Am I overreacting?

[pomegranatepie]

Ds 4, came home from his dad's very sad and clingy and grumpy. He told me that his dad had been cross with him and had threatened to leave him at the petrol station forever and that he would have to live there. He said "I'm not sure my dad is my best friend anymore' I explained that his dad didn't really mean it and sometimes people said things they don't mean when they are cross. He is finally asleep and I'm fuming. Should I just ignore this? His dad had a mean temper towards me, the main reason we split, and I worry that he will do the same to our son.

I really dislike threats from parents to little children. I (alone on MN it appears), hated the recent thread about the Mum confessing she threatened to 'fucking kill you', when her little children annoyed her. So many posters were supportive because all mothers lose it sometimes. I have saved that thread and the one where the mother punched her daughter in the face. The advice from MN was not to apologise or do anything that might make the child remember what happened.

@mrsmuddlepies

someone came on and said they had punched their daughter in the face?!!?!? How old was the child?

@pomegranatepie

Nope not over reacting, what an awful thing to say to a 4 year old. He’s still tiny and that would really mess with his head! Glad you’ve told ex you know. Hopefully he will realise what an arse he’s been and apologise to DS

I think an older daughter. It was two separate threads. I felt like the only poster saying it was wrong.
It seemed to me that some mothers feel they can say anything to their children because they are mothers. The title of the thread was 'Lost it'.

its so sad that threatening behavior,scare tactics and threats is how so many adults parent these days

These days? I think it's much less common these days.

Thanks all for the comments. I guess all I can do is reassure my son and keep an eye on his behaviour, it is difficult to talk to my ex, he usually dismisses my opinions as over reaction.

It's it not court mandated contact, just agreed verbally between the two of us.