"I am writing this as a parent, with much love, but also with a very heavy heart. Today, my daughter turned 10 years old… but we didn't tell her. She doesn't know that today is her day. And, as strange as it sounds, I believe we did the right thing.

It's not that we didn't want to celebrate, quite the opposite. But two years ago, we organized a birthday party for her during the winter holidays – when schools were closed. None of her friends agreed to come. She was looking forward to it, she had talked about it for a long time… but no one came. Our hearts ached. She's not a child who cries for everything, but that day, she closed in on herself. Since then, we realized that for her, this day was much more sensitive than for other children.

Last year, we made a compromise: we celebrated on the exact day with her best friend and her parents – we took her to the movies, we ate out. Then, a few weeks later, we organized a bigger party for her school friends. And it happened again – some were late, some didn’t come at all. My daughter is on the autism spectrum and has difficulty processing the information she hears, so it was very difficult for her to understand why these things were happening.

This year, my wife and I decided to do something different: we wouldn't tell her it was her birthday. We told her it was 18 days away, and she believed us – because for her, numbers and time are very important, she always remembers them.

Of course, we didn't leave the day without anything. We brought her her favorite food, planned a different dinner. We saw her happy. She didn't feel a lack of love. On the contrary, she felt that we were there for her – no disappointments, no anxiety, no pain.

I know some will say: “Why don’t you tell your child it’s their birthday?” But please, trust me. When you’re the parent of a child who feels things more strongly than most, who doesn’t always understand the reasons why others don’t come, when every attempt to celebrate turns into stress… it’s not easy. And when you feel like the failures of society are falling on your child’s shoulders – as a parent, you will do everything you can to protect them.

"Today, there was no cake. But there was peace. And love. And more meaning than any celebration I've ever seen," written by a sincere father.

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