Mom Shares Her Devastated Son's Note To Himself In His Yearbook After No One Signed It—So His Classmates Decided To Do The Right Thing
He asked everyone in his class, but they flat-out said no to signing his yearbook.
Rick Ramsey/Facebook We all want the best for our kids and hope that they will do well in school, have an active social life, and if they’re lucky, find a few close friends they can keep for a lifetime.
As the school year was coming to an end in May 2022, Cassandra Ridder was heartbroken to find that her 12-year-old son, Brody, might have been struggling with building friendships with his peers.
Ridder had headed over to pick up her son after school and noticed that he was not acting like himself. Usually, cheerful, and upbeat, Brody seems solemn and only wanted to listen to music in the car.
His mom tried to make small talk and lift his spirits so she asked how many signatures from his classmates he had gotten in his yearbook since an email had gone out to parents letting them know the memorabilia would be coming home. To her surprise, Brody became teary-eyed and told her that despite asking several people at school to sign his yearbook, he had been rejected.
Brody Ridder came home with an empty yearbook and a heartbreaking note he wrote to himself.
There were a couple of classmates who had just written their names in the book, but no one included the customary messages about what they loved about Brody or the memorable experiences they shared with him. As a matter of fact, outside of that, the only meaningful message to the boy was from his teachers and there was one from himself that read, “I hope you make some more friends.”
Understandably saddened by what had taken place, Cassandra took to her son’s school’s Facebook page and shared an image of the barren yearbook along with a message that partially read, “So Brody took it upon himself to write to himself. My heart is shattered. Teach your kids kindness.” She wasn’t expecting much to come of the post, but wanted to let other parents and staff know what her son was going through.
RELATED: A Father Showed His Teen How To Be Comfortable With Her Body With One Simple Trick
Amazingly, the very next day when Brody was at school, he sent his mom a text that included a picture of his yearbook, now filled with names and messages from not only his classmates but eighth graders and high schoolers as well. Some of the students even left their phone numbers in the yearbook so Brody could get in touch with them outside of school.
The messages talked about how awesome Brody was and told him he was important. Several students even posed for a picture with the 12-year-old, helping him rack up a few "cool points." According to him, it was the “best day ever” and he asked his mom to “Facebook this!” knowing that she has already spread the word about his disappointment from the previous day.
Photo: Facebook
From there, people came out of the woodwork to meet Brody and send him good vibes, including one of the public’s favorite actors, Paul Rudd — Ant-Man himself. Rudd Facetimed with the boy and even followed up with a note that told him even when life is tough, things always get better. The actor told him he was looking forward to seeing what the future had in store.
Studies have shown that being socially isolated early on can have major consequences later on in life. Social interaction in adolescent years is crucial to a child’s development and a lack of it has been linked to decreased cognitive function and other neurodevelopmental disorders. That’s on top of the depression, loneliness, and anxiety kids who have been outcasts might experience.
Kudos to Brody’s mom for sharing her son’s plight. The public announcement ended up helping him and will likely help many other kids in the future.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington. She covers lifestyle and human-interest stories that share the readers can relate to and that bring social issues to the forefront for discussion.