HAVELOCK, N.C. -- Connor Thomas is a 5-year-old little boy who loves to have fun and play. He is the reason behind the play zone named "Lick This."
Jodi Thomas, owner of "Lick This", said the name originated from her son, Connor.
"Connor is our licker and instead of kind of being embarrassed about it or ashamed of it, we figured we would just laugh at it and name the business after it," said Thomas.
She said with her son being autistic, many people judge him in public for his behavior.
"With Connor he looks visibly normal as they say. When he has a meltdown in a store, at a park, or anything like that...people just assume that maybe Connor is a bad child or I'm a bad parent...things like that," said Thomas.
However, at this new playground the stares and remarks won't happen.
"Sometimes we go to Walmart and we'll be down the aisle and parents just look at you like 'What is wrong with you?' It's like you can come here and nobody is looking at you like 'What's wrong with you?' said Christopher Thomas, Connor's dad.
"I've worked with special needs children in the past and I know there's not a lot of places where they can come have a full meltdown without their parents and the children being ostracized themselves. So, it just seemed like a great idea, and I just wanted to help be a part of it," said Jamie Lynch, employee.
Not only the children but it's a place where parents can relate to one another as well.
"That's the thing...the parents don't get to feel alone when they're here because they see other parents going through the same thing. They see other kids going through the same things that their children are going through, so it's really nice," said Nicholas Lynch, visitor.
"Special needs or not, we want the kids to be able to play together side by side where maybe differences aren't that big of a deal anymore," said Thomas.
If you want to learn more about "Like This," just click here.