# Parenting: Am I being too much of a hardass? (Involves 19yo son) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenting-am-i-being-too-much-of-a-hardass-involves-19yo-son/796313 "2017-09-14T12:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenting-am-i-being-too-much-of-a-hardass-involves-19yo-son/796313/21 "2017-09-16T20:52:27Z")
My 28 year old (not autistic) daughter has a pretty terrible phone phobia so I have made a lot of phone calls on her behalf but I can’t even imagine calling in sick for her. That’s just something you have to do on your own. She has gone to work sick before because she couldn’t make that call, but she’s 28 so it’s not my responsibility. My 12 year old is autistic. I am with her every day, and I know how she struggles with auditory processing. She will likely have no problem working when she’s an adult but at THIS point she can’t handle phone calls and I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to. It’s different when you can’t really understand about half of what’s being said though. I guarantee she would TRY instead of asking me to do it for her. However I might offer to do it for her if I knew she was already feeling sick. Maybe I’m too overprotective, I don’t know. Don’t judge mama too harshly. We spend all those years having to fight SO hard to get services and assistance when the kids get older we’re still working in that fight mode. ---
**Author:** ![Architect2017](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Architect2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architect2017)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenting-am-i-being-too-much-of-a-hardass-involves-19yo-son/796313/22 "2017-09-17T02:19:53Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > No kidding. Only about 25% of people with autism are employed, so the OP, his son, and et. al. are doing something right. That is VERY concerning ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenting-am-i-being-too-much-of-a-hardass-involves-19yo-son/796313/23 "2017-09-17T07:21:36Z")
It’s the reality. and it sucks as a parent of someone on the spectrum. I’m seriously considering what kind of business I can start, just to give my daughter and some of her peers something productive to do during the day even if it is just a cappuccino drive thru [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parenting-am-i-being-too-much-of-a-hardass-involves-19yo-son/796313.md?page=1)