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> Before you have children, understand that it's for the rest of your life. Really understand the impact. As a father with a son with severe autism, and rememb

> Before you have children, understand that it's for the rest of your life. Really understand the impact. As a father with a son with severe autism, and remembering the time before you were a father, do you think that anybody can imagine what it's like? I have a healthy daughter (16 months old), and that alone changed my live beyond anything I could have imagined before. I don't want to belittle anybody's imagination, but in my experience imagination only works well for envisioning things happening to you in short time scales.

jasonlotito 14y ago
> do you think that anybody can imagine what it's like? Oh, no. Of course not. But they should consider the possibility. You cannot assume that it's going to be 18-20 years and they are on their own. That it's diapers for only a couple years and then you don't have to change them. No, there is no way they can fully grasp what it means. But they can't just assume everything will be fine. My wife and I did this, and we waited, and prepared, and we had kids once we were ready. Really ready, and I'd like to think it shows in our children, in our marriage, and in our lives. No, we weren't ready for autism, but we did understand that things could go wrong. So yes, you are right. But it still can't hurt to think about it. Really think about it. More than what some people do.