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.

Absolutely without a doubt yes.

The OP did not have her child's back early enough, this is the issue that she seems to be failing to see. She let it escalate, she is responsible!

(Or actually, not just she, whoever else was a guardian for the child during their holiday).

It’s very bizarre who cares about being classy when it comes to protecting your children absolute madness. You think being classy even crosses your mind in a situation like that.

Why did she not 'stand up for the child sooner though' - she was aware of issues and choose to ignore them, based on how she tells it at least.

What is even odder is how you let it get this far, because you seemed to be aware of ongoing issues already?

If this is true....it'll be in the red tops in short order.

Just as a side issue, why was the 6 year old wandering around the buffet unsupervised. I tend to go to adult only hotels these days so it might be common behaviour?

I was probably presumptuous about Germans but they all just seem so hard faced and shouty

But from your account, it was you and your DH who were the “shouty” ones. Also sounds like your racist/xenophobic by tarring a whole nation like that, and so I’ll take your whole account with a pinch of salt.

I have no words to respond to this, honestly, other than what a ridiculous and blinkered response.

This is a wind up. Come on!

So do you.

You didn’t protect your child though

You taught them violence is acceptable.

Err, no, I wouldn't have. You shouldn't teach your kids that it's okay to use physical violence. You should have told your DS to ignore the little girl and keep away from her and supervised him. If the dad still grabbed him, you should have insisted on making a report to the local police for assault and pushed the hotel until they did do something. Now you look no better than this family and you have taught your DS that the answer to a dispute is to smack someone in the face in public. I would have cringed so much if I saw someone behaving like you in a hotel.

It's quite reasonable to let a 6 year old walk to the other side of a buffet restaurant unaccompanied. Nobody would think this would involve being attacked by a grown man.

Honestly, someone is physically attacked, and it's the victim's fault for not anticipating and avoiding? You are disgusting.

As I said prior we have seen the children twice, once by the front door and once by the entrance of the hotel. They were being kids I’m not going to get riled up over that.

DS said the little girl shoved him and DD so I said oh just do it back. Then we didn’t see them again until last night.

OP's comments suggest she thinks otherwise.
Also, why would a Scottish person have 'a chip on their shoulder' regarding comments about Germany?

You think being classy even crosses your mind in a situation like that
Well, tbf, it was never going to be a consideration here 🤷‍♀️

The kid was unsupervised while the parents were eating at the buffet. No one knows what really happened and I'd like to think that if a grown man assaulted a child, tacky resort or not, other adults would have stepped in way before a mark was left 🙄

It seems the response from OP to the “incident” was her natural character. Settles every dispute by lamping someone

Erm I've seen your other posts your not a rational parent and you already have problems with your child so the problem is with you

You've clarified that you advocate physical retaliation as a first response to every situation.

You and your dc have a life a physical confrontation ahead of you.

Yeh. Rough

”… but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him and smite him on thy mouth”. Amen.

"do it back"? Seriously you don't sound like a good parent at all. You seem to be teaching your small kids at every opportunity that violence is acceptable. You should have told them to keep away from the other child and maybe put some time into actually supervising your kids so that these things weren't happening when you weren't watching. Most all inclusive hotels also don't allow young kids to walk around the buffet unsupervised. I think I know exactly what type of person you are, having seen a few like that on my last holiday.

So, your description here of the child's behaviour toward each other is much more laid back than the accusatory tone toward the (German) girl in the first post. You are openly admitting though that you did nothing to intervene or protect your child at this point. You are also admitting that you advised him to continue the shoving, and while this might not necessarily always be seen as wrong, it undoubtedly continued the conflict between them more than removing him from the situation would have done. If you didn't see them again until last night, how do you know that the injury your child had was anything to do than with the (German) man? Did you witness what happened, what led up to it, how hard your child pushed the (German) girl and so on? Was the German parent simply restraining your child from 'pushing' his child?

snobbery and holier than thou attitudes are equally as distasteful as breakfast buffet brawls in my opinion.

taking your kids on holiday during term time is not a character flaw.

if you believe your children would be so disadvantaged by missing a week of school, perhaps some reflection on your own parenting might be better placed