Verbally abusive mother at the park - what would you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do nothing. People have different situations in life and honestly it’s none of your business.

I once saw a mom acting similarly to her kid. When they stopped near where I was sitting I complimented the kid’s shoes. I complimented the mom on the kid. She sat next to me and started talking. She had just gotten out of the hospital and had no family support. She was doing her best but she was overwhelmed. The poor kid and poor mom. That’s where my mind goes.

I don’t see what being in the hospital has anything to do with telling your toddler you are “going to beat their stupid a**”

DP, but you don’t understand how being incredibly stressed can lead parents to lose their shit with their kids? Really?

There’s not much you can do in these cases, other than to offer some empathy as the PP did. It’s hard.

First PP here. Exactly. It’s about being a community.

I can see how this is being a community for the mother. Not sure how this represents being a community for the child whose mother is threatening to beat him.

Be realistic. No one is taking a child away from a parent over something like this. My parents beat me and CPS was called. I still eventually went back to my family. Unless the abuse is very horrific the system tries to keep families together. The best thing someone could have done for me before I was of age would have been to offer my parents support. They were incredibly stressed and isolated for many reasons. Having people around them to help would have taken off some of the pressure on our family. It would have decreased the shame and hence the lashing out in anger.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I’m just naive but I grew up in Canada and don’t know anyone who speaks to their kids like this. This is so incredibly sad, and the worst part is that so many people are saying it’s okay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These responses are…something. 100% should’ve said something. If more people spoke up - strangers, teachers, friends of friends - we’d have less school shooters. If you are someone who witnesses verbal abuse of children and feel it’s a MYOB moment - you can’t act surprised when that child grows up to be a filthy human being. And you are complicit.

That’s a straw man argument. There are a million shades of gray here from a parent yelling at a kid in a tough moment to a school shooting. Given how bad the CPS system is, as well as how under resourced, and the horrible nature of many foster homes, and the difficulties that an investigation puts on a family, there needs to be a reasonable bar for reporting. A child with bruises? Report. A child saying mom beat him? Report. A mom yelling at a kid to get in a car seat? Not ideal, but unless they are physically beating the child you have no way to know if her threat of beating is legitimate or an empty threat. Some of you guys really have no idea how bad of cases CPS actually sees to think that this merits an investigation.

Huh? I didn’t say anything about an investigation. You have poor reading comprehension. A lot of people have no idea how they sound or how they act in anger until it’s pointed out - usually repeatedly. Will this dissuade a sociopath from treating their child horribly? No. But a bad parent who has anger issues? Sure, enough people say something to them they might realize they need help.

You have clearly never spoken up and had the situation turn on you. People can carry guns. People can turn their ire on you and threaten your safety. Deciding to call out a parent with anger issues on their poor parenting is not going to help the child and will probably have the opposite affect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These responses are…something. 100% should’ve said something. If more people spoke up - strangers, teachers, friends of friends - we’d have less school shooters. If you are someone who witnesses verbal abuse of children and feel it’s a MYOB moment - you can’t act surprised when that child grows up to be a filthy human being. And you are complicit.

That’s a straw man argument. There are a million shades of gray here from a parent yelling at a kid in a tough moment to a school shooting. Given how bad the CPS system is, as well as how under resourced, and the horrible nature of many foster homes, and the difficulties that an investigation puts on a family, there needs to be a reasonable bar for reporting. A child with bruises? Report. A child saying mom beat him? Report. A mom yelling at a kid to get in a car seat? Not ideal, but unless they are physically beating the child you have no way to know if her threat of beating is legitimate or an empty threat. Some of you guys really have no idea how bad of cases CPS actually sees to think that this merits an investigation.

Huh? I didn’t say anything about an investigation. You have poor reading comprehension. A lot of people have no idea how they sound or how they act in anger until it’s pointed out - usually repeatedly. Will this dissuade a sociopath from treating their child horribly? No. But a bad parent who has anger issues? Sure, enough people say something to them they might realize they need help.

You have clearly never spoken up and had the situation turn on you. People can carry guns. People can turn their ire on you and threaten your safety. Deciding to call out a parent with anger issues on their poor parenting is not going to help the child and will probably have the opposite affect.

What if it gets physical fool