being violent towards kids

[meredith101]

so i'm round at my friend's house. her son is there. so is her friend, f, 36, a bit weird. her son is 2. The weird friend picks up the child and holds him. He struggles a bit, starts crying. She holds him tighter, he starts crying more. She holds him really tight, not letting him go, and says 'Yes but I'm stronger than you'. My friend says 'best let him go'. I was about 2-3 seconds from punching the weird one.
What startles me is:
-this seems to show the underlying mindset of an abuser (power differential)
-the child is now often left alone with the weird one. Should this really be allowed to go on?

[Louisa 69]

No absolutely not there is no excuse ever for that kind of behaviour towards children. You need to pull your friend aside and have a word with her. My god i'm not violent but if anyone hurt any of my children i'd go for them

[oldwoman]

Should this person be left alone with this child. I think not.

[Ice-Maiden]

This is bad news isn't it? Perhaps the weird one doesn't mean to be intentionally unpleasant, but you DO need to take your friend to one side and point out how upsetting this sort of behaviour is, and how distressing it was for the child. Please keep an eye on things if you can, and if anything further happens, make it clear that you object, and that you'll take things further if it doesn't stop. You might even lose your friend because of it, but the child's welfare is more important.

[VillageVicar]

It's distressing to read this. I agree with Ice. If the parent is incapable of recognising that her child was in an 'at risk situation,' I'm not sure that the parent shouldn't be 'consulted with' by a child-welfare officer, if only for the purpose of allowing them to make an initial assessment. If they deem there is no evidence of concern, then the matter will be dismissed.

Fr Bill

[activeedge]

Love, are you crazy? Dont sit and think about it!!! If ANYONE even remotely hurt or frightened a child I knew, ID DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Dont you worry whats happening when youre not there? Dont leave it any longer....make a call. You could make a tiny childs life a hell of a lot happier. What would you do if it was happening to YOU?