I don't like to be treated differently!
"I am just like any of you are. Why do you treat me differently?" - That's been Anshul's expression ever since he was a 4-5-year-old and realised that his peer group doesn't relate to him. He has been desperately trying to make himself accepted. In a bid to get himself noticed, he would either self-talk and tell himself that nobody wants to be friends with him or he would intimidate a child by pinching him or trying to forcibly hug him. That would be the end of a futile attempt to socialise, as the child would invariably distance himself from Anshul. The mother of the child would politely tell me that her child is not able to relate with Anshul and finds him intimidating. My easiest option of giving Anshul a peer group was to get him to play with Ayush's (my older son) friends. For them Anshul was a baby brother and they wouldn't mind Anshul's occasional punches and pinches which he would do to make his presence felt. In fact, for the longest time Ay...