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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd continue letting her come over as much as your daughter, as her friend, is comfortable. And I'd tell her that hitting another adult is illegal so I believe hitting children should also be, and that just because someone says something even if they're your parent, doesn't make it true.[/quote]

Thanks for all of the helpful comments.

At dinner this week my 8th grade DS was quoting a YouTube video that included a swear word. He apologized for swearing at the table, and we reassured him we understood it was a quote.  Then the friend shared that they had done the same thing when they were in 6th grade while taking a bath. And their mom then hit them with a coat hanger so they would learn not to swear. And that it was good that they learned so early and that being in the bath made it easier to clean up their back. There was complete silence as we all struggled with how to respond.

All I could come up with in the moment was that I was sorry that happened. And that we don’t believe in hitting kids to teach them, so she didn’t have to worry about DS being punished later. The friend then said it was ok that she needed to learn and maybe if her mom had been more firm with her she wouldn’t be so lazy.  Friend has excellent grades etc, so this was also a troubling comment. From there I just said I didn’t think she was lazy and then changed the subject and brought out dessert.

I’m now having to discuss more with my kids about their strategies to manage this. They both agree that they want to keep having friend over, but they just don’t know what to say. We’ve landed on “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” And “Just because your parents say it doesn’t mean it’s true”

My younger son doesn’t have to deal often because we don’t do a lot of sit down dinners. We’re usually much more casual and there are activities. But DD shared she sometimes feels overwhelmed at how awful her friend’s home life is. She feels helpless too.

I guess I don’t know what I’m asking here. It’s just so sad. I hope she can go far enough away for college she gets a break.[/quote]

Child of Asian immigrants here who beat the crap out of us.
I would never have had to guts to tell any of my friends parents about it. I told a friend about it and realized that nothing would change. It was clear that the only consequence of reporting to authorities would be foster homes for me and my siblings.
My siblings and I basically used the college route as an escape.

Here is a lovely story of one of the things my mom did - when I was in 4th grade and home sick one day, I was bored (coz, you know, we're immigrants and have no toys) so peeled the paper covers off the crayola crayons. My pregnant mother went ballistic, stripped me of my clothes (just like what I did to those precious crayolas) and had me kneel down in front of the porch window for something like 20 minutes naked. I realize now she was probably experiencing morning sickness and needed to take it out on someone. 
Sometimes, in middle of the night when she got pissed about something that happened earlier in the day, she would wake us up and beat us with the leather slippers. The beatings mostly happened around elementary age. After that, she got my dad to do it instead because we were growing taller than her.
My mother is just over 80 now and she thinks we have forgotten. I understand that she was repeating a dysfunctional pattern she learned. Unfortunately, I have to say the physical abuse transmogrified into psychological abuse, efforts at parental alienation, pitting the children against each other, etc... the drama just never ended, even into our adulthood.

Anyways, OP, your DD's friend is being very upfront, I kind of wonder if you should direct her to seek some form of therapy in college. She obviously needs to talk to someone and trying to make it you. She should try to see someone who is familiar with her particular culture, and being around other kids from that background can really help. The worst thing is to think one is going thru it alone. So many other kids from struggling immigrant families have terrible dysfunction too. The Asian need to save face really exacerbates the problem. Maybe if she understood the influences driving these behaviors, the psychological injury would be less.[/quote]

I still remember when my dad beat the crap out of me when I wrote on the walls with marker. We didn’t have construction paper.

PP—I’m so sorry this happened to you. And I guess I’m sorry it happened to ne too. Hugs from this internet stranger ❤️.[/quote]

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