My son dresses up as Spider-Man for his son’s 7th birthday

Since my grandson was born, his dad Stuart, who is my youngest son has always dressed up for each of his birthdays celebrating with large parties in the garden with all our families.  We used different themes over the years, such as Woody Trolls, Peppa Pig and Barbie & Ken.  This year my son dressed up as Spider Man for my beautiful autistic grandson and we walked along Southend High Street to McDonald’s for chips and a drink.  One of his favourite places is Kids Kingdom where there is a soft play area with a jelly mountain.  Although he does not climb, he loves to run around the base of the mountain.  We also visited Southend beach near the three shells where he loves to play on the apparatus, pretending to be the captain of the ship.
My son took on the challenge to dress as Spider-Man for the day, despite the weather being quite warm.  Wearing the mask in the car was already becoming hot before arriving at Kids Kingdom.  Whilst waiting at the entrance, children and their parents were calling for Spider-Man.  By the time we got into the play area all the children were calling out to him and following him around.  Their smiles and happy faces were wonderful to see, some children just wanted to stay with Spider-Man and follow him and my two grandsons around.  While running up the jelly mountain some mums were struggling to get to the top of the mountain to sit with their children, then seeing them falling down the other side was so much fun to watch.

The response of children whilst walking along Southend High Street was just amazing.  When the children saw Spider-Man they could not wait to tell their parents who looked on with disbelief when they saw him.  Stuart loves being playful with the children, responding with waves and high-fives.  One couple came running up with a baby and asked if they could have a picture with Spider-Man and their baby son.  For a while the world seemed happy with no thought of the lockdown we have just had.  People were beginning to smile again and being happy.  Many young teenage boys approached Stuart to talk about their superhero, some just wanted a cuddle.

We had just been to the beach and were walking through the Adventure playground when I spotted a parent bending down to his son in his wheelchair, telling him that Spider-Man had just walked past.  By this time Stuart had taken his mask off.  I asked the father if his son would like to speak to him, the father was over the moon, he explained that often his son was overlooked whilst sitting in his wheelchair.  Stuart came back and spoke to the boy who did not want a photo but wanted a high-five. To me this was the best bit of the day my grandsons looked on and were happy to see their dad being so playful, turning everything into a game.

My two grandsons fell asleep in the car coming home, what an amazing day we’d all had together.

Stuart’s youngest son is 4 in December, and he loves Iron-man!  Watch out Southend for the next instalment!!!