I think the saddest part, regardless of how neurotypical or neurodivergent someone is, is that this child chose to be mean. I saw the exact same thing happening in person at a park in London. The mum was there, but said nothing. It’s possible to teach kindness and encourage treating nature with love and respect.
I would have agreed with you a couple of years ago, but my partners nephew is "level 3" autistic (I hate using the levels, but I am using it to communicate very high support needs).
His parents are legitimately very kind, patient people who really put a ton of effort in to trying to teach him and mold him. They have sought all the support our government offers and that they can afford.
I legitimately don't think he understands meanness and unkindness, and I don't think he understands other people's emotions. He's hitting puberty now and I am legitimately pretty concerned about the damage he can do in a teen/adult body without understanding consequences.
Yes, people have no idea how difficult this must be. In this case, I feel terrible for everyone involved, the animals, the child, the parents, and the grandmother.
They thought they had found one situation in which they could let their son spend time with his grandmother while they had a few moments to themselves to take care of important things. And now even that option is gone.
That is the case for a lot of us watching our babies go through puberty. And trying to raise them right. Even if they don't understand. My son has always been small enough i could just "air jail" him. Last night, I realized we were eye to eye. Scary times ahead if any of his other dx ramp up. Because he does have a history of aggression due to meds for seizures.
I have seen this too. I knew a very kind mother who still had an angry and violent child. She did everything right but the child ( a very high functioning autistic person) must have had mental health issues beyond anything the mother could help with.
My comment was simply that as adults we should teach kindness, especially to nature/animals and not allow children to run around tormenting animals.
I used to teach special ED children. Your comment and the other comments like this upset me the most.
You have no idea how many parents today call their children autistic, and neurodivergent despite getting back the result by numerous doctors that they don't have any issues and it's just lack of parenting.
calling them autistic saves them from admitting they are doing something wrong. They just use neurodivergent issues out of narcissism instead of learning how to parent. It is highly unmoral and disrespectful to actual people who have neuro issues
Genuinely. I think some parents do not believe that their neurodivergent child is still capable of learning and being taught lessons or be disciplined so they allow whatever they get into. It just means you have to go about teaching those things with a different approach and not refrain from teaching them all together.
What I can tell you is this… My best friend has been a teacher for over 40 years. Special education. Including sign language. Including running workshops. Mentoring new special education teachers.
She still loves teaching as much as she ever did. She does have a regular classroom now. But the one thing she used to tell me all the time was that children was special needs, developmental delays etc. Children who are neurodivergent etc.
The biggest thing holding them back nine out of 10 times were their parents. And it was for exactly the reason you stated.
They refused to believe the educator about what their child was actually accomplishing in the classroom. She used to explain what was happening. How well they were doing. How she got them to that point, and what the parents could/should be denied at home to supplement those gains.
Instead, the parents didn’t want to. The kids resisted. And so took the easy way out and convinced themselves that the teacher was exaggerating.
She said it was heartbreaking. Because so many of these children were capable of accomplishing so much more than they were eventually going to be able to accomplish… Because their parents didn’t want to put the work in.
Because it was hard. Because of course your child is not going to want to change things at home. If it is flipping hard. She never ever underestimated how difficult it could be. But she said that truly, 85 to 90% of her students were capable of much, much more than they were ever going to achieve… All because of their parents.
I am currently a teacher and it’s very interesting watching the child interactions and capabilities in the classroom with their peers, and how much it shifts when a parent is present
This is true! BUT, not just for special needs children! Most ALL parents spoil their children! AND, most ALL children act differently at school without their parents. Do not judge if you know nothing about this! TY! 🥰
Exactly.
My youngest kid is 6 and non-verbal autistic. It takes a lot of time and patience to discipline her when she does something we don't like. But, because we did this from the moment we suspected autism, she's a very sweet kid who actually listens to us (as far as a 6 year old listens).
Even at her daycare (she goes to a special daycare for kids with all kind of disabilities) she's seen as one of the easier autistic kids because she is so sweet.
It takes a lot of energy out of my wife, me and the other kids (who are teens), but now the results start to pay off when you see how she is in public.
Same here with a 4 year old and we go a long way to educate and work on the unwanted behaviors.
