If I report this?

[TwoLeftTrenchFeet]

I overheard a mum saying that she locks her son in a cupboard if he is naughty. He is 3. Should i tell someone official? How much 'trouble' will she get into? Obviously i am trying to keep this as vague as possible

set your phone to record it...then phone sw

Beyond My sisters husband used to say he was preparing for a cage fight!! obviously my nephew has never battled to the death with any other baby!!

I have said this before. Usually when 2 of my friends have very opposing views and it starts getting a bit heated. I jump in with ' I must lock her in the cupboard/ shed etc.'

it breaks the tension, they do this alot. Dd has even asked me if she can lock herself in out under stair cupboard. She is a massive harry potter fan.

When we had the builders in my sister had her bed in a box room. She told everyone that she slept in a cupboard! The house was quite old and we had huge eaves rooms which were actually cupboards.

We had to flag this to SW via work when the mum told us she would lock him in the cupboard like she does when he is naughty. Social Work is now working with mum on better strategies for discipline.

which would you prefer?
a) to look like a nosey, interfering, panic-merchant
b) to have some child locked in a cupboard every time he's naughty for the next 13 years....
no brainer. tell.
if you look a fool, so what? you'll look a caring fool.

Oh dear, that's nothing. Aside from the usual "if you don't do x I shall beat you on the bottom with a blunt instrument" stuff said to my own children, I used to look after a lovely but completely wild and unpredictable little girl. She was eventually (after years of fighting by her Mum my friend) diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which was totally obvious to anyone who met her-except her doctors who resolutely refused to diagnose her for years [hhmm]

Annnnnyway, she was naughty/physically er "challenging"/funny/ strong willed/strong etc etc. I used to threaten her at regular intervals with a beating with "a splintery stick with a nail through it". No, not very tasteful written down, but it would be met with peals of laughter and would momentarily distract her from whatever dark deed she was engaged in.

I moved away (good thing too eh) and when I visit (she's now 21) she always asks about my splintery stick. All well and good, happy childhood memories and all that.

It was a bit embarrassing once for her mother when she was called back after she had been picked up from respite. The (new) carer wanted to know all about the woman with the stick. And whether it was real. Oh how we laughed. [hgrin]

That was far too long. Sorry [hblush]

I've been telling ds17 who'll be of to University next year that I'm going to build a cellar and lock him in it so he'll never, ever leave me.
He does keep reminding me of this.
I'm joking though I'm putting him in the attic.
Seriously though Op, it depends in what context it was said.

It depends how big it is I guess and if it's actually locked. DSs school has a time out room which is little with nothing in it that they go to, or are moved to, when needed.

I tell mine I'll put them in the bin, I obviously haven't.....yet
My niece said I could put her in the bin as long as I put the lid on

I tell DS that I'm going to sell him onm ebay. Mum used to utter all types of dire threats to us. My friend threatens to kill her children on a daily basis (apparently these are very commonly used threats where she's from - although she doesn't say it in english).

Well when people used to comment on my son's good behaviour as a toddler I used to tell them it was the locking him in the cupboard that did it. With a big .

I also tell them, if they complain about a hurting finger/foot/arm/etc that I'll chop it off if that'll help.

I also tell them that I'll chuck them in the bin/over the hedge/that they can sleep in the garage...

And of course it's all a joke.

But just because I'm joking, doesn't mean other people don't do things for real.

Whenever I read threads like this, I remember a journal article I once read in a burns journal about a mother who punished her toddler/pre-school child by dipping a metal spoon in boiling oil and then pressing the spoon against her daughters legs. Just for added value, she used to sit the child on the work surface and watch the oil heating and the spoon dipping for maximum abuse.

After reading stuff like that and some of the SW reports I've read in my time, I will, sadly, never underestimate what some parents are capable of inflicting on their children.

A friend of mine told me once that she actually did lock hers in the cupboard a few times when they were naughty