Parents of boy with ADHD and autism warn neighbours he'll damage their car

"Our son is impulsive and destructive, please only park here if you're willing to accept damage." 

Every child is capable of getting up to mischief from time to time.

But the parents of a young boy with autism and ADHD have caused outrage after leaving a note on their neighbour’s car about their son's behaviour.

The Aussie parents warned their neighbour that their son is “impulsive and destructive” and has been known to throw multiple items from their balcony.

Want to join the family? Sign up to the Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

“Since moving in he has drawn on my car with texta, thrown a few rocks across the front of the complex and if a car was parked where (your car) was, it would’ve smashed a window,” his parent admitted in a handwritten note.

However it was their warning to their neighbour about their chosen parking spot that really infuriated people.

RELATED: A supermarket employee put a note for my wife on our car

Neighbours shared the handwritten note they found on their car from the parents of "destructive" son. Source: Reddit

"Please only park here if you'll accept damage to your car" 

While the boy’s behaviour was obviously cause for concern, the parent told their neighbours they shouldn’t park in front of their own building.

“I, as a parent of a ADHD/ASD child, I can only pre-empt so much. Please only park here if you're willing to accept damage to your car,” they wrote.

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

They went on to say that they have been “very vocal about cars parking out the front”.

The shocked neighbours then posted the “infuriating” letter to Reddit, with thousands of people labelling the parents “lazy” and “selfish” for not taking responsibility for their child’s actions.

RELATED: Having a child with ADHD means apologising in advance

The parents said they could "only pre-empt so much" about their son's behaviour. Source: Reddit

"They need to control their child's behaviour" 

Most people agreed that the parents needed to be focusing on their son’s behaviour, instead of where people were parking. 

“It’s like people that thing putting a ‘Beware of Dog’ sign nullifies liability if something happens.Wrong, you actually just admitted that you know your dog is a problem,” wrote one person.

“A parent is responsible for the damages caused by their children, warning or not. Your inability to control your child does not give you the right to claim a public parking spot as yours/unusable,” added another.

Meanwhile parents of neurodiverse children said the son’s diagnosis was no excuse.

“My son is ADHD/ADD. He was destructive when he was like 4. He faced consequences for his behaviour, mostly losing all his toys from his room and as he got older he would lose his game console. Never did I make excuses for his behaviour like this,” wrote one mother.

“My youngest has ADHD and is very destructive, his neurologist says it’s an anxiety thing. We have a magnetic alarm on his bedroom door so that we are alerted if he leaves his room at night. Otherwise he gets into all kinds of stuff,” said another.

This story was originally published on 18.9.22 and updated on 22.3.24.

Originally published as Parents of boy with ADHD and autism warn neighbours he'll damage their car