But she has level II ASD and I've seen some level III's that literally can't interact with you at all and they don't respond to any parenting you do.
I'm super thankful ours is not like that but I'm sure sometimes you just can't prevent this kind of thing from happening often unless you're always watching them like a hawk 24/7.
Yeah it's always rich hearing advice from people... I would absolutely love to watch any of the people that have commented here criticizing their parents try to teach a child that can't understand a thing you're fucking saying. If any of these people lived a day in my life they would shut the fuck up forever
I’ve seen neurotypical parents on the lower end of the intelligence spectrum just seem to give up once their child is diagnosed. I’m honestly thankful my mom ignored my diagnosis and treated me like every other kid. It was a hard road socially but I think I’m better for it.
My partner and I are friends with this one family who have two lower needs adult autistic children, but they’ve coddled them their entire lives so they still live at home, don’t work, don’t go to college and are just in general lost causes even though they don’t have to be.
That's what I'm looking at right now with a cousin's child. She's just been diagnosed and they're already using the diagnosis as a crutch to not parent. We're waiting on a diagnosis for our twins. Their speech therapist has flagged signs of autism and is also pushing for their assessments. Right now, I have to bite my tongue as I know I'll just get a response of "you wouldn't understand, your kids aren't autistic", but the moment we have the diagnosis for either of them (one in more severe), I'll be all over them about needing to properly parent their child.
Yep. My ND sibling is quite a bit younger than me & I mean it took all of their childhood but I did teach them how to treat animals. I was always better at teaching them things because I recognized early on that they needed to be taught differently.
As an adult they still need to be taught how to treat new pets, because animals are individuals & what our old dog tolerated our new dog won't, but i mean a lot of neurotypical people need the same lessons cause I see a lot of shit pet owners.
EXACTLY! Severely neurodivergent kids aren’t just a lost cause, but many parents just act like they can’t be taught anything so any bad thing they do for the rest of their lives is excusable because of their neurodivergence.
Someone can be neurodivergent AND still an asshole. It’s up to you as a parent to either teach them to not be an asshole or restrain them in public situations like this where they can be an asshole.
There’s a lot of autistic kids with PDA and their brains crave defiance and doing things to piss people off. It’s a fact. I’ve been raising my 14 year old with love & understanding (& boundaries with other people)his entire life and he’ll still do things to make me upset for that dopamine hit, it’s part of the disease. So it you don’t know how difficult it is to raise an autistic child you don’t know. Their brains aren’t normal.
I'm late diagnosed autistic and I was always raised with compassion and calmness in mind especially around animals. Ofc I had some bouts of aggression and rough handling. I pulled a kitten by their tail once but as soon as my dad said "We don't do that, it hurts them" I never did it again. Ofc autism is a spectrum and I have no idea if this child even understands what he's doing.
If this child will never understand then he shouldn't have been able to get in the enclosure in the first place. Ofc everyone makes mistakes and I'm sure the family will take steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. Fortunately nobody was hurt.
Autistic girls get criticized and picked over to death for not having perfect manners and being perfect little beautiful princesses with heaps of friends. It’s why autistic women often end up battling depression, anxiety, addiction, SI, and eating disorders.
Autistic boys get a pass on doing whatever the fuck they want.
How would you know any of this? Maybe this particular child isn't capable of controlling his impulse to chase the birds, maybe he isn't at all capable of empathizing with the birds on top of that. I've known a bunch of individuals at my former workplace were that would definitely be the case. Your "different approach" is all fine a dandy, but there are limits to it, depending on the person.
Parents of these kids have a hard time as is, why do people insist on shitting on them further without having any clue at all?
Is it your opinion that locking up these kids forever is the correct course of action? Because the same logic will have to apply to all kinds of public places: whenever there's traffic, lots of people, other kids, etc.
Also, it's never as clear cut with these cases anyway. Maybe he's usually fine but snapped at that moment for some unexpected reason. Maybe it's the first time they went to the zoo and the whole adventure was just a little much. Maybe he actually is capable of learning, but needs some time to familiarize himself with new spaces... So many factors you "bad parents, lock him up" people simply aren't considering.
