6 year old Autistic american child has no friends turn up to his birthday

allibastor · 23-02-2015 12:03PM #1

I read this the other day, actually made me sick thinking about it. Dont know How to post a link on mobile.

Would you really not make contact with a child to rsvp or not

rawn · 23-02-2015 12:05PM

No one turned up to my 10th birthday, i must have forgotten to alert the media.

AgileMyth · 23-02-2015 12:08PM

I'm really popular. A whole pub full of people came to my birthday last year. I didn't even know most of them.

gozunda · 23-02-2015 12:09PM

allibastor wrote: »

I read this the other day, actually made me sick thinking about it. Dont know How to post a link on mobile.

Would you really not make contact with a child to rsvp or not

Here you go

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/facebook-post-turns-autistic-boy-birthday-frowns-smile-article-1.2124313#bmb=1

Looks like it worked out ok

SEPT 23 1989 · 23-02-2015 12:12PM

the other kids parents should be ashamed of themselves

well done to the locals showing proper community spirit giving the kid a birthday he will never forget

whiskeyman · 23-02-2015 12:26PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

the other kids parents should be ashamed of themselves

An invite isn't a requirement to attend.
There's obviously a reason they didn't show up.

I'd more blame the parents of the kid who sent out the invites.
They should know who their son is friends with or not, and why.... and then set realistic expectations.

seamus · 23-02-2015 12:33PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

the other kids parents should be ashamed of themselves

Why?

If I got an invite from the parent of some kid I didn't know and that my child didn't regard as a friend, then we wouldn't go to the party.

It's become pretty standard now to have a rule of "invite everyone or invite no-one" in schools, so it may have become standard to just ignore invites when your child is not a friend of the child concerned.

In this case I suspect the parent set expectations far too high and assumed that people would attend when an invite was sent out.

It's likely none of the other parents were aware that nobody else was planning on going.

AudreyHepburn · 23-02-2015 12:37PM

whiskeyman wrote: »

An invite isn't a requirement to attend.
There's obviously a reason they didn't show up.

I'd more blame the parents of the kid who sent out the invites.
They should know who their son is friends with or not, and why.... and then set realistic expectations.

That's missing the point entirely.

One or two may have had genuine reasons for not coming but all sixteen? No way.

And to not even RSVP is the height of rudeness.

4zn76tysfajdxp · 23-02-2015 12:38PM

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

One or two may have had genuine reasons for not coming but all sixteen? No way.

What if they just don't like him? Wouldn't that be a genuine enough reason?

Duckworth_Luas · 23-02-2015 12:39PM

Should have posted the invite up on Facebook, loads of people would have turned up!

Canis Lupus · 23-02-2015 12:46PM

Amia Strong Surfboard wrote: »

What if they just don't like him? Wouldn't that be a genuine enough reason?

You can't dislike a child with autism. It wouldn't be PC.

SpaceSasqwatch · 23-02-2015 12:47PM

gozunda wrote: »

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/facebook-post-turns-autistic-boy-birthday-frowns-smile-article-1.2124313#bmb=1

Faith in humanity restored.

Laois_Man · 23-02-2015 12:51PM

So what's the mother gonna do next year?

Invite actors?

StormWarrior · 23-02-2015 12:52PM

No doubt soon it will be considered a hate crime against the disabled not to go to an autistic child's party.

StormWarrior · 23-02-2015 12:53PM

Btw it didn't say that they just didn't turn up. It said the mother informed her son that none of them would be coming. That means they must have let her know in advance that they weren't coming. And it's unfair to blame the other parents for not bringing the kids. We have no idea why they didn't go. Maybe the mother didn't give them enough notice or maybe the child is a violent bully. We really have no idea what has gone on.

Pumpkinseeds · 23-02-2015 01:02PM

Why is this even a story

A lot of people assuming that people didn't attend the party because of the kids autism. Hell of a leap to make, he could be a total nightmare, or so could his parents. Christ, how did we all survive pre Facebook pity parties?. There's more to this story than meets the eye.

kneemos · 23-02-2015 01:21PM

OMG I'm so caring I'm in floods of tears.

anncoates · 23-02-2015 01:37PM

The mother's apparent, er, zealous approach to these things might partly explain the no shows.

anncoates · 23-02-2015 01:43PM

StormWarrior wrote: »

No doubt soon it will be considered a hate crime against the disabled not to go to an autistic child's party.

