Marguerite
Active Member
We have a long-term problem with difficult child 3, getting him to watch anything other than a very narrow range of TV shows & films. Same with books - if he had his way he would still be reading primers. And this is a kid who could read when he was 2.
The problem is conflict. Every story, every plot, is run on conflict. The tension builds, the conflict gets to a maximum point- and then there's the resolution. But difficult child 3 finds the tension unbearable. He's a lot better at managing it now, but is now very much into avoiding having to interact with anything which will introduce ANY conflict. Even having to write a story for school - same thing. The story is written with as little conflict as possible. Interestingly, an adult friend of mine at my writing group will also write stories without conflict (or as little as possible). As a result, her novel-in-progress is boring beyond belief, because all that is happening in it is this person meeting that person and having a conversation. Or going to dinner.
Back to difficult child 3 - I watch M*A*S*H every afternoon (yet another interminable series of repeats). difficult child 3 is in the next room, occasionally wanders past to get food or whatever. Without actually watching it (which he refuses to do) he has seen enough to begin to be intrigued.
Today's episode is the one with the clock on the screen (something which always got difficult child 3 in to anything). The one where the patient has a shattered aorta and needs to have a graft done within 25 minutes of having the aorta clamped (or his kidneys will shut down and his spinal cord die). I succeeded in getting difficult child 3 to watch it with me! of course, in the ad breaks difficult child 3 was rushing off to play his computer games again, but he stayed for the whole program, and at last 'got' the final joke.
A breakthrough! Because once he's watched ONE episode, he will watch more, willingly. And we will have another TV series to add to his experiences.
It will be just my luck if this is the last re-run!
Marg
The problem is conflict. Every story, every plot, is run on conflict. The tension builds, the conflict gets to a maximum point- and then there's the resolution. But difficult child 3 finds the tension unbearable. He's a lot better at managing it now, but is now very much into avoiding having to interact with anything which will introduce ANY conflict. Even having to write a story for school - same thing. The story is written with as little conflict as possible. Interestingly, an adult friend of mine at my writing group will also write stories without conflict (or as little as possible). As a result, her novel-in-progress is boring beyond belief, because all that is happening in it is this person meeting that person and having a conversation. Or going to dinner.
Back to difficult child 3 - I watch M*A*S*H every afternoon (yet another interminable series of repeats). difficult child 3 is in the next room, occasionally wanders past to get food or whatever. Without actually watching it (which he refuses to do) he has seen enough to begin to be intrigued.
Today's episode is the one with the clock on the screen (something which always got difficult child 3 in to anything). The one where the patient has a shattered aorta and needs to have a graft done within 25 minutes of having the aorta clamped (or his kidneys will shut down and his spinal cord die). I succeeded in getting difficult child 3 to watch it with me! of course, in the ad breaks difficult child 3 was rushing off to play his computer games again, but he stayed for the whole program, and at last 'got' the final joke.
A breakthrough! Because once he's watched ONE episode, he will watch more, willingly. And we will have another TV series to add to his experiences.
It will be just my luck if this is the last re-run!
Marg