Father got Chewed Out by Pokemon Fans for Helping his Autistic ADHD Son Play Pokemon
5-6 years ago, the father of a then 6-year-old child announced on Reddit that his son who has autism and other disabilities loves Pokemon games and he decided to help his son to catch ’em all.
Now, 6 years later, he posted on Reddit that he still helps his autistic son to play Pokemon, but he got a lot of hate from people saying he is raising a future rage quitter, a sad human being that cheats in multiplayer games, how stupidly easy X and Y are, this is babying to a crazy extreme. he is going to be weak and so on.
The father explained that his son who is now 12, has been diagnosed with ADHD and mild-autism and he struggles in schools due to a learning disability. He also explained that his son loves to play video games and he even got him a PS5.
Here are some of the comments:
After all these negative comments, the father shared more details about the story and many Pokemon fans and players supported him.
Some people gave c*** when I posted this years ago. Update: He’s fine and loves video games.
6 years ago, I posted this about my son. It was my first post to really blow up, but the comments generally were one of two things:
Supportive and generally positive
“You’re robbing him” “You’re creating a rage quitter”
So, I tried to clarify (much too late) that my son was late developmentally and this was his first real video game. I wanted to give an update since it’s been about 6 years (he’s 12 now) and just tell you how things ended up. Since that time, he’s been diagnosed with ADHD and mild-autism. He’s smart, but he struggles somewhat in school due to the learning disability. But he’s a sweet and empathetic kid.
So, what is his relationship with gaming now?
Let’s just say he’s an avid gamer. He’s gone through every flagship Pokemon game on the DS and Switch. He’s also done every Zelda game on the DS and Switch. He enjoys Smash, the Yugioh card video game, some of the Mario games. Used to play a lot of Minecraft, but he’s moved on. Currently, he’s on the final Kingdom Hearts game. He’s begging to play the FF7 remake (that dad plays, but I still think it’s a little too mature for him – content-wise). He also doesn’t get to play games that have live voice chat (eg. Fortnite, Among Us, etc), I’m still a little protective of him because he’s still developmentally behind.
All in all, I think he has a healthy relationship to video games. He does get a little obsessed at times, but what tween doesn’t (he’s asking for a full-sized keyblade for Christmas). I can’t wait for him to become a bit more mature where he can handle some of the more mature games. I want to play online games with him, I want him to play through the Half-Life, Fallout, Elder Scrolls series.
I was able to snag a PS5 earlier this week, so I’m super stoked to give it to him. I’m glad it turned out okay. As a first time dad of a school-age kid back then, I did have some worries that maybe I was ruining gaming for him. Still, I definitely don’t need to hold his hand anymore. Besides being the gatekeeper to more mature stuff, he is fostering his own relationship with video games, and I’m proud of him (especially since he beat Breath of the Wild and the DLC without needing any help from me, thanks Google).
What is your opinion and do you support the father who helps his son enjoy playing Pokemon games? We would like to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.