Only in a world solely constructed on the whims and principles of AH, perhaps.

kneemos · 23-02-2015 01:45PM

Anybody use the terrorist word yet?

23-02-2015 01:46PM

It seems that an invitation has now acquired the status of a legal summons.

23-02-2015 01:48PM

In all fairness, from reading the article the mother posted “I know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is breaking for my son. We invited his whole class (16 kids) over for his 6th birthday party today. Not one kid came.” on her own personal facebook page.

It was people who read that that shared it and caused all the rest to happen and I'm sure the media caught wind of it and made it a big deal. From the info given there the mother just vented on facebook and nothing more, it's not like she rang the local news station and all the newspapers and asked them to run it as a story. It was a case of a perfectly simple and acceptable facebook status going viral.

And no, it's not a requirement to show up to a party you've been invited to, but it's nice to let the person know if you're not going to make it. It's basic manners tbh.

Buona Fortuna · 23-02-2015 01:55PM

^^^^^^

Well done Woops

We miss ya

/thread

MarkR · 23-02-2015 01:55PM

I do feel for the parents. My son is on the spectrum, and I can imagine he'll have trouble in later years making friends. If I was his parent though, you can be damn sure I would have done a ring around to find out what was happening if I hadn't any one RSVP'ing.

As mentioned above, kid may be a dick. Party could have been scheduled in a scab museum. Class of 16 kids, I assume it was a special needs class, so maybe it just didn't suit the kids to go.

anncoates · 23-02-2015 02:00PM

It is true though that so many parents don't RSVP to party invitations even if you put a mobile number on the invitation.

kneemos · 23-02-2015 02:01PM

Sad in fairness,whatever the reasons.

keithclancy · 23-02-2015 02:15PM

http://www.rentacrowd.com/

FTW

Egginacup · 23-02-2015 02:26PM

Surprised George Zimmerman didn't show up and stage some daring rescue of a kid from a blazing bouncy castle.

Menas · 23-02-2015 02:28PM

A bit more detail on this. http://www.aroundosceola.com/?p=14933

“From the minute he woke up that day he wanted to know how many minutes until his friends came. None of the kids’ parents RSVP’d, but I was still holding on to the hope that some of them would show up. It never crossed my mind that it would be zero,”his mom, Ashlee Buratti said.
Glenn’s eyes filled with tears when she finally told him that his classmates weren’t coming.
“He’s really sensitive,” Ashlee said, adding that Glenn has epilepsy and a mild formof autism.
When the birthday boy retreated into play with his older sister, Ashlee took a few minutes to process her frustration on Facebook. Her post on Osceola Rants Raves & Reviews List, a locally run page with more than 10,000 members, changed everything.
“I just wanted to vent to other parents who maybe had been through the same thing,” said Buratti, 25, a native of Kansas who graduated from St. Cloud High School in 2008.
She couldn’t figure out why none of Glenn’s classmates could make it to his party.
“I know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is breaking for my son. We invited his whole class (16 kids) over for his 6th birthday party today. Not one kid came,” she posted.

allibastor · 23-02-2015 02:43PM

It is the posting that makes it Sad, i mean even if the kid was a Dick, all 16 not going and then not bothering to call back even is a bit much.

Murray007 · 23-02-2015 03:11PM

My son attended a small rural primary school and there were only eight plus him in his class. The routine was to invite the whole class to parties.

A couple of young siblings joined his high infants class mid year. They had been severely neglected/abused, their mother had died in suspicious circumstances, they had health issues and had the language skills of a three year olds. Their heads were shaved by the public health nurse and they wore caps to school so their circumstances were highlighted. They had been cleared to attend school.

Anyhow, my sons birthday comes around and all the class are invited as usual. The mothers asked one of their group to call me and tell me that their children would not come unless I disinvited the two kids. I told them that wasn't going to happen. My son, the two kids and one other, strangely the child of the woman who called me, had a fantantic time at his birthday. I explained to my son what had happened and even at only 6 years old he agreed that I had done the right thing.

Three of the kids in my sons class never attended his birthday again and their mothers still don't talk to me in the street, it was twelve years ago!

A year after the kids arrived in our community their father showed up and took them to the UK, this is the father they lived with before. I still think about those kids regularly and feel what hypocrites those women are when they show up at mass every week looking holier than thou. If there is a God, I hope those kids get a mention at the fork in the road just before the pearly gates.

6 year old Autistic american child has no friends turn up to his birthday

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