Today after calling my sister, I hung up the phone and just paused. Life stopped for a moment. I had to really think about this…you see, I was ticked, sad, and shocked all at once. This Mama is rarely floored but what she told me rocked my world.
You see, Sunday is a mother of two incredible little boys. Sam and Noah are in elementary school and both have very different forms of Autism. So, you see Sunday already has a very full plate that she deals with every day with grace and dignity. It breaks my heart to hear that on the boys school field trip to the Dollar Tree to purchase items for a Homeless Shelter that they were greeted by a disrespectful store employee. What she said to them as they filed off the school bus and prepared to enter Dollar Tree number 1676 in Reisterstown, Maryland is unbelievable. They were stopped and asked, “Why do you have to bring those children into this store?”. Unfortunately this is not the first time this employee has made it known she does not want children with special needs there.
I am so disappointed in this employee! Words I am thinking are not nice so I will refrain. My momma told me Thumpers mama said, “If you do not have anything nice to say, then do not say anything at all.” I am just profoundly saddened by the experience these children were given while they were trying to help others! Believe me when I say that Sam and Noah are both striving to be active productive future citizens. These experience based field trips help students learn how to do even the most basic of skills. Sometimes a milestone is having them look the cashier in the face and say “thank you.” Other times for another student it could be walking in and filling a basket. We do not know there challenges but it is our job to protect them from this type of discrimination!
I ask you to please the next time you are shopping to stop and thank your special education teachers. If you see them in Target or a local store helping their students learn. Offer your thanks! Their job is tireless and many times not rewarded financially but by watching their students blossom! Then take a moment to stop judging the mother with a loud screeching child or one who’s child is laying on the floor at checkout. Remember you do not know their story. You have not walked in their shoes. Maybe getting out that day was “huge” in their world and allowed a non-communicative child to participate in a social setting. See…not everything is face value. I have listened to my sisters stories of disrespectful people and am simply stunned.
Sorry to get on my soap box tonight but sometimes this Mama just has to let ya know how it is…If you would like to read more about it and Dollar Tree’s response go to Adventures in Extreme Parenthood