troubles with interests....

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Do any of you have Aspie children as well as being an Aspie yourself? If so, do you share interests with them or do you have trouble listening to it?

I have a bit of a problem and am unsure how to deal with it, and it's frustrating because any time I've tried to express my thoughts about it, someone always says "well that's HIS special interest" as if I don't understand that. It's driving me batty to keep getting that response, because it isn't that I don't understand that it's his special interest, it just drives me nuts to hear about it constantly because I have no interest really in it whatsoever, lol.

My interests are artsy types of things-lots of hands on things, loads of music, drawing posters, dollfies... just things like that. His... is Star Wars, lol. So you can imagine he and I butt heads a lot when we are trying to talk about anything together.

How does one with AS learn to be more tolerant of another's interests rather than it just driving them nuts? Usually I just smile and nod, but after an hour of him coming in every 5 minutes to tell me something about Star Wars, I wind up on edge, irritable, stressed out, and I wind up yelling at him to just be quiet about it. I feel really bad about it, though, because I know it's not really something he can control that much... He does the same thing when I get to talking about my interests after a while, lol.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? Advice? Opinions?

I haven't any advice, but I can certainly relate.

Please do let me know if you find a way to feel less awful about the lack of interest in our children's special interests!

How dare I?! !

I guess in some ways it kills me to watch/listen as it interferes with her entire being, but again, as you have pointed out...I am not in any better shape.

My motherly instincts, I suppose.

Well at least I know I'm not the only one with this difficulty. It's so frustrating to KNOW exactly what he feels like, why he does it, etc.... because I do the same, but to not be able to change the fact that it bothers me simply because I am not all that interested.

I do a pretty good job with the smiling and nodding, saying "uh huh" once in a while, as I know he needs someone to listen to him and all, but I do get overwhelmed by it.