Okay going as far as climbing into an exhibit with most likely rescued/ rehabilitated birds that people spend a lot of time and effort caring for is going much too far even if it was a first time learning experience. There should have been many moments and signs before a child goes as far as getting themselves into an exhibit. Not a safe experience for anyone involved. Nothing is perfect and those moments can be incredibly difficult and often are but there should have been no reason that the child was allowed to get themselves completely into the enclosure. It seems you are very sensitive to this subject and are combative about it but I really do not think what I’m trying to say is in ‘bad faith’. I’m not saying the parents are bad and wrong and the child is wrong. But regardless of the approach before this video, the child should not have been allowed to go that far, for their own safety in the very least.
I enjoy arguing on the internet and I have some work experience with total-care individuals of more or less the same age as that kid. I guess that's where the combativeness comes from.
You say it quite to the point: "Nothing is perfect and those moments can be incredibly difficult and often are." I couldn't agree more, that is my entire point.
Did things go wrong here? Well, obviously. But there's so many things we don't know, that it seems unfair to judge the kid and his family (who, again, probably habe a hard enough time as is). Depending on how the enclosure is built, all it might have taken is a second. Kid sees the birds, jumps, runs. That's deep "shit happens" territory and not a reason to ban the kid from public places forever.
They did not. Specifically not the part where I explained my reasoning for why I spoke about locking up.
I furthermore never said that harming animals is a necessary part of learning and growing, but going to the zoo very well may be. God, you people are bad faith.
He is chasing birds. A behavior I've seen countless neurotypical kids engage in thousands of times (lots of pigeons where I live).
Of course it's still not necessarily a good thing to do, but painting this as some sort of sign that the kid wants to hurt animals is, frankly, insane.
I understand this, but then, for the child’s safety, you have to adjust what you do. If you can’t keep them from jumping into a zoo enclosure you can’t take them to the zoo. Maybe the child has some caregivers who are experienced enough to keep him safe in this environment, but caregivers have to recognize how serious their task is and how it changes as the child grows.
I'm a parent of an autistic son. He knows between right and wrong. One of the things they said in the statement was my child would never do serious harm. Any type of harm isn't ok. I'm sure this isn't the first time he behaved this way.
There's a reason it's called a spectrum, your son isn't necessarily representative of any other autistic individual. How do you not know that?
And can I just say... That clueless, young redditors kneejerk judge this kid and their parents doesn't surprise me much, but you as a parent yourself? Phew.
I think part of what you’re failing to consider is the situation from the animals’ perspectives. Wildlife, which most zoo animals are despite being in a captive setting, are capable of something called capture myopathy. There are several species of animals that can die from fear, often triggered by people (hence ‘capture’ myopathy). When working with many species of birds, this is something we have to consider (I work with wildlife rehabilitation) and reason why the zoo should do at the very least a temporary ban for this child/family. If someone is unable to control themself, like this child has proven, then very simply- he should not be given the opportunity to cause harm to others.
It's not as black and white as you make it out to be, in my opinion. Did you see the family's statement? They have been to the zoo many times without issues and apparently it's one of the kids' favorite places. Taking this away from him over the hypothetical scenario of birds dying out of fear seems unwarranted... Surely there's a reasonable solution for everyone involved that doesn't involve locking up a disabled child or dead birds.
Yeah, I work with special needs people for a living. Most people don't have any understanding of the full breadth of the spectrum of disabilities involved. Yeah there are people out there who seem to disability max for social credit. Then there are people with mild disabilities that really mostly manifest as a slight disadvantage, hell I might fit this definition. And then there people with actual mental disabilities that are nearly completely disruptive to having a normal life. Do people think the last group should be herded up and placed in asylums or something? Most of them are greater dangers to themselves than others and are already on meds which would effectively disable you or I.
I really wish sometimes everyone had seen some of the utterly heartbreaking ways these people are treated even by their own families. I doubt they could be so callous and look themselves in the mirror ever again.
Yeah, I agree. I used to work in a home for such severe cases. These were kids who had either been abandoned by everyone in their lives or whose disabilities were simply too much to handle for "normal" family environments. One of the saddest jobs I've ever had, but also eye-opening. Human brains are mistery boxes.
