To wonder what you'd do if your child punched another child.

[KeemaNaanAndCurryOn]

DS has obvious SN. At the local soft play, a boy who was about 2 years older than him and about 4 inches taller than him, punched him in the face and caused a nosebleed. Anyone want to take a punt at what the child's mother did when I went went with the manager to speak to her about it?

What would you have done?

That's awful. How is your DS? I bet she did nothing. Or don't tell me she hit her kid to teach him not to hit?!

Did she blame you?

Your son?

I would hope she removed him forthwith....asked him to apologise and spoke seriously to him regarding his behaviour.

I've got a feeling this may not be the case?

Hope your ds is ok.

I'd have told dd off, made her apologise and taken her straight home, making sure that I explained why it was an awful thing to do enroute.

She is only 3 though.

Let me guess, other woman blamed your poor son?

I hope he is ok.

Fwiw I hope my children never hit people. But if they did... I'd take them straight home and depending which child, an age appropriate punishment & a lecture discussion about how unacceptable it is.

I would be totally mortified if my dc did this! I would apologise profusely, give then a stern talking too, make them apologies and take them straight home and make it clear that they would not be returning until they learn that hitting someone is never acceptable!

Sorry this happened to your dc

I don't know what she did but I'd have punished mine for that behaviour )I suspect she didn't.) My children don't have SN but my son was punched repeatedly in the face on the way home from a Cubs outing on the Cubs bus last night and not a single person did anything, he came home in tears with a swollen face - and yes, I'm going to go mad about it once I manage to get the Cubs leader on the phone.

I would have apologized immediately and then told my child to apologies. I would then remove him from the soft play took him home and discussed why we don't hit.

Hope your ds is ok. I'd be furious if my child did this. They would be made to apologise, I would apologise and they would be taken straight home with a stern talking to.

Ev1, I hope your ds recovers quickly. How awful for him.

I'd have made my DC say sorry to your DC, I'd have been profusely apologising to you too, and would have taken DC straight home. Although at his age/stage (3), I don't think he would fully understand the sanctions.

what was your child doing? 2 of my children have punched another child, and that was because the other child was bullying others and then started on them. Whilst i don't concede this is right, my children have been taught to be confident and stand up for themselves. it may be obvious to you that your child has SNs, would it be to the other child?

You've pretty much said what I would've done. I would have apologised, made him apologise and taken him home.

What she did was say, "well my son said earlier that your kid was annoying him, so if he doesn't want to get punched then he shouldn't go around annoying other kids should he."

What a great lesson to teach your child. That if someone annoys you, punch them.

Same as above really, absolutely not acceptable.

Ouch. I would he my DC would never do that, clearly, but if they did then they would be apologising to both the child and their parent before being frogmarched out of there and straight home where they would remain for some time while they contemplated what a bad move that was.

I am guessing none of the above happened, though, OP.

It really depends.
What did your kid do?

Ah, I hope your ds is ok, what an awful thing for another child to do.

I bet the woman suggested your ds shouldn't get in the way of her ds fists.
In other words was your child's fault.

....I would hope that....

X-post, I would have wanted to punch her.
After all, she shouldn't go around annoying people if she doesn't want to get punched.

My son accidentally hit another child at soft play a few weeks ago. Even though it was an accident (he hit her with a plastic toy) and she was unhurt, I told him off, explained why he should be more careful and asked him to apologise. When he refused he was marched home (after just 10mins). I would say an intentional punch and he should be taken home. But based on past experience of 2 mums fighting in the soft play, nothing would surprise me.

We had this once where a 5 yr old (deliberately? I don't know) kicked & punched my 18mo in the head (said child shouldn't have been in that area of soft play anyway). Once the mother finally got off her phone & came over to see what was going on, she blamed us for telling him off, and when we decided to leave as DS was so upset, let her kid go over finish off DS' food (AND he then laughed & said "see ya, wouldn't want to be ya" at us as we walked out!) No apology, just anger for us telling her kid off when she was nowhere to be seen.

I would have checked that the other child was OK or needed help, made my child apologise profusely (as would I) and then take my child straight home for a long chat about why this isn't acceptable behaviour - and there wouldn't be any treats or trips to soft play for a while either. I hope your son is OK OP.

dreaming, my son tends to bounce around waving his arms and making humming sounds.

Would a better lesson for your children be for them to go and tell someone if they're being bullied, or walk away, rather than punching another child?

Although, in most situations he would have been obviously unreasonable, and shouldn't have punched your kid.

X-post.

Clearly it's never ever justified and that was a lousy reaction, but do you have any idea what your DS was doing that was "annoying" and is there anything you can do to intervene before it escalates another time? Or was he annoying this child just by existing ?

Unless the other child felt directly threatened, then he shouldn't have punched.

In any case, you are right that there are better ways to deal with it, which the mother should have taught him.