I had one of my son's friends over for a playdate today - he is 5 years old, as is my son. Over lunch he mentioned that when his mummy loses something of his daddy's that his daddy "throw mummy across the room". At first I assumed that he was referring to some sort of playfighting, so I asked if mummy laughed - he responded that "no - she cries". He then continued to talk about this for another few minutes - saying that him and his older brother try to help by jumping on daddy and kicking or strangling him, but that daddy is too strong. He said that his daddy doesn't do it all the time, but that when he did do it, that he didn't like it, and that sometimes his mummy said that maybe they can go and live in another house. I asked him if he would miss his daddy if they did that, and he responded "no - i don't like daddy because he is not a nice man". My son chipped in at this point that his friend could come and live with us, which was responded to with much enthusiasm. That's the gist of the conversation and i am now in a quandry as to what to do. I know obth parents through the school and my husband and I have socialised with them on occasion. They seem like a nice enough couple....they both run a business together, and they send both their childrent to an expensive private school. They are well educated and jovial. However, you never know what goes on behind closed doors. On occasion i have noted that they do seem to spend an awful lot of time together - i.e. he is always with her at school events (though I thought that this was quite nice, and that it was a benefit of running your own business). My husband has also noted that the husband is quite obsessed with talking about how well he is doing (almost overstating the point) and that he sometimes makes inappropriate and disrespectful comments about women....i.e. he told a group of men at the parents night out that he and his friend had been ranking the MILFs in school and deciding how many beers it would take them before they took them to bed. He is also one of those men who is VERY short (5 foot 4) and obviously has a prolem with it - not that short men are typically wife beaters, but I would definately say he has some insecurity related to his height as he is always mentioning it. Anyway - I guess you get the general gist...the problem is, i am not sure what to do now. It could be that the little boy is just making things up, or that his mummy and daddy have been having a few heated arguments and if this is the case, then it really is none of my business. On the other hand, if there is some sort of domestic violence going on, I don't feel I can turn a blind eye. She is not a close friend of mine, but close enough that she has been round for coffee at my house on a dozen or so occasions.....even if it is nothing, she should know that her son is spreading potentially harmful rumours!!! My husband thinks I shoudl just forget I heard the conversation and ignore it, but I disagree. What do you think?? Oh - I did ask the little boy if he ever got hurt, or if his brother got hurt - he said no.
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