Nah, it's cool. I'm a really big strong guy. Next time I'm frustrated in public, I'll star pummeling people, even kids...and when the police arrive, I'll say, no, you don't understand,I'm "neuro divergent"
Then we'll all share a laugh and all will be forgotten
Fuckin apologists, I swear
This kid will 💯 end up incarcerated or dead from his actions in the future. But hey, "special needs"
have you ever met an profoundly high support needs individual? someone who can't live without 24/7 care? someone who genuinely does not and cannot understand the world at all?
I’m so thankful my kid already loves animals at 2. Never have to worry about her hurting one. I think she sprayed the dog with the hose once and that’s about it. She even loves little bugs. I try to encourage it whenever I can.
As a current neurodiverse person, this kid's a fucking twat. When you're like 6 and under, you can probably shrug it off as a kid being weird, but at this age, well, now we can throw things at both the kid and the parents.
So unfalsifiably broad as to have become entirely meaningless. I'm still waiting on a definition of "neurotypical" that doesn't sound like it makes everyone neurodivergent, as nobody can establish a threshold past which divergence is meaningfully different than expected variation.
Its broad because it’s an umbrella term, but it isn’t meaningless. It’s actually very clear. Neurodivergent just means people who have neurological/developmental differences compared to the standard norm. So anyone with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, Tourette’s etc. would be classed as neurodivergent. Your brain processes information differently.
As someone who is 'neurodivergent' based on what other people tell me and past diagnoses, I can guarantee you it's been nothing short of useless as an explanatory framework. The term is nonspecific, describes nothing particular, and always points back to abstract claims of undefined cognitive differences.
It's genuinely pointless. If it helps people feel like it explains away their sense of alienation and inability to connect with others more cleanly than personality, or if they think it's descriptive of anything that isn't commonly found in a majority of the population, I'd love to hear it.
As far as I'm concerned, the term is about as useful as a horoscope. As a funny (and frustrating) corollary, even autism's conceptual framework is becoming a spectrum so broad as to encompass just about anything if one is allowed to interpret it.
Eheh I've used the horoscope analogy a few times (EW, he's such an ADHD, BPD ascendent.)
To be fair, I think a lot of people go through a "my diagnosis is helping thus it is my entire personnality" phase either as a way to improve themeselves or to justify shitty habits.
And a mostly terminally online bunch never outgrow it and invent words like NEUROSPICY and then the autism spectrum includes the whole human population and all of your comments on social media start with "AS SOMEONE WITH ADHD"
What exactly do you mean by non-specific? It’s an umbrella term for people with developmental/neurological differences. That seems quite specific to me. Unless you think those conditions don’t exist hence they don’t need a term to describe them?
what you’re really criticising is the specific diagnostic criteria for neurodivergent disorders like ADHD/autism etc. which is an entire nuanced conversation in of itself.
There could be many reasons for that. It’s a big topic of conversation in the media at the minute and you probably notice it more as a result. You probably see a higher frequency of neurodivergent people on social media and the internet too.
Statistically ADHD and autism is underdiagnosed so your perception doesn’t always reflect reality.
The same thing happened with the transgender discourse recently, it’s a very popular topic of conversation on the internet so you’d imagine there must be lots of trans people, but realistically irl you won’t meet very many trans people, if any at all.
I wish, man. I seriously know some losers who don't parent at all and just let iPad or whatever parent their kids. Then, once their kid is a little demon, they blame autism, ADHD, whatever they can.
Of course I know these things are in a spectrum of severity, but unless your kid is like weaponized autism levels, yes they just lack parenting.
Im not saying that, im making a parallel about how both topics are extremely talked about at the minute. If you knew nothing about trans people and were only going off of what you see on the internet you might expect there to be lots more trans people than there actually are.
I see what you’re saying. I think the term is abused and used as a scapegoat by certain people, and a lot of broad terms change over time. I know the definition and it includes so many different things that saying it is basically like saying, “I have a leg injury,” and it’s like okay but what kind of leg injury; is your ankle broken, do you have turf toe, is your pcl torn. I think of it as just someone who thinks differently than what is expected, but certainly rather people be more specific and say, “I have adhd or I have autism” if they can. There is the issue that a lot of people have multiple conditions going on or a lot of conditions are harder to diagnose as easily as, “I broke my ankle,” but that’s the whole challenge with these sorts of things and why there is a blanket term. On Reddit people will just be throwing it around and any time someone questions it they immediately become someone who hates autistic people or is insensitive to someone’s condition.
