When you’re a parent, you never want anyone to exclude your child and make them feel left out. That’s why teaching inclusion and understanding others’ differences is key.
But what happens when you have legitimate concerns about the health of another kid and don’t want your child taking any risks?
One woman is in this tough situation right now. She has a son, who is 8-years-old, and just the other day, she took him to meet one of his friends from school at the park.
For context, his friend is an 8-year-old girl, and both her son and the little girl have Autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
According to her, the little girl is always at the park alone, too.
“She says her mom gives her food then tells her to go away,” she revealed.
Anyway, on that particular day at the park, she was just pushing the little girl on the swing when she looked at the girl’s hair and couldn’t believe her eyes – because the poor girl had a horrible case of lice.
“I had only seen lice like this on YouTube videos. I was horrified. I feel so bad for her,” she explained.
She also brought up the lice and learned that the little girl had gotten a short haircut because of the issue.
After that, she decided not to stop her son’s playdate. Still, she tried to “guide” the rest of the afternoon so that her son was not too close to the little girl.
Since then, though, she hasn’t been able to stop stressing out. She keeps feeling itchy and is going to get her and her son checked for lice.
However, moving forward, she doesn’t really want to let her son play with the little girl anymore.
“I feel bad for leaving the poor girl alone. I just can’t risk lice,” she said.
That’s because, when she was actually a young girl, she had a “very mild” case of lice, and it still took over a year to get rid of it.
The little girl also opened up about how her kitchen had maggots and was asking to come over to her house.
“And I can’t do that,” she vented.
Still, she can’t help but wonder if not letting her son hang out with the little girl anymore is understandable or just makes her a jerk.
Can you understand why she wants to protect her son? Do you think she should say something since the little girl is constantly left alone at the park and has lice and maggots at home? What would you do?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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By Katharina Buczek
Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing in... More about Katharina Buczek
