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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think pinning a child down is absolutely unacceptable?

118 replies

LottieG100 · 02/06/2017 23:50

My DD is 10 and sees her dad every other weekend and some extra during holidays. I have wondered about mild SN in the past - one of the reasons being because she can get very hysterical very quickly over minor things. She hates being enclosed, any slight injury or pain and bodily related things like being ill, having her hair or nails cut.

Bearing this in mind; her toe nails have a fungal infection. She can't bare to look at them and getting samples to send for analysis was extremely difficult. Because of the infection, they grow very slowly yet her dad is insisting on cutting them every time she sees him. I'm not exaggerating when I say that she is horrifically upset over having her nails cut. She panics and screams like she's being murdered.

She's come back from his several times now saying he has forced her to let him cut her nails. I've asked how he can force her (knowing how difficult it is to persuade her) and she's said she gets as upset as she does at home but he pins her down and does it anyway. He later laughs about it. I've pointed out to her that she would be absolutely livid about being pinned down if I were to do it and that she'd tell me so and that no one has a right to do something to her body that she doesn't want them to. I've told her she needs to stand up to him and say it's unacceptable but she said she's worried he won't see her anymore if she does. I said that she can't carry on letting him hurt and upset her on that basis but she then clams up.

Having tackled him, he thinks she needs to get over it and is being ridiculous to get in such a state about it all. He doesn't see anything wrong in what he's doing. AIBU to think pinning a child down is absolutely wrong and to take matters out of her hands and tell him that if it happens again then contact will be restricted until he takes matters to court?

OP posts:
mynotsoperfectlife · 02/06/2017 23:52

Not sure tbh ... I pin DD down to brush her teeth.

furlinedsheepskinjacket · 02/06/2017 23:53

hmmm i dunno - we had to pin down dd for pretty much everything - teeth hair nappies

notgivingin789 · 02/06/2017 23:54

Umm... I wouldn't suggest you restrict contact ...

barrygetamoveonplease · 02/06/2017 23:54

My parents would pin me down to do things (like cut my nails, nothing more sinister!) and I still remember it now. I'll be 60 before the end of the year. Stop him.

Haggisfish · 02/06/2017 23:54

Not sure either. Ds has nails that grow slowly but inwards. Have to be cut, he hates it.

SmitheringSmithison · 02/06/2017 23:56

On the fence I'm afraid-I have no choice but to hold dd (asd, spd and anxiety) down for certain things (eye drops being one memory that sticks out). I also have to regularly restrain her too due to her self-harming or endangering me.

Smeaton · 02/06/2017 23:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HandbagCrazy · 02/06/2017 23:59

You realise that him doing this isn't her fault and you absolutely cannot put the responsibility of stopping him on her shoulders don't you? You sound exasperated that she won't tell him to stop and stand up for herself but SHE'S 10.

I think you need to work with her to find a way of getting these things done, ideally without pinning her down. Have you asked her how she would like it done or if she has any ideas of what would make it easier?

Unfortunately, being held is sometimes a necessary evil remembers dsis being pinned and screaming like a banchee as ddad pulled a splinter out of her finger9

Toysaurus · 03/06/2017 00:03

I think he's probably cutting them too often. Every other week if they grow very slowly might be too much. It's probably a bit much to expect a ten year old being restrained to confidently stand up to her dad. You'll probably need to speak to him.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 03/06/2017 00:03

YANBU. You can't just cut fungal toenails; it doesn't work like that. Cut to get a smaple, sure, but after that they need proper treatment, not forced and repeated cutting.

He also shouldn't be using the same nail scissors on her fungal toenails as normal ones as that's how the infection can spread.

Jellybean85 · 03/06/2017 00:04

This is hard, its not like it's just because they're long either. They are infected. I remember at a similar age my mum having to get help from my aunt and brother and pin me down to clear a horrific infection I got from an animal bite.
I fought so hard for ages and it kept getting worse and worse. Within days of her piercing it (blister of puss) and cleaning it it was gone!! Fully traumatised then but now as an adult think she did the right thing.