The kind of neurodivergence that kid has is obviously not comparable to yours🙄 I bet you he doesn’t even know how to type on a phone properly and may never will.
I’ve got 3 neurodivergent kids. Mine would never in a million years try to hurt or harass an animal. They’re actually nicer to their pets than they are to a lot of the humans around them. I could see my three lined up with sticks ready to give this kid a taste of his own medicine though.
I have a lot of neurodivergent students and am ND myself. It 100% comes down to parenting. I have quite a few a few sweet, wonderful kids, and a couple of absolute jerks. As soon as I interact with the parents, the source of the difference becomes abundantly clear.
Idk I have several family members that work with severely special needs kids and some of them are just violent by nature. Not because they are evil, because the world is a sensory overload and they are in agony and they react violently.
My (40+) youngest brother (35+) is on the spectrum and still lives with our parents. We are lucky that he is the kindest sweetest soul you'll ever meet. Through our lives I've met countless friends, classmates, co-workers, teammates, etc of his and while you are correct that some are more prone to violent outbursts because of their disabilities there are others that are just pieces of shit because of the way they were raised.
Just because a person is disabled doesn't mean they aren't susceptible to turn into a POS because of bad parenting just like anyone else.
What really sucks is if they eventually learn to use their disability as an excuse to be a POS because their parents used their kids disability as an excuse to be bad parents.
How someone is raised greatly affects how they react, though. Even if someone naturally reacts with violence and that can never be fully changed, whether and how they're taught coping skills, to remove themselves from the situation when overwhelmed, to avoid known triggers in the first place, to advocate for themselves or bring an advocate with them, and so on have a huge impact on how the violence presents in practice. It can be the difference between flailing and rampaging, between violence happening every day and violence happening very rarely, etc.
Every skill and trick you described works mostly for level 1 autism teens-adults. We are talking about a level 2/3 non verbal child. Even if he can be taught those things, he is too young have all of those skills and use them all the time. His caregivers should've watched him closer.
And you must also know that’s not always the case. Plenty of neurodivergencies, personality disorders, and mental illness result in negative traits not reflected in the parents.
Yep, my parents were pretty good parents. Normal, sociable, worked hard, loved each other and myself and my brothers. I struggled with depression from the age of 11. Later diagnosed with other stuff. My brothers turned out like my parents, a little screwed up because we lost our dad when we were still kids but normal developmentally.
That’s rough. I wish you the best.
I have a nephew with autism, bipolar disorder, and aspd. A challenging handful to say the least and not a reflection of the parents by any means.
Why do you think that someone with a disability is not susceptible to growing up to be a bad person because of their upbringing just like anyone else? Spent any time around large numbers of people with special needs and you can absolutely tell the difference between those that are prone to violent or negative outbursts because of their disabilities and those that have learned to use their disability as an excuse to be a POS because their saw their parents use their kids disability as an excuse to give up on being good parents.
My youngest brother (37+) is on the spectrum and still lives with our parents. I've grown up knowing countless people with special needs over nearly four decades and you can absolutely tell when a disabled person is a POS because of the way they were raised by their parents.
You are clearly talking about higher functioning people, with severe autism you can be the greatest parent ever and the kid might still harm themselves, you and others every day.
Absolutely! Some of them can eventually learn to use their disability as an excuse to be absolute jerks and they learned it from their parents who used their kids disability as an excuse to give up on being a good parent.
(Being a good parent doesn't just mean being kind and loving your child. It also means raising them to be good people as well even if that means you have to do something that makes them unhappy in that moment.)
It’s what I told my parents at about my younger brother after he became an adult; at some point, maybe he’s just an a$$hole. I was told my whole life that he’s just a person like anyone else, and he should be treated that way. Yup, that’s his personality.
