Leo is a brainy chap and has long ago figured out that he can keep his parents in check,
and is able to achieve anything he would wish for …
He has perfectly mastered the system of blackmail and manipulation,
rejecting crying and spasmodic seizures for the sake of more refined methodology.
Method one – turning our attention away
– it is applied when Leoparents ask him for something which is not in agreement with his wishes.
Then, he will instantly announce that he needs to go to sleep.
- Are you tired?
- Yes.
- Do you want to go to sleep?
- Yes.
- Shall we connect you to the ventilator?
- Yes.
- Do you find it difficult to breathe?
- Yes.
Method two is even worse – it is applied as a punishment for Leoparents' misbehavior.
Leo gets offended and discretely, sleeps away unnoticed to his room, lies in bed and...
pretends to sleep! Without previously being connected to the ventilator.
Method three – inducing the state of shock in his parents
– it is applied whenever Leoparents dare not to exercise sufficient attention
to their son or do not entertain him with a suitably high level of excitement.
Then Leo lies on the floor motionless and freezes.
He will stuck his glassy eyes onto a distant point,
making his face look blunt, relaxing his muscles... in a word:
he tries to look like a corpse.
And Leoparents have to react. They simply have to.
Because the whole truth is that this entire extravaganza
can really be accompanied by shallower breathing.
Summing up, they asked for trouble themselves,
as they should have demonstrated more empathy
as soon as Leo blackmailed them using traditional methods of three-year olds.
PS. There is also the fourth method. Leo pretends that his limbs become limp.
He uses this method when he is dressed and has made his Leomother die
from a vast myocardial infarct, because she reads blogs and follows two boys with SMA,
and she associates limping limbs with this disease.
