Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Grandad won't stop play fighting with son, ended in injury

225 replies

MrMakersFartyParty · 02/01/2019 10:41

My son is 2 and my father always plays rough with him, flinging him about onto the sofa, tickling (past the point where my son clearly can't handle it and can barely breathe), holding him upside down and he holds him by his wrists and allows him to climb up his body. I have repeatedly said no to the play fighting because I have noticed my son being out of control, hyped up, and recently sometimes hitting (never ever does this any other time). I have also said under no circumstances is he to hold him by the arms or wrists because he actually dislocated my arms when i was a child doing the same thing.
Every other visit it is like he "forgets" and I have to intervene and then he says "oh we have to stop mummy doesn't like it", no you have to stop because you're going to break his frigging arms!
I don't want to micro manage their relationship but it's really getting me down, my son is naughty after he visits and i am terrified he's going to damage his hands and arms. My son has also started to try and play rough with his younger siblings and has ended up hurting them quite a bit now (accidentally).
In my house I am able to intervene, however he also goes to his nannas for play dates (not childcare) and my dad is there and his nan has promised that she won't allow it but I have seen photos on facebook of my son being held and swung by his wrists again.

I feel so powerless and i don't know how to handle this. my dad goes funny if i question anything he does and i have to really tread on eggshells with him. I don't know what to do because i have said "i don't want you to do that, stop, no" etc but when he "forgets" it's too late and i am worried about the consequences.

My son is starting to think i'm horrible because i'm always ruining their "fun".

OP posts:
BlancheM · 02/01/2019 17:26

I fucking hate 'play fighting', as my dad used to say to us children, 'it'll all end in tears'.

Mummysharkdoodoodoo · 02/01/2019 17:31

As if people are shouting abuse etc 🙈 my kids absolutely loved rough and tumble play! I think it does children good. Too many snowflakes now days 🙈

MrMakersFartyParty · 02/01/2019 17:38

I'll remind my son he's a snowflake when I'm giving him his ibuprofen tonight.

OP posts:
subspace · 02/01/2019 17:48

@Mummysharkdoodoodoo have you RTFT? When grandad shark stops baby shark from breathing, it's a little beyond snowflake...

Knicknackpaddyflak · 02/01/2019 18:14

Snowflakes?

Yes, a bit of dislocation and bruising is so good for toddlers, isn't it? Hmm Toughens them right up.

Try RTFT.

RandomMess · 02/01/2019 18:25

So good that you have stood up to your Dad, your father isn't at all nice is he? He's making the point of deliberately overriding your reasonable requests and it wouldn't surprise me if he's knowingly taken it too far to push the boundary and show you and your Mum who is in charge AngryAngryAngry

Trust your instinct!

Lose2StoneObviously · 02/01/2019 18:44

You are taking him him to the GP because his wrists feel acheyafter he has done the running up the body thing ? I do gymnastics and kids hang and swing on bars which is a similat is a similar thing. His wrists are probably just a bit overused . He is 2 they are weak and need strengthening up a bit)

I am guessing the injury you experienced was 'pulled elbow' which happens all the time in young kids

Most kids especially boys love roughhousing with their dads( or grandads).Its kind of a male bonding thing which continues all through school.Most manage not to kick the shit out of their siblings though.

GlitterStick · 02/01/2019 18:45

How is your two year old rough playing with younger siblings?
Being rough with multiple babies?

MrsCBY · 02/01/2019 18:45

Wow, MrMakersFartyParty, that is a fantastic update! Really well done.

Really interesting to read this:
Its good for me to see you all saying how wrong it is because I've been made to feel like hysterical idiot about many things I've tried to enforce rules on.

This is how dysfunctional families work. They make you feel like you’re the problem, and that you have no reason (or right) to question them and their authority. It’s hard for us to go against the people who brought us up; of course we’re naturally inclined to trust them. When you’re a child, in fact, you have no choice but to trust them, and it’s not easy to unlearn that.

But you’ve taken a massive step in trusting and asserting your own authority here, and your own DC will benefit hugely from that. Just don’t let them wear you down into reneging on the boundary!

MrsCBY · 02/01/2019 18:46

*them = your parents, obvs. Not your DC! 🤣

MrMakersFartyParty · 02/01/2019 19:49

@Lose2StoneObviously no I took him to the gp because he has been needing ibuprofen for an entire day, and as a paediatric nurse I know that this is more than him needing his wrists strengthening up. Gp has referred him for an xray.

