Published on 12, July, 2020
Hey,
My son is 4, he has ASD.
My friends all obviously know about my sons condition and his difficulties - primarily his speech, with his social interaction being not far behind.
When I get together with my closest friend, who has a son of a similar age to my little one, we naturally discuss our boys. But my friend insists on telling me all about the lengthly conversations she has with her son and about his large circle of friends, and how his friends squabble over who gets to sit next to him at school, etc. This really upsets me (not that I let it show to my friend), as I can't help but think about how I may never be able to have a conversation with my son, how he has such few friends .
Am I over reacting or is my friend being slightly insensitive??
I think she is probably being a bit insensitive. You are her friend and she is proud of her son, so she wants to share it with you. She just hasn't thought that it might upset you.
Perhaps you could tell her how hard you find it sometimes. I have learnt to cope now with people talking about how well their children are doing, but that is because our son is 17 and we can see just how far he has come. When he was much younger I had to stop seeing one particular person because her child was so brilliant (if her child couldn't do it it couldn't be done!) but it wasn't a particularly close friendship.
As this is a close friend I am sure you will be able to work it out.