Kid blowing bubbles in restaurant. Mum kicked off when asked by waitress to make him stop.

[JumpsuitQ213]

A friend of mine went out for lunch with a group of mums and their kids. One of the kids (7yo) is mildly autistic and has ADHD. Goes to main stream school and to talk to him you wouldn’t know about the autism, etc. He’s no more fidgety than loads of other kids.

So in the restaurant today he pulls out bubbles and is blowing them all over the place. Popping on other people, on food, etc.

Waitress asked his mum for him to stop and mum kicked off and ripped waitress a new arsehole “for disrespecting my kid”.

I do have sympathy for kids who may struggle to behave in social situations though I admit having met this kid I don’t think he needs that much allowance made for him. I’d have more sympathy for someone with severe learning difficulties.

But surely if you can’t sit in a restaurant without popping soapy bubbles over everyone’s food then you leave?

A) there's no such thing as 'mild autism'.

B) this totally happened and isn't just an offensive wind up.

C) can't think of C.

Well it definitely happened. Kid doesn’t have an autistim diagnosis, that’s what the mum says he has. She thinks he does have it.

Of course you can be mildly autistic - I assume OP you mean something like what used to be called aspergers.Autism is a spectrum.

I feel sorry for the waitress, the child should not be allowed to blow bubbles all over the place especially if it makes a mess and/or gets on other people's food. If it were just kept at the table and only bothering people in the child's own group then I guess it would be ok though.

The mum shouldn't have allowed him to do that, autistic or not,

I think he’s in the process of getting an official diagnosis.

I’m certainly not making it up and my friend hasn’t made it up as I’ve seen a WhatsApp talk about it between some of them.

As above of course you can be mildly autistic, there is a huge range, and a waitress can't be expected to make allowance for a special need she was unaware of. Assuming that the waitress was polite then the mother had no right to go off at her. And, no it's not acceptable to blow bubbles in a restaurant no matter what your special needs are.

The mother was being precious. The world doesn't revolve around her special snowflake

No you can’t be ‘mildly’ autistic. There is no such thing. My dd is high functioning and would have been labelled with Aspergers but is still autistic and it severely affects her (and my) life.

Implying someone should leave because the have autism. (That's the bottom line) is disablist.
However that said. I don't think I'd be pleased if I were out having a meal and soapy bubbles started Landing in my food. I'm sure he could have been entertained with something else the did not interfere with others peoples meals. Also yes I'm with you that the mother was very very rude. People don't get paid enough for that shit.

There is all different levels of Autism (Is there not)so I imagine a person can be mildly autistic

He’s certainly managed in restaurants before without bubbles.

Ok, I get what you say about how people either have autism or they don’t. But yes I think what the mother means is that he’s high functioning.

It’s about how my dad said he had “mild epilepsy”. He still had epilepsy and “mild” probably wasn’t an official medical term but he didn’t feel he was badly affected by it,

Autism or not, a restaurant is NOT the place for blowing bubbles and the mother of said child should never of allowed it.

People have paid good money to eat and obviously don’t want some child blowing bubbles. If child can’t be in a restaurant without blowing bubbles then they shouldn’t be in there.

Poor waitress, likes she’s paid enough to put up with this

I can see both sides.
Bubble can make the floor really slippy and I am not too sure they would make you food taste the way it should.
And obviously it's important to keep the child entertained.

Ttheyhe restraunt could have said to stop but offered an alternative such as some paper and pens.

Asperger's certainly isn't "mild" autism. Lots of parents of children with high-functioning autism and Asperger's get really pissed off when it's referred to as a mild form of autism, because that completely belittles the impairments and challenges their children experience. It's different, it's not "mild". People at the higher-functioning end of the spectrum are more likely to have mental health problems because they are more aware of the limitations their condition imposes on their lives, for one thing. This can lead to depression, self-harm and suicide - there's nothing mild about it.

The mum shouldn't have allowed her child to blow bubbles if it was annoying others. It's tough managing a child on the spectrum in a public place, but that doesn't mean anything goes, and it's not a good idea to teach children that it does imo.

There is no such thing as 'mild autism'.

In order to be diagnosed as autistic you have to meet the triad of impairments criteria. If you meet these criteria, your functioning is affected enough to be diagnosed as autistic.

Yes I agree that I wouldn’t have allowed that either.

Good idea in practice, Stressed.
However it is after all a Restaurant.
Its not a Nursery

Ffs. There is NO such thing as ‘mild’ autism. Either you have autism or you don’t. You wouldn’t say somebody is ‘mildly’ diabetic would you??

That said, bubbles in a restaurant is inappropriate.

‘Mild’ autism is just code for ‘other people are only mildly affected by this person’s autism, therefore it isn’t serious.’ 🙄

Theory FFS not practice

And people who express opinions about what autism is without actually being autistic have no right to that opinion. Everyone seems to think they know all about it, but actually, no, you don't. Even so called 'experts'.

Is this the usual Saturday night, bash autism thread? Would you do it to someone who has downs syndrome, retts, or epilepsy?

FFS. It doesn't matter if the child has autism, "mild" or not. Nobody should be blowing bubbles in a freaking restaurant! No, there really is NO excuse for that. Take your child outside instead of blowing soap into people's food. WTF?

The mother was totally out of order ripping the waitress a new one. @JumpsuitQ213 what happened after that embarrassing show?

If he was blowing bubbles and not interfering with other diners, then i’m Sure there wouldn’t be a problem.

However, I could see the fact that the bubbles were landing on other people and their food could be annoying and should be stopped.

It certainly isn’t a bash autism thread. I have no problem with the kid. I’m more gobsmacked that his mother thought it was ok in the first place, that she was rude to the waitress and is now bitching about the waitress on FB.

The bubbles were put away and they left......they’d finished eating anyway. But left after quite a scene, major flounce with shouts of “we won’t be coming back”.

I bet the waitress was relieved!