If your child hit another child in a playground, you'd probably find yourself apologising profusely on your little one's behalf.
But mum Allison Williams did the opposite. After learning that her daughter hit someone else’s child, the Sydney mother didn’t start lecturing her, or apologising on her behalf. She defended her.
In a touching Facebook post, Allison explains what happened.
“This woman literally DRAGGED my daughter down to me by the arm to inform me that ‘This child just slapped my child and she wanted to know who her mother was.’”
Allison wasted no time in defending her little girl – and for good reason, it seems. “I informed her that she was my child and she has autism and didn’t hit her child to hurt her child, but in fact she does it out of excitement as she doesn’t understand.”
But the other mum wasn’t happy.
“This nasty woman proceeded to tell me that wasn’t good enough as her child (who was 2 yrs old) would never do this to another child and that ‘If you know that your child is ‘LIKE THAT’ then you should supervise her more and not bring her to places ‘LIKE THIS.’”
Things went south from there. The woman demanded Allison’s details so she could report her to the police. Quick as a shot, Allison replied that she should report her for dragging her little girl half-way across the play centre.
While it’s unclear if the police actually got involved, Allison posted a blurred image of the woman along with her post to raise awareness about autism and the importance of understanding.
“I just want to reinforce to other parents who read this post that it is very important to always be aware that there are all kinds of children with different disabilities (not always OBVIOUS) in our society and to always consider this before you judge them. I will end this post with this question to this horrible lade…if my daughter’s disability had been more obvious (e.g. she was in a wheelchair) to you would you have done the same thing to her?”
She also points out that she is very proud of her darling girl and the “constant and consistent effort that she has to put in every day of her life to be able to live a ‘normal life’ in our judgemental society and that ignorant people like you will never deter her efforts or mine.”
Wow. Let’s hope more parents stop and think before judging other people and their children. Sure, it’s not easy to see your child being hit by another, but asking questions first is the way to go.
