A single mom of two boys with autism is incredibly grateful after an employee at BIG W gifted her sons some of their favorite toys.
Jacqueline says she was at the store with her two nonverbal sons, ages three and five, so that they could look at the toy section and pick out their favorite toys, which she planned to gift them for their birthdays and Christmas.
“I took my boys in to have a look at the toys to hopefully give me an idea on what they might like for birthdays and Christmas,” Jacqueline recalls. “My oldest son found the Little Live Pets Pooping Flamingo and fell in love with it. We kept doing loops back to this flamingo even after he took interest in other things.
“At the risk of upsetting him and causing a meltdown, I said to him that we wouldn’t get it today (something I had been saying before we even walked in the shop). He was clearly disappointed but walked away as asked.
While the trio was there, Jacqueline and a store employee struck up a conversation. She explained to the employee that her children’s developmental delays made it hard for them to choose the toys they liked out of a catalog, so she preferred to take them to the store in person to see what they liked.
“We moved down to the final aisles that are set up in the middle of the shop purposely for the toy sale and had a look-through. There was a lovely lady that worked there who was going through writing down where everything was and moved the trolley out of the way,” says Jacqueline. “We had started talking, and I made mention of why we were there and why we don’t use the catalogue.”
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“I had made mention of how much my oldest loved the flamingo and also the fact that my youngest wasn’t really giving me any ideas however if all else fails we would find some more cars that he doesn’t already have (ASD parents will know). We continued on our way and finished doing what we were doing.”
Later, as Jacqueline and the boys approached the checkout counter, they again encountered the woman they’d talked to earlier. She and a colleague presented the family with a bag for them to take home free of charge.
Inside the bag were the two toys the children had picked out as their favorites: the flamingo and a light-up car. BIG W, the woman said, wished to gift the toys to Jacqueline’s sons.
Jacqueline later shared the story on Facebook. She called the gesture “extremely kind” and said she had to “hold back her tears” as she thanked the staff member.
“I certainly did not expect it! I actually didn’t even know BIG W did anything like it,” says Jacqueline. “It’s just me and my boys, and some days can be really rough, and this meant the absolute world to me.”
Thank you, BIG W, for making these little boys’ day and helping a single mother out! The world needs more people who go out of their way to do kind things like this woman did!
Source: The Autism Site Blog
