What do you make of this?

[Calvados]

My wife has a friend who she visits 2 or 3 times a year. Her friend has a 13 yr old son who'll be 14 in August. He's a really big lad growing up fast. In fact he's just bought an electric razor, so you see what I mean! However, his mother still baths him, puts his pyjamas on him and puts him to bed. I would have thought this would be embarrassing for him, but this happens every night. At least it does when my wife stays there. Why does his mother insist on doing this? My wife daren't say anything as she doesn't think it's her place to but surely this can't be right can it? I would have thought his mother might be embarrassed too but apparrently not. Why can't she leave him to it now? What do you think?

[piggynose]

i thought mother knew best

[Canary42]

I wonder what the symptoms of his blood disorder are - something she secretly administers at bath time perhaps if its MSBP.

[lucca]

The more I think about this, the more troubled I feel about it. There's something very weird about it - somehow more than "mummy's boy" stuff. If the boy allows it, that's very disquieting in itself. Not to sound too dramatic, but the mother seems to have a very powerful hold over him. I really hope your wife can find a way to broach this subject and discover what's going on.

[Calvados]

As far as the boy is concerned, his blood dis-order is genuine. He has been to see specialists at Alder Hey and Gt Ormond St. He was treated abominably at Alder Hey. It was disgraceful for so-called caring, medical professionals to behave as they did towards him. He's been to Gt Ormond St several times but there is still no sign of treatment. Just tests, examinations, scans etc.

My wife has thought about mentioning the bath situation, but doesn;t really know how to begin or what the outcome may be. Which is why she is so hesitant. But she will not report it.

[stevenj]

Can i give another side to this please? i live with my mother. There's just the two of us and that's all there has ever been. i have no idea who my father is.
To say the least i was a late developer. NOTHING until i was very nearly 16. Boys at school (some, not all) took the p*ss out of me i can tell you. But my mother was always there for me and helped me cope with these bullies.
Probably the best part of each day was my bath time. Mummy would help me get ready and then, while i was soaking or playing with my toys, she would sit and chat to me about pretty well anything but particularly the things i had done that day and how i felt about them. It was a great half hour or so each day.
Then hair did arrive around my tiddler and Mummy decided that i should start to bath myself. i HATED it! But i had to accept it.
Some weeks later i fell off my bike and had a terrible accident which meant that i could not bath or shower without a lot of help. Mummy helped me resolve that problem.
if anybody is interested i'll explain.
steven