This chapter deals with how to set boundaries with your children. This doesn't resonate with me right now, but it does have some useful messages about helping others emotionally.
Ways to help someone emotionally:- Allow them to talk about their anger
- Allow them to express grief, loss, or sadness without trying to cheer them up and talk them out of their feelings
- Encourage them to ask questions
- Ask them what they are feeling when they seem isolated or distressed; help them put words to their negative feelings
I especially want to address the second bullet point. I admit I don't really know how to act when someone else is upset; it's a fun part of
Asperger's Syndrome. The instinct is to try and cheer the other person up, but really, sometimes grief is important. Sometimes it just takes some listening ears and a positive sort of silence, the presence of another, supportive human being. It is not unkind to give no offers of help or rescue, because each person's own healing must inevitably come from within. Supporters are rungs to the ladder; one cannot make an individual rung responsible for one's own journey up.
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