Kid barged in my house

[Ontobetterthings]

I wfh today. I had a load of banging on the door. I answered it thinking it was a delivery. There was a boy there about 12. I thought maybe he come round to see my son though I didn't know him. My son is at sports camp today though

Before I could even say anything he ran in my house and barged past me and tried to get up the stairs. I grabbed him by the arm and asked him what he was doing. I was worried as my daughter was in bed and didn't want anyone I don't know upstairs.

I asked him repeatedly what he was doing and he wouldn't answer
He just kept trying to get up the stairs. I said you don't barge into people's houses. Eventually he said toilet. I was thinking perhaps he could go to my downstairs toilet but he ran off. I don't think English was his first language. I noticed he wasn't wearing any shoes either.

I just feel very shaken by the whole thing.

Not every one has children, and not every one knows how children who are autistic behave, and don't know what non verbal means. So its hard if a stranger runs into your house, and won't talk.

But its good that he got home, and is safe.

I'm glad you found out what was going on, and that it was a relatively benign situation (although if it was my nonverbal child who'd bolted from the house I wouldn't feel that it was a benign situation!). At least it wasn't a child trying to escape from people traffickers, or someone trying to rob you.

I would report it

I agree this could be so, but IMO it's more likely he's not very well off and/or wasn't thinking.

I'm not sure... it's plausible but wouldn't he have shoes on?

Doesn't anybody ever read the thread?

The OP reported him to the Police and he was a child with Autism and a toilet fixation. End of story.

I swear it's getting worse. RTFT must be one of my most used phrases these days.

But the OP didn't know this was an autistic boy, it's just that now she knows about him she prefers for her young children not to have to deal with him in her absence. I think this is understandable. I, an adult and mother, would be able to handle him I think since I have some experience with SN children. But me too I would avoid this boy running into my children's room unexpectedly.

Exactly this.

Oh, that poor child and his parents.

Had a suspicion as soon as I started to read this thread that it would be an autistic child, especially given that they were shoeless and uncommunicative. Some autistic children are master escape artists and don't have the same ability to understand social norms. Anyone saying they don't believe that story needs to have a word with themselves and clearly have little to no experience of autism. The child likely has history of escape and is possibly already known to the police. My own autistic child has escaped my care once and it was absolutely terrifying because he has no way of communicating and very little danger awareness. Thankfully he was found very quickly. The police put a vulnerable person's marker on our address and took lots of details so they could be faster in response if there are any future incidents of escape as they already have the important details on file.

Op needs to lock their door though and totally understand why it would be a frightening experience. Police would have been called immediately if it had happened to me. Glad this vulnerable child is safe and the incident has been explained.

I've had the exact same thing happen to me but the child had a washing machine fixation

Thankfully the parent was nearby and came to get him out but he screamed blue murder trying to get away from her and back to the washing machine

Very scary but I really felt for the parent it must be so hard to manage

My son is on spectrum. If you tell him you rode in a plane he will ask what airline, type of plane Boeing or Airbus, etc… a photo would make his day sent to his phone. He might just want to know what type of toilet you have. Color, style, flushing button type, etc.. he may not be there to use it. It could be the flushing sound I suppose? It must be agony for the kid needing to know for some reason all the toilets on the block but unable to find out. Thank goodness your house no one was going to do anything wrong to him. If he just wants to know without using it I would probably invite the kid with a parent to see it. Then maybe he would just want to know everyone else’s toilet and next time he escapes will knock on their door.

This also could be a kid escaping traffickers or abusive parents with the no shoes part and the urgency. Call police, if you were mistaken no biggie. If you missed something serious you will feel awful. I’m U.S. but the local police are happy to make a note about house with a person with a special circumstance. I would imagine most country’s police do this. Usually more short term like an elder with dementia. Helps them if they need to make a house call know what they are walking into. For instance a home with a nonverbal child. If they just showed up maybe to assist ambulance they may assume shock from some incident and have their guard up. The parents just have a child who darts off, wanders… It is tough all around. Likely the police now know but imagine if they showed up at a house he managed to enter and the officers used force not realizing the person vulnerable. People on spectrum are slow to respond and may do so in a different way which could be misinterpreted. And it’s invisible. It isn’t a wheel chair or anything outwardly obvious.

My neighbor's severely autistic son behaved like this. Our patio was open and I came downstairs to find him standing bewildered in our living room. His mum came and got him. She had taken her eyes off him for a minute, and he wandered off. Sounds just like your sad visitor.

Where is any compassion 😕 🙄
What would you have done in a foreign country as an adult in the same situation 🤔 I would have done the same though as an adult I would have conducted myself in a more confident way. Also we consider ourselves as maybe entitled superior persons, a householder abroad would most likely let you in.
What a SHAME IT IS WE ARE SO QUICK TO THINK THE WORST
He may have been a terrorist unlikely how closed and unfriendly we've become
Sad Bad or Mad Auntie

Yep this tbh! I'd have tried to get him to sit down in the living room and called the police and let him use the toilet/given him some juice and kept him talking until they arrived

If he dashed odd before you knew what happened did you call the police afterwards with a description and where he went so they could check he's ok?

I guess it's clear....there is little humanity left.and we will all destroy what we have in our attempts not to share our gains. The "haves" will eventually be overwhellmed by the "have nots" and things will be reset. Its a shame we can't look forward a little and avoid the pain of revolution.

I think there is a lot of paranoia going on in the answers. How about looking for a more logical answer and that the kid may be a bit simple and possibly knows the son and just wanted to go to the toilet but lacks social skills or from his country wherever that is, this is a common thing to do.

A bit simple? What year is it where you are??

Maybe as they're illegal immigrants who came here from the safe country France. Already criminals by paying illegal gangs to bring them here, wanting free housing while locals wait years on housing registers.

You are absolutely right. Unfortunately others don't see what is right in front of their eyes. And I am saying it as an Asian, whose grandparents came to the UK as legal migrants.

I think you will find that asylum seekers are not placed in council housing and, therefore, do not interfere with housing register waitlists.

They are also not illegal until their claim has been rejected, and then they are deported. If their claim is successful then again, they're not illegal.

Suggest you switch off GBeebies