There is a 9-year old boy on my son's team. Unfortunately, his father is incredibly abusive towards the child. It makes me so sad for him. What would you do?
Here are some examples of his behavior. A few weeks ago he told his son, "Don't be a pussy!!" Today he told his son, "You're being a fucking dick!" He also said, "If you don't listen to me, "I'll knock your fucking teeth out."
What would you do? We are not friends with the family. I am not close to the child. But he is being emotionally abused. Other people witness it too.
If this is going on in public I can only imagine what is happening at home. This child is being abused. Call the police and CPS, report what you are hearing and seeing. This child need protection.
Anyone who would do this in public I would consider highly volatile and dangerous. He should not be confronted but reported. To who, I'm not sure but I would ask the police and CPS to see if this guy is on their radar yet and see if there is something they could do. Poor kid.
oh, what a terrible situation!
the awful words are, sadly, probably not anything that the authorities could do anything about. well, that's probably a good thing. lots of good parents have potty mouths :::::eyeshift:::: but the degree, the nastiness and the direct name-calling to the little boy are just dreadful.
but i think the threat in this case makes it actionable.
call CPS. who knows what's really going on, or even if their intervention would be a good thing or not. but there's not really much you CAN do in this situation, is there? so do the one thing you can, and pray that the inquiry will do something, even if it's slight, to make this child's life a little less terrifying.
:( khairete
S.
"What the hell dude? Are you seriously talking to your son like that? Cut that out. If I hear that again I will call CPS since you are emotionally abusing your child in front of ALL OF US." (I would probably drop some "F" bombs in there and my husband would probably get there before me. But BASICALLY I would be calling him out on that behavior) He's doing that in public. Imagine what this poor child's home life must be like. Awful.
How in the WORLD do people sit by, hear a man scream obscenities at his kid, and NOT step in?
If this was on the field and the coach heard it? The coach is required to report.
Sad.. Where is the mom in all of this? Did he carry out on his threat?? If not they may not do anything.
It's tough.
You want to help the kid but at the same time, saying anything to the abuser might cause him to take it out on the kid.
Unless there's a way for you to be sure the abuser will lose custody, I'd hesitate to get involved.
My first thought was to speak up and call him out on the behavior, but the more I think about, the more concerned I'd be that this guy could be armed.
I would make the call to CPS. If you don't have the family's contact info., explain the situation and get it from the coach.
There is really nothing you can do to stop the father from doing this. Yes, call CPS - they will call him, and he'll deny and the case will be closed. Or he'll admit it and they will lecture him and again, case closed. It's not going to go anywhere. I would just try to offer the kid a safe haven. Invite him to your home/to spend time with your family. Give him somewhere to go where no one is bullying/abusing him.
Ditto birdsfreakmeout.
