Have your parents ever supported your special interest?

Post Reply New Topic

Looking back on childhood I had alot of special interest (didn't know of AS at the time) and at times my parents supported them. Buying me a Golden Retriever (fell back into my videogame special interest more) so we gave away the dog (+ a small backyard etc.) I was into doing puzzles now I have 2-3 boxes of unfinished puzzles LOL! Also basketball my parents bought me an actual basketball hoop. So I was curious have your parents supported your special interest?

Mine have.

Yes, they did for the most part.

I actually have some resentment because they didn't support my special interests. When I was young I had a deep interest in the Piano, and I expressed that interest for years. They never once thought to pay for piano lessons.

I'm encountering similar issues now. I'm trying to learn a variety of academic subjects on my own, since my anxiety gets in the way of a normal college environment, and my mother has outright stated that she refuses to buy me textbooks. She doesn't see the point in it.

I've encountered similar situations my entire life. I take up a special interest, sometimes for years, and they just ignored it, sometimes pushing me to drop it. I can only imagine where I would be with a different set of parents. (Might actually know how to play the Piano!)

I don't believe that they were being intentionally mean spirited but they basically tried to squash every one of my personal interests. Of course, my special interests then are the same as now. I've supported and encouraged my own special interests and still do.

Looking back on childhood I had alot of special interest (didn't know of AS at the time) and at times my parents supported them. Buying me a Golden Retriever (fell back into my videogame special interest more) so we gave away the dog (+ a small backyard etc.) I was into doing puzzles now I have 2-3 boxes of unfinished puzzles LOL! Also basketball my parents bought me an actual basketball hoop. So I was curious have your parents supported your special interest?

For awhile my mother did support my special interests. My mother, being an artist, went above and beyond to encourage me in my artistic endeavors. I think she had me using acrylic and oil paints when I was three. But then, when he did not give me papers, pencils, markers... I would resort to stealing her lipstick and making murals in my closet... She also encouraged my cat phase. She got me a subscription to Cat Fancy, found me all of these porcelain cats, books on how to draw cats... hell she even let me get three living, meowing cats of my own. As I grew older though, my preoccupations were seen to be less of a cute knowledge quest and more of a potential flaw in my personality.

Yes, I got given a computer because of my special interest in graphic design, that later grew into animation and web design. My mum has been very supportive of my photography, in the first few years she wasn't very keen on it. She wanted me to grow up and get a job, then she realised I could turn this into a career.
She buys me Ben 10 stuff all the time.

Surprisingly, yes, they've always supported my special interests. Anything from driving me to places, to even searching for information regarding my interests, or participating in my interests with me.

Depending on the interest.

When I was fascinated with physics, mom supported it. When I was fascinated with the Animorphs book series, I had to hide my obsession because my mom would have taken the books away when she saw them. (Mom isn't into fiction. At all. And she only wanted to take them away because she thought they were about evolution; she would have been scared they were going to give me nightmares if she actually knew what they were about. Funnily enough, by that point I was having nightmares thanks to the guys she was marrying, which were a lot more frightening than any brain-stealing aliens.) Mom got piano lessons for me; but when she had to cut back financially, they were among the first things to disappear... And while it might have been the sheer intensity of my book obsession, I never did get to go to the library near as often as I wanted to. I became famous at the library for being the little girl hauling out what seemed like more books than I could possibly carry--my strategy to cope with the fact that library visits were infrequent and you never knew when you could go back.

In your parents' defense, it IS very difficult to stop smoking--probably as difficult as it is for an Aspie to completely quit doing anything related to their obsession. I can see your annoyance at your parents not even trying to quit or cut back when they needed to save money, though. And you have my sympathy for having to live with the smell all the time; it would probably drive me bonkers.

Mine have been supportive, especially of my interest in languages. Sometimes I feel like they're just listening out of politeness when I go on and on about something, but I feel grateful that they listen at all.

My parents made it very clear that all they were supposed to provide was limited to minimum living necesseties. If I wanted anything beyond that, I had to get it myself. I never had any expectations because my parents were destitute drunks.

So, for my special interest (building airplanes and rockets) I started with a public library and a junk yard. Later, I added some revenue streams from doing chores for other people for money and, later yet, from selling stuff at a flea market. I could not afford to buy even half-decent tools. It took me many years of saving to buy a used motor for a model airplane. Unfortunately, in 7th grade, my parents sold every item I owned to pay a bribe to keep me from being expelled from school after an especially nasty confrontation.

Looking back, I have no regrets and believe it was all for the best. I aquired many invaluable skills trying to make something out of junk and looking for ways to accomplish what I set out to do with very limited resources.

My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they always seemed to support my interests/obsessions. Though some of the stuff was pretty cheap.

Muppets, Jelly Shoes, Crayons (only crayola), my flute, I loved my mom's nursing books, drawing books.

Yes..my parents have pretty much always supported my special interests...They went so far as to allow me to join a band at 15 (my lifelong special interest has been singing)
They have pretty much always supported me in everything I have done.