When you send your child off to school, all you want for them is to have a happy time. To make friends, feel included and enjoy themselves. So you can imagine this Sydney dad’s heartache when his seven-year-old son discovered all of his classmates at a birthday party that he was the only one not invited to.
Yahoo7 reported that, the father-of-four, originally from New Zealand, shared his story on a Kiwi dad’s Facebook page, saying his son, who has autism, was so embarrassed to see not just his classmates but his entire grade, already gathered at the beach in Cronulla.
The dad, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that the family had taken a trip to the beach where they spotted his son’s classmates at the birthday party.
“When my boy walked into the park with his Mum to wait for us to arrive, he saw not only every kid in his actual class, but every kid in his whole grade was there, celebrating the birthday of a popular kid in my boy’s class,” he wrote.
“Everyone had been invited except my son,” he added.
“To make it worse, some of the parents saw my boy and our family nearby and they tried to avoid eye contact and looked away in awkward shame.”
The heartbroken dad describes his son as “a beautiful soul” and “affectionate” and explained that his child was on the autism spectrum, has been diagnosed with ADHD and suffers from severe social anxiety and dyslexia.
The devastated man explained he didn’t know what to do when he saw his son’s head drop upon noticing his peers at the party. Instead of blowing up, which did cross his mind, he told his son: “F— ’em. We got you and you got us. That’s all you’ll ever need’.”
“But I know I walked away knowing that I didn’t solve anything, my boy is more embarrassed and self-doubting now than ever, other kids and parents are treating my kid like a leper.”
