Update: My husband and I have been trying to find our 17 year old son interest- outside of video games, youtube and anime. Well we’ve come to the conclusion he doesn’t have any other interests at this time. We’ve been concerned with him being closed-off in his room and not being social for quite some time. But we are coming to learn through this community that social is the last behavior we should be worried about, and we have to start by building trust to get him out of defense mode. My husband and I have been wanting to get him out the house- even for a walk. We haven’t been very successful, he always turns us down every time. So on last night, I plundered on our son interests, and I started researching Anime events, and social clubs in our area. I come to find there were two events coming this year in our location. I decided to speak with him about it before he went back into his room after making his dinner plate- cause I’m sure that would be his last time out his room for the day. I started small talk and told him of the event and asked if he wanted to go. The excitement on his face was priceless!!! He immediately said, “yes, I want to attend both!” Right after, he started looking up and sending us costume items so he could dress in character for the event. We’ve come to learn this is called: cosplay. He also asked that my husband attend with him, along with one of his older cousins who loved watching anime too. I guess for comfort, which is fine by me. My husband and I are learning so much from this community on meeting our son where he is, he voiced during a meeting, “nothing has ever been my choice, I never get a choice.” I took that to heart because now I know me pushing basketball or modeling- even though he said, “no!” wasn’t really what he wanted. But come to realize, I was just a parent that seen my sons talent in both areas, ignoring his interests. Noticing our sons interests and engaging in them is a prime example of meeting him where he is and building the trust back to get him out of “defense mode.” Leading up to the event, my husband and I plan to be on “anime study duty.” Our plan is to gain knowledge about anime, so we can better understand, show interests, and be involved or spark conversations. We are just overjoyed, that we finally can see excitement and happiness within our teen. Keeping our fingers crossed to see if he is still excited when the time comes to attend.🤞

Posted by Faithful2luv at 2023-02-06 18:38:48 UTC