Dad invites 19 kids to his autistic son’s birthday party but is left heartbroken after only one came
>
Heartbreaking moment: Dad invites 19 kids to his autistic son’s birthday party, but only ONE shows up: ‘No RSVP, just crickets’
- A father was devastated when only one child attended his son’s birthday
- David Chen’s son Max has autism and threw a party in an indoor courtyard
- But of the 19 children from his school who were invited, only one attended.
A father was heartbroken when only one boy showed up to his autistic son’s sixth birthday party.
David Chen, from Vancouver, planned a day of fun in a huge backyard for his son Max and invited 19 kids from his class at school.
Before the event, the boy was incredibly excited, but on the day Chen was devastated.
‘My son with autism spectrum disorder is the different kid in the class. We invited all of his classmates to his birthday party today and only one showed up,” Chen wrote on Twitter and posted a Photo of an empty inner courtyard.
‘It is difficult to explain to my son and to the mother of that child that only one classmate came. No assumptions, but still a day of feeling empty.
Dad David Chen, from Vancouver, planned a fun day in a huge backyard (pictured) for his son Max’s sixth birthday and invited 19 kids from his class at school, but only one showed up. Taking to Twitter, Chen shared images and explained that Max has autism.
In comments to the tweet, Chen said he had “no RSVP, just crickets.”
“I couldn’t go back and disappoint my son and the only classmate who came,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we have one person who said yes, two people who said no, and 16 who said nothing.”
Two weeks earlier, 16 of the 19 invited children attended another child’s birthday party, as did Max, which made the situation even more heartbreaking.
Mr. Chen’s tweet so moved thousands of people that they invited Max to soccer games, birthday parties and to ride in a police car with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police. Mr. Chen also told Global News Canada that some of the parents in Max’s class contacted him claiming that the email invitation had been sent to the spam inbox and was not seen (in the photo: Max)
Mr. Chen’s tweet touched thousands of people, so much so that they invited Max to soccer games, birthday parties and to ride in a police car with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police.
The tweet received more than 7,000 likes and hundreds of comments from friendly strangers.
‘Brutal! That’s hard. Some people, however, it’s like they never learn. As an autistic adult, I get it. I had kids in my class that never showed up when I was younger. Tell your son he’s great and always,” wrote one person.
Another said: ‘Happy birthday to your son. For those of us who are different in any way, we appreciate friends who show up. He’s lucky you defend him.
Chen also said global news from canada some of the parents in Max’s class contacted him claiming that the email invitation had been sent to the spam inbox and not seen, which he said is “great start… We can learn from this”.
He also advocated for schools to have a private class party fund.
‘Every child needs to be celebrated at least once by their daily companions. School is where friendships begin and this rite of passage can hurt,” he said.