Cruel to Be Kind: Part 2 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life

Cruel to Be Kind: Part 2 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cathy Glass

Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes.Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn’t the only one in denial; his whole family are too.

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Copyright (#u522b79fa-f1f8-5188-8ba3-fcfe576a9fcb)

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

HarperElement

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First published by HarperElement 2017

FIRST EDITION

© Cathy Glass 2017

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

Cover photograph © Iwona Podlasińska/Arcangel Images (boy, posed by a model)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008252007

Ebook Edition © August 2017 ISBN: 9780008252052

Version: 2017-10-10

Contents

Cover (#u8a09b52f-28f7-51a6-98ea-f95d36470aa8)

Title Page (#u49db3d97-cb8c-588a-84fd-b2e8e45c5e5f)

Copyright (#u389654ac-3f97-50da-878d-c556d7553f49)

Chapter Nine: Act of Defiance (#u1e94f4d6-b16f-5358-a3cb-8222897e38b6)

Chapter Ten: An Ally (#u82879822-56df-523b-b64a-63a174a8537f)

Chapter Eleven: Stressed (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve: Vulnerable (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen: Dan (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen: First Review (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen: Meetings (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen: Strange, the Way Things Turn Out (#litres_trial_promo)

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine

Act of Defiance (#u522b79fa-f1f8-5188-8ba3-fcfe576a9fcb)

As I held and comforted Max I could picture only too clearly the embarrassment school sports day would cause him. It was supposed to be fun, when all the school came together to show off their fitness and agility skills in healthy competition – although I didn’t remember my school sports days with relish. I wasn’t overweight, but neither was I very good at sport, and regardless of how hard I tried,I always came near the end in a race – not last, but well back from the leaders. In high jump and long jump my legs didn’t seem able to generate the necessary spring to propel me high enough or far enough, and I remember how self-conscious I felt in the qualifying heats when I tried and failed, with the rest of my class watching. Then there was the relay race, in which we all had to participate, but I could never run as fast as the person passing the baton to me or to whom I passed it, so I always felt I’d let down the team. The fun races at the end were OK – the egg and spoon race, sack race and three-legged race, but they were just for fun and held little in the way of true competition or achievement. Looking back, my performance was probably average for my age, but it didn’t feel like that at the time, so I had every sympathy for Max, whose obesity put him at such a disadvantage in most physical activities.

‘Come on, love,’ I said, passing him a tissue. ‘Dry your eyes. We’ll sort something out.’

‘Can I stay at home, please, and pretend I’m ill, like I did last year?’

I helped him wipe his eyes. ‘If that’s the only way, but first I want to speak to your teacher and see what she has to say.’ Given how sensitive Mrs Marshall was to Max’s limitations, tailoring his involvement in PE lessons, I wanted to discuss it with her first.

Eventually Max’s tears subsided and I put my arm around him and gave him a hug. With more reassurance that he wasn’t to worry about sports day and no one would force him to participate, he lay down, ready for sleep.

‘I wish I wasn’t so big,’ he said wistfully. ‘It’s because I eat too much, isn’t it?’

‘It’s the most likely reason, yes. We get energy from the food we eat and what we don’t need is stored in our body as fat.’

‘So how do you get smaller?’ he asked. Cleary the subject hadn’t been discussed at home.

‘By eating a little less each day, especially sweet things. And exercise, like walking rather than going in the car, which you are doing here with me.’

‘Why don’t my sisters and mum do that?’

‘I don’t know, love.’