Thanksgiving Feast

For the most part, I try to keep the blog positive.  Mostly, I do this because you have enough hard things in your day and I want to try to help you get through those things with strength and whenever possible, with humor.

But today I need to share a tough moment we had with Mikey when he was in preschool. For reference, this is how my sweet buddy looked back then.

So little and so sweet.

His preschool class was having a Thanksgiving feast and every kid in the class decorated a placemat. Cool. But often, Mikey was outside of the classroom working on one-on-one therapies, and no one thought to send the placemat supplies home. When the teacher laminated them, she didn’t use the class list so she didn’t notice Mikey didn’t have one.

At his preschool, the kids usually ate lunch in their classroom, but the feast was in the cafeteria. The tables had little stools attached to them so there are a set number of seats at each table and seats cannot be added.

The day of the feast, the teachers set the table with each child’s placemat. The parents and guests gathered around to take pictures and enjoy the fun, but Mikey didn’t have a seat. I tried to put on a happy face for him, but I was so new to him being left out (I’m not sure you get used to this, but you do learn strategies to cope). That day, I was close to tears. The entire class sitting together and my sweet boy off to the side with me was heartbreaking…and infuriating.

Why I Share

I share this with you so that you will know to ask what the plans are for special events. If I had asked the teacher about the plans for Thanksgiving, she would have been less likely to forget Mikey.

The Happy-ish Ending

Very shortly after Mikey and I sat down at a separate table, one of the families we knew from Will’s grade came right over and sat with us. I’ve never been so happy to see a friend. The quiet support allowed me to pull myself together and give Mikey the Thanksgiving feast experience he deserved…even if it had to be off to the side.

I followed up with the team to make sure this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again. I reminded them that any craft project could be sent home and I would help Mikey do it outside of school hours, but that he needed to be included because it sent a terrible message to him and to the other kids to leave him out.

I was most thankful for friends that year…and my ability to learn from my mistakes. Wink.