What we can learn about being thoughtful and caring from these two kids
CBC
Tyler Robinson, 9, was heading home from school in London, Ont., last week when he stopped to talk with Niamh Beattie, 4, and her mother, Amber-Lee Beattie.
That short stop, and the ensuing conversation, led to a learning opportunity for both kids and what their moms call a valuable lesson in acceptance and kindness.
Niamh has West syndrome, a seizure disorder. She can't speak and uses a wheelchair. When Tyler stopped to chat, Beattie was helping her daughter get off the bus after coming home from junior kindergarten.
"The lift's going down, I noticed this boy stop and stare," recalled Beattie. "As a mother of a child with special needs, you start thinking, 'Oh no, here come the questions like, 'What is wrong with her? Why is she like that?'"
But much to Beattie's surprise, Tyler greeted Niamh directly.
"Instead of asking 'What's wrong with her' or 'Why does she look like a baby' or 'What can't she do,' he just looked at me and said, 'What makes her different?'"
"She likes the same things you do. She loves Peppa Pig. She loves to sing and go to school," Beattie recalled telling Tyler. "He had the most engaging way of communicating. He asked such thoughtful questions, spoke right to her," said Beattie.
And her daughter responded, she said, by laughing and cooing..
"It meant the world to her and to me as a parent."
Beattie posted about the interaction on social media:
"It makes me super proud but humbled at the same time, that he was able to use his words correctly and make other people feel included," said Tyler's mother, Elizabeth Robinson, in a recent interview on London Morning.
"He did something great out in the world when I wasn't there and someone else noticed it."
"Some people think that just because they can't do something, they're not a person like us," said Tyler. "I made her feel like she is a person like me and all the other people in the world."
Robinson is currently on maternity leave with her infant daughter, but is a personal support worker. "I really have strived to have him be able to be inclusive with everybody," she said.
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