settings and I refuse to do things on easy most of the time and I hate cheating. Comparing aspie children to aspie adults is about as useful as comparing NT adults to NT children.