An Illinois mom wrote an open letter to parents after her son with Down syndrome was shunned at their community pool.
Kristen Rumphol said her 11-year-old son, Brandon, was at the swimming pool for three days last week and attempted to play with other kids, to no avail.
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“Today while at the swimming pool my heart was breaking! You see NO ONE wanted to play with my son. He would go up to other kids and say ‘hi boy or hi girl,’” Rumphol wrote in the letter posted to Facebook. “Every single time the kids would either look at him weird and say nothing or just swim away.”
Rumphol said her son is non-verbal and it broke her heart to see kids avoiding interacting with him.
“I don’t believe that all kids have to play with my son,” Rumphol said. “I think it starts at home with the parents teaching the kids not to ignore people. I don’t think it’s all about about special needs children. It’s teaching them to be compassionate.”
Parents, Grandparents, etc., please educate your children to be nice boys and girls. This is sad that a Mother would have to pen a letter to ask parents to do what they should already be doing.