Toysaurus · 03/06/2017 00:05

Sorry. Tired missed that you had. I don't think you can restrict contact for this. Pisses me off the having to get over somethinh though, especially when they have sensory issues.

Twofurrycats · 03/06/2017 00:05

Hmm. Somewhere in a parallel universe there is a father posing the question to the internet: should I restrict mother's access to child as she won't enforce basic grooming/hygiene routines. I agree 'pinning down' sounds drastic but are you never going to trim nails etc.

LottieG100 · 03/06/2017 00:07

She will let me cut them with persuasion. As he only sees her every other weekend and they aren't long, I don't see why he needs to get involved. He was abusive to me which perhaps colours my view of this situation.

OP posts:
FreeNiki · 03/06/2017 00:08

Of course it is acceptable in some circumstances.

One of my friends poor dds had cancer. She had to be pinned down and have tubes put up her nose, cannulas inserted, blood taken, etc etc etc.

Not pleasant but the result if you didnt would be her death.

Children sometimes need to be pinned down and forced to take antibiotics, have vaccinations. You cant really allow them to opt out.

But a 10 year old over nail cutting I dont think yabu. At that age, it's too much. Why hasnt the infection been dealt with?

WorraLiberty · 03/06/2017 00:08

Not sure either to be fair.

Not sure about the laughing either, although that will get everyone on this thread angry, so are you sure it's 100% true?

LottieG100 · 03/06/2017 00:09

They don't need doing when she goes there. It is a power trip thing for him.

OP posts:
Pollyanna9 · 03/06/2017 00:10

The concerning bits here are him laughing about it after like he's finding it all a jolly wheeze.

And if there is a complete (deliberate?) lack of understanding or no knowledge that she actually feels she has to submit to him holding her down like this and if she doesn't she thinks she won't get to see him again. It's likely just her thinking as kids do, but it could be him putting that idea in her head (who knows).

It sounds just a bit bullying in the WAY it's being done, to me anyway.

The other way to come at it is to empower her to do it for herself as an alternative - could you go out and buy nail clippers or some kind of grind your nails down device that she could use herself and for her to choose an anti fungal treatment and take pics of it so she can log her progress - might that appeal to her???

LottieG100 · 03/06/2017 00:11

He has laughed about it to me so yes, I'm sure it's true. It's being treated but it takes a long time to clear up.

OP posts:
IDontBowlOnShabbos · 03/06/2017 00:11

Do you have any reason to suspect that he's cutting her nails against her wishes when he doesn't have to?

You say that they grow slowly but nails being cut every other weekend sounds about right to me. Do you ever cut them?

My dd hates having her hair brushed and I really hate doing it because it causes her so much anxiety. If I didn't do it though it wouldn't get done.

Maybe if your DD trusts you more you could say they need to be cut on x date so she has prior warning, don't pin her down, give her an incentive and explain why they need to be done. Then ex doesn't need to do it and dd is hopefully happier.

madamginger · 03/06/2017 00:11

I have to practically pin DD down to do any basic hygiene on her, her nails are talons and she looks like she's been dragged through a hedge her hair is so knotted.
She's 10 and completely NT, she's just a slob. Sunday is cleaning day when I do her nails and check her hair for nits and we have an argument about it every single week.

HoHoHoHo · 03/06/2017 00:12

My parents pinned me down to put eye drops in when I had a rare eye very serious infection. I remember the fear and feeling of utter powerlessness. However I'm not blind which could have happened had the infection progressed. I think my parents did the right thing even though I remember hating them for it at the time.

LottieG100 · 03/06/2017 00:13

It's just one of many things she's unhappy with with regard to him but she would put up and shut up rather than risk upsetting him. I don't think that's a healthy relationship.

OP posts:
NeedsAsockamnesty · 03/06/2017 00:14

Why not just take her to get her nails treated and get actual advice on how to deal with her nails that way you just get her to agree to you doing it as per the treatment plan and tell him that the professional advice you have received is x and this is what you have done.

WorraLiberty · 03/06/2017 00:15

Yes but laughing at her and laughing to you are two different things.

Are you sure he's not laughing to you incredulously/rolling his eyes at your 'persuasion' techniques etc?

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