To think any parent would do the same? Or am I bonkers

[Doritosandsourcream]

On holiday in the buffet eating dinner all I could hear was my son crying walking from the bar with his juice in his hand. I thought oh maybe he fell over so DH went over to him. Turns out that this little girl that has been picking on him for the past 2 days her dad has grabbed DS and twisted arm so tight he broke his skin and dug his nails into him. (German family)

DS has been coming to me about her saying she keeps pushing him and sticking her fingers up since they arrived. DS finally got annoyed and pushed her back earlier on in the day and she told her dad. So dad got his own back on DS.

I ran over to DH as he was shouting at the dad and the dad was just smirking and something just came over me and I punched him in the face.

Never in my life have I punched anyone and I didn’t think about the consequences at the time I just kept looking at my son he was in flood of tears.

It was the weirdest feeling I have never felt adrenaline like it.

aibu? How would you have handled it? The hotel did absolutely nothing.

Really?
Why didn't she intervene sooner?
Why wasn't she supervising the 6 year old, especially in light of the apparent issues?
Why is the man's nationality relevant?

I am sitting in Paul.and I just spat my seafood soup out when I read that you punched him. Bloody good job x

It sounds like a very poor hotel with badly behaved guests.

Keep your children with you at all times on holiday. You don't know who's going to be around and how they might behave & language barriers often lead to misunderstandings.

It never would have got to this stage with my DS same age as he'd never touch another kid and he'd have been within arms reach of me, but if I had in your shoes i would not have punched, but would likely have shouted something rude. I certainly would have yelled "oh my god this man has just hit my child!!! Someone call staff/police/security" etc But my main focus would have been moving my kids away from him.

Germans are not "hard faced and shouty". Ffs.

I don’t know. It’s easy to say what you would and wouldn’t do when you’re not right there in that situation.

My daughter has Tourette’s and a few years ago we were in the pub having dinner when I noticed a woman at a nearby table was taking the piss out of DD’s tics.

I swapped seats with DD so that she had her back to her, but the woman loudly continued, so I got up and went over to confront her, intending to be all polite about it.

She started shrieking, calling my child a “r####d”, that she was a freak and shouldn’t be allowed out. I just saw red. Next thing I know DH is pulling me away and the pub landlord is throwing the other woman out of the pub. I didn’t hit her, I’ve never hit anybody, but DH thought I was going to. I just saw red.

I was so embarrassed, I never make a scene.

DD said she always knew I had her back, but that pretty much confirmed it for her.

It was like a Chinese burn and then he dug his nails in.

He was probably smirking because he could see that you were ‘that’ type of family.

If someone aggressively touches my child...all bets are off.

You witnessed this and every single event which led up to this?

Not condoning violence but unless you actually witnessed every single thing, with both children and all the adults, then you don't actually know what really happened.

Yeah I do wonder how reliable this account of assault was and if there was anyone to back up the 6 year olds version of the truth ….

imagine being this type of parent!

I expect everyone in the restaurant clapped and cheered....

Exactly.
The only proven fact is that OP physically assaulted someone.

The son's scratches could have come from when he pushed the little German girl over, for example.

You were absolutely right for punching him. I’m not a fighter but would 100% do this if someone laid a finger on my child. In fact, I’d be expecting my husband to sort him and I’d have dragged the mother all round the place while I was at it.

This thread and the thugs nodding along saying they’d all throw a punch as well is like an episode of ‘Brits Abroad’. It is embarrassing.

Good for you

I expect everyone in the restaurant clapped and cheered....for the 'German (aka people we don't like, according to the OP) man?

Germans are 'hard-faced and shouty' now Veering a bit nearer to the Nazi stereotypes in every post, OP.

Also cringing at the posters queueing up on here to declare how their husband would have gone for him and all those who think that losing control of their actions is some kind of proof of the intensity of parental love.

If the man did what you say he did, he needed dealing with, non-physically, by the hotel staff (whom you could and should have alerted). As it is, don't be surprised when you're called into school because your 6yo punched a classmate for looking at him funny.

Do you realise how this makes you sound?

Classy. Glad I don’t go on holidays to places like that.

There's going to be 2 sides to the story as to what happened between the kids, but who cares, they're kids. The man should not have assaulted your son, you should not have assaulted the man. Both of you let yourselves down and did nothing to teach your children how to behave. To answer your question, no not everyone would punch someone. I'd want to but I wouldn't because it's the wrong thing to do. I'd have asked the hotel to call the police.

it is normal to want to kill someone who touched your child. but you should have called the police. you should still report this if you are still on holiday, and if not, report it back here in the uk. this man manhandled a child. it is very concerning and may explain his daughter's behaviour too. i'm so sorry this happened to your kid, i hope he is ok.

@LadybirdLover

id rather my son see I protect him than mum let’s a man get away with assaulting me.

If a grown adult had physically hurt my 6 year old I probably would be quiet likely to punch said adult in the face too, not because I think it would be the most sensible thing to do but because I would be extremely emotionally charged.

I wouldn't feel bad about it. The man deserved it. What adult grabs and twists and dogs their nails into a 6 year olds arm let alone one that isn't even their child wtf