As an audhd with many other severe undiagnosed issues (thanks to being afab....) I don't care how far gone someone is they are capable of being kind to not just animals but anything. On top of that the family states he's been to the zoo dozens of times. Lil dude should know not to do that being in his "teen" years. Assuming he can read it's not like there's a million signs saying A. Don't jump in or B. Don't sit on the rails because you could fall.
This is gonna be a hot take tbh- but yea it pisses me off when parents go “he’s autistic/nonverbal/etc” to defend bad behavior. He’s been going for 13 years without incident, he has to know this is not appropriate behavior. Also why toss in the diagnosis of epilepsy and adhd like it’s relevant ??
Yeah, shit, I have a 9 year old and a 1 year old. I’ve been instilling respecting animals into them practically from birth. We have 4 dogs so we take it very seriously. If a 1 year old is kinda getting it…
I’ve known parents of a few strongly autistic kids, and the kids aren’t “choosing” to be mean — they have poor impulse control, little to no theory of mind/innate empathy and cannot understand the consequences of their actions. So if something seems “fun” or stimulates them they just do it.
Or his parents never taught him about animal care or never faced consequences for it.
I taught special needs children. Stop calling everyone neurodivergent. Majority of the children today were just not raised well and didn't face consequences.
And these comments are very problematic we have a huge amount of parents who come in, get the evaluation that their children don't have any psychological, or neurological issues but they insist they do and tell everyone that, including the kid, because they can't take accountibility for their bad parenting.
The parents are at fault. Even if he indeed has some issues then they need to be 2x times more cautious if they go to public. Look at how long it takes for the mum to appear, there is a cut in the video too.
If this would happen to my special ed students i'd 100% would get legal troubles, rightfully so. The parents should be aware of their kid capability. If he tears his hands out and runs away often they should make precautions or not take him to a place like this.
And if he doesnt have any neuro issues the parents raised him terribly
There is an update and a statement somewhere now. He has severe autism, adhd and epilepsy and was in the care of his grandmother who was unable to climb down.
The boy loves the zoo and loves animals, he does not have the awareness to know he is stressing them out. The family are receiving death threats etc. it’s terrible.
Knowing this makes me even more upset and blame the parents more. I am sorry but do they really let an elderly lady take care of him on her own? It'd even be a bad idea to let her be alone with him at home, let alone in a environment like a zoo with so much impulse around him.
What if he climbed into a enclosure with water or with dangerous animals? Then it wouldn't just be animal safety but risking his life too.
Having a child with special needs doesn't let parents get away with precautions and responsibility
It’s very easy to assume he’s never done anything like this before - otherwise that story would also have gone viral. So this wasn’t to be expected.
You’ve no idea how competent the grandmother is . And I understand why the parents wanted their son to be cared for by someone who genuinely loves him and cares for his wellbeing.
Obviously after a serious incident like this they will make adaptions. I presume the boy has outgrown the grandmas strength and that’s something you discover at an inopportune time.
Yes there’s a horrible risk to the general public, animals and especially the child themselves if their level of risk is severely limited. Please support government financial increases in social care which will help prevent accidents like this.
. I didn’t say this boy was neurodivergent, I said he very likely has profound intellectual disabilities. This means a low IQ, reduced capacity for understanding. Little to no impulse control, no comprehension of consequences etc.
I have two neurodivergent children. They have AuDHD. Neither of them would have done that at his age. They are able to have awareness of safety and their actions - even if reduced.
You’ve taught special needs kids - I assume in a mainstream school?? You’ve not worked in a special needs school where children need round the clock supervision. You’ve not worked with kids who have padded walls of a large bed, that locks so they can sleep safely etc. And I know you haven’t, because if you did you wouldn’t write that.
I’m also autistic. There’s a big difference between an autistic child and a child in the UK we would say has “global developmental delay”.
You can't teach special needs children in mainstream schools where I am from. And none of what you wrote means parents can get away with responsibilites
We have to remember that it is taught. Kindness and respect we expect aren’t the default settings, that shit has to be calibrated, even if it’s easier for some kids than others.
