A moment of mortification
I really need some help with a very awkward and embarrassing situation I experienced over the weekend.
My son is in a class at the zoo. It meets once a month, and it is specific to his age. All the children in the class are 2 years old. The class is terrific and I highly recommend it to anyone. They have different age groups so any child can sign up. The cost is $10-$12 per class. In his class, they do learning activities, look at exhibits, do crafts and read stories.
On Saturday, we were in the craft portion of the class. All the kids sit at tables and the parents are right there with them. My son takes a spot next to a little blond girl. I didn’t notice at first, but she apparently suffers from a skin disorder, maybe psoriasis or something along those lines. Her skin was red and blotchy and looked to be peeling. But I didn’t think twice about it and so we started working on the craft.
About 5 minutes into it, my son looks over at her, points to her arm and lets out a huge “EWWWWW!!!” complete with scrunched-up nose and big grin. I think my heart stopped. I could feel her parents’ eyes on me and I immediately turned red. I was mortified. I didn’t know what to do. I went on instinct and tried to cover as best as I could by saying “yes, Hunter, ewww, you got glue on your hands!”
What do we do in a situation like that? I couldn’t punish him – after all, he is only two. If I tried to talk to him about it afterward, he would have long forgotten about what I was even referring to.
Please, fellow parents, tell me how you would handle that and if you have had a similar situation happen to you. I really need some advice on this because I have a sneaky suspicion this won’t be the last time!
~Erica Smith
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That is a tough one. And I’ve been on both side of that. My older brother has Down syndrome and there were often times growing up that we were pointed at and on occasion made fun of. And now as a parent of a 4-year-old who asks lots of questions I find myself completely not knowing how to respond to similar instances. And I thought I would be well armed for such things. Just the other day my daughter asked why my brother’s girl friend who also has Down syndrome talks funny. I had no idea what to say and I looked at my Mom and she gave me the I-have-no-clue eyes and shrugged. And I really thought she’d be armed with the answer. I just gave her some sort of we’re all different answer. But I guess the point is that no one knows a good answer and it sounds like you handled it well.