As soon as I walk through the door he throws himself toward me, his face pinched with anger he shouts with disgust in his voice

“Did you and Dad buy me a Chromebook?”

“hunh?What?” I respond while I put down my bags and wait for him to do a better job explaining himself.

“There’s a Chromebook at school with my name on it. Did you do that?” he still sounds so angry and that anger is not making sense to me. I mean, who wouldn’t want a Chromebook? But I’m piecing things together as he stands there, his arms crossed, tapping his foot with impatience.

“Look, Buddy, when we went to see that doctor and they did all those activities with you –

those people told the school that you would need a computer to do your work.”

“Well I don’t!”

I knew that appearances mattered to my son but I had not anticipated that it would extend to a Chromebook in the classroom.

So we had a long talk about his ADHD and Learning Disabilities and how those affect him in the classroom. I told him that we wouldn’t make fun of someone needing to wear glasses or braces  – so why did he think it was such a big deal to have an Chromebook? Besides, last time I checked Chromebooks were cool!  I could tell though that he wasn’t buying it. He doesn’t like to stand out and this made him feel that way. I had to eventually tell him that while I understood how he felt he would need to use it.

The next day was a Friday and as soon as I walked in the door I was once again accosted but this time by a boy grinning ear to ear playing on his Chromebook.