I ask in all seriousness; does Ms James really not care if Alf’s mobility is stunted and curtailed for life?
Is she indifferent to the fact that, if she carries on ignoring his mobility issues, he will never be able to run for a train, ride a horse, play cricket, enter into school sports competitions, and may end up with arthritis (which is extremely, extremely painful)?
Does she care so little for him that she is prepared to make his world a small, linited one covered in obstacles that ‘normal’ bodied peoplr - like herself - can navigate with ease?
Does she care so little that she can watch, unmoved, as other children rip him to pieces with their cruel words and mockery, and may physically harm him because of his relative immobility?
Is she so oblivious to his suffering that she thinks it normal for a child of his age to be unable to run 100 yards, descend stairs, jump on a trampoline wirh both feet and even walk a few feet to the childminder’s?
His developmental issues aside*, she surely has to see how badly this reflects on her as a mother. As a person. As a ‘celebrity’. These threads would be infinitely slower, and vastly fewer in number, if only her attention-seeking were called out. But it is her treatment of Alf, and his unhappiness, that spurs us on - whether we are parents or childfree. And what we condemn her for is bleeding into the real world - her world, her career - because others are seeing what we see: that that little boy has serious mobility problems that could affect the whole of his life. If she’s not careful, he will detach from her altogether by the time he is eighteen. He may write a book about her, exposing her neglect of him to the world. And I can’t imagine that her vanity could permit her to be seen with a struggling, unnecessarily disabled child or young adult. Her career is her motherhood. If she continues to neglect the child, others will condemn and neglect her. It’s that simple.
*The jury is out on whether Alf is developmentally delayed, infantilised and under-stimulated, or autistic. As an autistic woman myself, I have been very wary of ‘diagnosing’ him via what we’ve seen on her social media. However, there are three ‘tells’ that have caught my eye: inability to make eye contact and when he does so, he seems distressed; hand-flapping and squawking, with disproportionate responses to minor situations; and lining up objects in neat rows. He should be assessed after his first year at school if more tells present themselves. I’m sure Ms James could monetise having a neurodivergent child: being an ‘autie’ mum and going through the official process re: diagnosis, treatment and so on. At least Alf might get sufficient attention then, albeit having a camera pointed in his face even more than he does already.
Oh - and cut and brush his hair. Letting your child look like a Dickensian urchin smacks of neglect (again).