Hi Mums, I find it quite upsetting that Im writing this and I need advise on the matter aswell.
I've been witnessing a Mother bully her 16 year old for sometime now. This has been a cycle that has been happening for sometime now as she also did this to her 2 older children. With the 2 older children although they live out of home it has caused poor mental health in the 2 of them. The oldest has been suicidal and has depression and anxiety and the 2nd oldest has also been suicidal but has now got serious anger issues and is also now being a bully with the mother to the youngest child.
Ive witnessed this Bullying by the mother for the past 12 months. This bullying is name calling, belittling everyday and especially infront of other people(its as if shes trying to show off infront of other adults by treating her child like crap), abusive phone calls to the teen when with friends or visiting other family members about how they are going to "cop it" when they return home and mocking them.
Today has been the end of it for me when the mother of the child called me and bragged about how the 2nd oldest child physically humiliated the youngest infront of the mother and the mother found it hilarious and joined in with verbal abuse.
I then called the teen to see if they where ok, they are now very withdrawn, doesnt see a point in life and is going to go and sleep all day because they feel they are worthless. (Has been shown signs of depression and anxiety for a while now).
Im concerned that things will start to get physical with the abuse very soon as the mother has found it funny to witness physical bullying.
I stood up to the mother as she told me about the physical encounter and she was taken back and tried to down play the situation and said how she "didnt find it funny". But while telling me the story was literally laughing about the encounter.
So what im asking is how can I help this teen? I want to do more then just call and provide reassurance.
I'd like to try and get them out of this situation so hopefully they will feel like they are important.
Any kind of advise is appreciated.
Thank you.
A parent who is bullying their teenage child.
A parent who is bullying their teenage child.
Posted in:
Mental Health, Behaviour, Teenagers, Tips and Advice
2 Replies
Tell the teen they always have a place with you, no matter when or what. All they have to do is call and you will pick them up. The thing with teenagers is they are in this very grey area with DCP, if it's not sexual abuse or excessive physical abuse it is very hard to get them involved because teenagers are thought to be able to look after themselves, and it's very hard to prove mental abuse. The positive to it though is that he can leave and it will be hard for the Mum to force him back, because of his age. If she gets police involved they will report their involvement to DCP and if he tells them of the abuse they will have to report that too. Police reports are taken more seriously than public.
Maybe make contact with someone at the teens school and discuss your concerns