Hi all, first post here. A bit about me, I'm 38 yo female recently diagnosed with ASD. Probably been in low grade burnout since children arrived. I work as a veterinary sugeon 4 days a week, though I've had to take time off for mental health reasons several times over the last year. Currently I'm going through a divorce and separated from my kinda emotionally abusive husband. I'm single parenting two undiagnosed, but probably neurodivergent children. My older boy is 6 and his younger sister is 3, nearly 4.
I find weekends really hard right now. If I'm doing the weekend by myself, I always start with good intentions, but the kids just seem to want to watch TV or play on tablets the whole time. Trying to pull them away and get them outside is a monumental effort. Trips out will range from going to the park, on a walk in nature, to local attractions and softplay. Sometimes it will be essential errands like going shopping, though I'm now more aware of the sensory overwhelm that comes with that. I will ask them what they want to do and try to respect their decisions as much as possible, but issues arise when they want to do different things.
There are times when I just run out of steam. Trying to talk them away from the TV, dealing with the occasional meltdown over it and trying to decide where we're going, packing up, arguing over shoes and talking them into the car if we're driving, just feels like more effort than it's worth. There have definitely been times when I've given up and left them watching. I pay for it later when they go nuts at bed time.
So my question is, any tips for motivating neurodiverse, probaby autistic, children to step away from the television and get them out of the house. And also, how much screen time is too much? It's so hard to get them away from it.
Thanks.