He also does not kick the shit out of his siblings, do you normally get creative with posts you respond to? He's just been a bit rough with his 1 year old brothers whereas he used to play with them gently. He's trying to do the same with them that he does with his Grandad and I won't have it, it might be normal in your family for boys to act like animals but it's not something I will have and not something I've seen before with a child of 2 years old.

Yes @GlitterStick I'm not lying like a few have suggested, I have a nearly 3 year old and 2 x nearly 2 year olds. Does nobody have multiples on mumsnet?

OP posts:
MrMakersFartyParty · 02/01/2019 19:53

Thanks @MrsCBY I've always thought we were dysfunctional, when they divorced it was vile, loads of using me as a weapon, leaving me on my own for weeks at a time because I was 16. When I bring it up and how traumatic it was all I hear is "ffs everyone's parents get divorced, usually a lot younger than you were"!
When I had counselling for PND after I had my twins the counsellor felt my dad was a huge cause of my ocd and anxiety. Sad times!

OP posts:
MrsCBY · 02/01/2019 20:19

The more you say about them, the worse they sound. And I think your counsellor was right!

It sounds like your mum is still stuck in a dysfunctional relationship with your dad too, despite being divorced, and in denial about the kind of man he is - inviting him over when your son is there against your wishes is really quite something, and very unusual I would have thought in those circumstances.

Hope you’re well past the PND now - and you sound like you’re managing really well in general, three under three is no picnic!

YeOldeNameChange · 02/01/2019 20:42

I hate people like that-narcissists. All about them and their needs. I would not try to reason with him as he clearly isn’t interested. Hold firm on your boundaries - most of us here agree with you. I understand that after you’ve been conditioned to think you’re always in the wrong, it can be hard to be assertive

A relative of ours is a bit like that. Always trying to push boundaries and making out you’re a spoil sport for saying no. He stated he was going to swing my then under 2 year old round in the air by the wrist and ankle. I was like you will not. I was honestly ready to go head to head with him.
People who ignore no are wrong uns

llangennith · 02/01/2019 22:29

Well done OP. With all you've been through physically and emotionally with your parents it's a great achievement that you managed to stand up to them for your children's sake as well as your own. Stand firm!

ferntwist · 02/01/2019 22:38

Well done OP, your insight is remarkable given your own difficult relationship with your dad. Please know we’re all behind you, you’re in the right and you need to protect your son here and not your dad’s feelings.

CroneXX · 02/01/2019 23:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DeepanKrispanEven · 03/01/2019 00:11

Why do people keep using the "snowflake" term? It's like sticking a big neon sign on your head announcing that you're a twat with no imagination.

ButteryParsnips · 03/01/2019 00:15

Most kids especially boys love roughhousing with their dads( or grandads).

What an utterly bollocks generalisation this is.

Missingstreetlife · 03/01/2019 18:33

Yes but this is abuse not play

Veganforlife · 03/01/2019 18:39

Fucking hell.did you tell him when you were a child you didn't like it? Did he stop? The whole post just reminded me of my step dad ,who would hurt me often under the pretence of play,yet made out to my mum it was "our thing".
Clearly he does it to child when your not there...obviously he does as he won't even stop when you are there..nasty nasty behaviour..

Missingstreetlife · 03/01/2019 18:59

Sorry, mum is to blame, read the thread. As yet no one has confronted dad, which needs to happen. Where is the children's father?

BumbleBeee69 · 05/01/2019 03:06

Fucking hell.did you tell him when you were a child you didn't like it? Did he stop? The whole post just reminded me of my step dad ,who would hurt me often under the pretence of play,yet made out to my mum it was "our thing".
Clearly he does it to child when your not there...obviously he does as he won't even stop when you are there..nasty nasty behaviour..

Agreed

and Missingstreetlife I agree, everyone is congratulating Mum on sorting this out, when she has done nothing of the sort, telling her Mum she can’t have him today hasn’t fixed anything atall.

Grandad is an abuser.

CheekyNandosForMe · 05/01/2019 03:11

What curious said. They should be ashamed.

Consolidateyourloins · 05/01/2019 06:24

@Veganforlife

Did your dm realise what he was doing?