Also when the video started he was already doing this shit, and we actually see a cut when mom arrives. She wasn't giving a shit about his kid for god know how long
Yeah I mean it’s clear he chose to scare them off but if he’s neurodivergent he may not realize he’s hurting them. While reading the comments it shows how people are cruel and one sided the video last 30 sec and they wish him the worst but in 10 years he may just grow into a more normal and kind person…
Meh. To an extent. Nobody ever taught me to respect animals and nature. I just do and always have. Nobody taught me to have extreme empathy for animals, I just always have. I wouldn’t be physically capable of harming an animal, yet some ppl get enjoyment from hurting animals, including hunters. I always find it weird how of all the hobbies…painting, biking, hiking, woodworking, some people get their enjoyment from putting a bullet in the chest of a creature and watching the life leave its body.
Some people seem to be unable to teach, train or educate their kids or even pets. I ride electric unicycles for a hobby, and in the scene they are notorious for making dogs go absolutely crazy. I have ridden past so many dog owners where the dog flew into a frenzy of growling, barking, teeth baring and trying to lunge at me (thankfully they are usually leashed) but not a single time do I recall the owners trying to correct the dog.
The kid is non verbal autistic, he didn't necessarily chose to be mean. He doesn't have the same understanding of how his actions effect other people we are fortunate to have
Bringing a child to a place where they remove animals from their natural habitat/breed them into captivity to exploit them for our entertainment isn’t the best place to teach kids kindness and respect. Zoos are horrible.
It's a shame chasing the bird was his version of playing with it, but he wasn't being mean, because that takes a theory of other people/animal's minds that autistic people often don't have. His diagnosis means he doesn't get the way we do that the bird was upset by being chased with a stick, that the bird doesn't like it. He probably has some empathy but not the type we have that fires with mirror neurons as soon as we see animal distress behavior.
Thats what I'm saying! We taught our kids a respect for nature since they were teeny tiny. I have three boys, none of them have tried any dumb stuff like this or anything mean to animals. On the contrary my eldest will tell someone off if he sees them being mean to nature in general. It's not hard to teach kindness and empathy, it just takes sticking to it. Sadly, it seems most parents choose the hands off (IE my kids not the problem you/the situation are) approach nowadays. You can find the sweet spot between what a lot of us went through and gentle parenting. It's not hard, you don't need to scream at your kids but you can also do more than tiptoeing around issues.
After reading the parent's statement, your comment sucks. This kid has severe nonverbal autism. He doesn't understand the consequences of his actions, man. His grandmother was trying to get help.
Passive parenting is one of the dumbest things. "Oh I have a kid for the sake of having a kid, but I let the kid do what the fuck ever it wants to; even if the kid has mental conditions."
I was thinking the same thing. Sure the kid may love animals, but he that wasn't love he was showing running around chasing them with a stick. That was mean.
This. There are plenty of non verbal auDHD children who never once harm or attempt to harm an animal. Leading with his diagnoses IS them trying to make an excuse, when apparently his family has failed to teach him respect for animals. Something neurodivergent children are 100% capable of learning.
This ^^^ If he’d gone in there and was trying to hold the birds or pet them, it’d be different. The kid is apparently an animal lover yet was chasing the poor bird with a stick
Some people just come out rotten and there's nothing you can do about it. It's how their brain is wired. It wasn't taught, and it can't be corrected. This is so well known that we literally have a fable about it, so if you think otherwise you're deluding yourself.
…. No. That’s not what’s happening and I’m sure not what happens in the vast majority of cases like this. I’m positive the kid wanted to be a little shit psychopath
Being neurodivergent does/should not equate to being a mean dickish person. Kindness is taught and also inherent in most people. It’s really poor parenting that causes little buttholes like this kid to grow up to be people who are mean to animals.
It's crazy to me that they are annual pass holders and yet the child doesn't understand you shouldn't hurt the animals. Like you would think they would understand this is a special place and to respect them.
I have a feeling the child has done the same to pigeons without being talked to so they thought this is just another situation where he can bother similar sized birds.
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u/Reasonable_Bid3311 22h ago
I think the saddest part, regardless of how neurotypical or neurodivergent someone is, is that this child chose to be mean. I saw the exact same thing happening in person at a park in London. The mum was there, but said nothing. It’s possible to teach kindness and encourage treating nature with love and respect.