Don't judge my child!

If you're not keen on reading another rant from me then click that little red cross in the right hand corner of the screen.  Maybe I'm over-reacting again but if anyone wants to make judgment on my children then they have me to answer to.


Conversation on Twitter earlier today:


Follower:  How old is he ??
Me: 12
Follower: Is that spelling acceptable for 12? :)
Me: What are you trying to say [name removed]?  That my son has learning difficulties? Er, yes he does so fucking butt out.
Follower:  Just wondering as I don't know at what age the UK schools start putting pressure on spelling.
Me:  And I don't know at what age some adults start accepting that dyslexia exists and stop being so judgmental.

First of all, adding a smile emoticon to the end of a question doesn't make it any less judgmental.  I also wonder how the conversation would have evolved if I'd have said he was six years old - well, it wouldn't have done as if he was six years old he wouldn't be on Facebook for a start.  But lets get down to brass tacks.

A number of you will know that one of my biggest bugbears is spelling and grammar.  I despise txtspk in a normal arena and the current trend for capitalising Every First Letter In A Sentence annoys me greatly - hell, I even wrote about some of the Facebook status updates I see on a regular basis.  But this is a child.  A 12-year old child.  Who missed a "U" out of the word "naughty" - possibly one of the more difficult words to spell in the English language.  And even when I explain that he has learning difficulties, still the questioning continues.

I appreciate that not everyone who follows me in the social media platforms or on my blog knows everything about my family but I am very vocal about my son's difficulties and how he overcomes them.  He (and we) struggles with his ADHD on a daily basis and I have written about homework woes in the past too.  And seriously, does everything have to be about how well our children perform at school?  Not everyone fell out of the clever tree.  I mean, even my own situation is slightly skewed.  I didn't perform to expectations at school, dropped out of college and went out to work instead.  It was only later in life that I returned to college and expanded my knowledge further and now, at almost 40 years of age, I'm studying for my degree.

I am my child's only advocate and I'll do my utmost to see that he gets a fair chance in this life, regardless of what anyone else thinks of him.  What would you have said if you had been put in this situation?  Or would you have just ignored and moved on?