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Having compassion for someone doesn’t mean you have to ignore behavior that makes you uncomfortable.

One vacationer ran into that after a child with special needs repeatedly crossed personal and hygiene boundaries around other guests.

At first, he spoke with hotel staff and even tried explaining his concerns to the boy’s parents.

But when the child tried sitting beside him on a coach, he finally refused.

Then, the mother accused him of being rude and started defending everything as part of her son’s disability.

Read on to see what you would’ve done.

AITAH – kid with special needs keeps bothering me. I’ve spoken to the mum and she won’t do anything about it.

I’m on a packaged holiday, and the hotel is all-you-can-eat.

There’s one family here, and the oldest kid has some type of special needs, but for the past few days he keeps putting his hands down the back of his shorts, rooting around, and then starts licking his fingers.

The parents are pretty much letting him do his own thing. He helps himself to the food (without tongs) and talks to everyone, tries to give people hugs, and all that.

At first, staff said they’d help with the issue.

I spoke to staff, who said they’ll speak to him and even get someone to dish his food for him if needed.

He tried talking to me, and I made sure I kept my distance. He tried hugging me, and I stepped back. I spoke to the parents and said I feel really uncomfortable with him near me and my family and apologized for it.

Anyway, we’ve booked a trip, and the family is on our coach. This kid tried sitting next to me, and I refused.

Now, he’s not really sure what to do.

The mum called me rude, and I very politely and quietly said to her that I don’t want to sit next to him due to his hygiene issues.

She shouted at me and went, “He’s disabled. He can’t help it,” so I raised my voice and said, “I don’t want to sit next to someone who keeps playing with their bum and licking their fingers. I don’t want ****** fingers near me,” and now apparently she’s the victim?

The mum is now telling the son to bother me, and the hotel won’t do anything.

AITA?

Oh no! That sounds like a very stressful situation.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit feel about it.

This is a good suggestion.

According to this comment, depending on his age, they can call the police.

Here’s someone who thinks he needs to keep pushing the issue.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a teenager whose family thinks she’s selfish for wanting to help plan her own sweet 16.

It is definitely a serious issue.

This is one of those situations where both things can be true.

The boy may not understand why his behavior makes other people uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean everyone else has to ignore it.

At the same time, his mom should be helping him with those boundaries instead of getting mad at people for having them.

And telling him to bother someone on purpose definitely isn’t helping anything.