Mum's note about 'destructive' son left on windscreen divides opinion
By Heidi Krause|
A parent has divided opinion online after leaving a very honest note of warning on the windscreen of a neighbour's car.?
In the handwritten message, which was shared to Reddit by the neighbour, the mum opened up about her son who has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
"Please note, our son is impulsive and destructive," the note began. "Since moving in, he has drawn on my car with texta, thrown a few rocks across the front of complex and if a car was parked where this one is it would [have] smashed a window.
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"He has also thrown numerous items from our balcony. I know that I have been very vocal about cars parking out the front here and this is a huge factor."
The family had only moved into the complex two weeks earlier.
"I, as a parent of a ADHD/ASD child, I can only pre-empt so much."
"Please only park here if you're willing to accept damage to your car," the brutally honest note concluded.
While many ?people praised the mum for being so honest about her son's behaviour, others found her lack of accountability an issue.
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"Now you know who's responsible if your car gets damaged," said one.
"A parent is responsible for the damages caused by their children, warning or not. Your inability to control your child does not give you the right to claim a public parking spot as yours/unusable," said another.
Others thought the parents needed to do more to prevent the child from throwing objects from the balcony.
"I agree, they need to block access. My youngest has ADHD and is very destructive, his neurologist says it's an anxiety thing. We have a magnetic alarm on his bedroom door so that we are alerted if he leaves his room at night. Otherwise he gets into all kinds of stuff," said one.
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Others felt sympathy for the mum.
"Why is this mildly infuriating? She is a parent doing her best with an impossible child... giving you a heads up. Try to be in her shoes?," noted one.
In a follow-up post, the dad who shared the letter revealed that they had five children, including one who also had ASD and ADHD.
"If the car were damaged it would be a very big inconvenience to us," he admitted. "We are all parents trying to do our best, and clear and effective communication is the best tool we have."
He also explained that he ended up having a good chat with the parents, face-to-face.
"I went and spoke with them today, we had a decent chat for about 10 minutes. I could see they weren't just projecting their problems onto us, and are genuinely trying to help their child. Context can be hard to read through paper," he said.
"She was very genuine and very concerned, I could tell she was tired and worried about her child, I am quite happy the letter was not a threat just a genuine heads up, and they will take responsibility for their child if anything results."
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