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AIBU?

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Original poster

Man slapping child

80 replies

Yorks2Lancs7 · 13/12/2025 20:09

I am going to preface this by saying I do not have children. But I grew up in a not pleasant household.

tonight I was having a drink with my partner at a train station pub, I saw a man slap his child round the face (probably 5 years old) I spoke out, the mother said ‘he didn’t slap her on the FACE’ I said he did, I saw it, you are a terrible mother. She then came towards me to try and fight me but I went in the bar. I told my partner and although he was proud of me he told me given current aggression in the UK I should stay out of it. WWYD?

OP posts:
Original poster
Yorks2Lancs7 · 13/12/2025 22:08

MoodyMargaret11 · 13/12/2025 21:58

I will also add that child abuse like slapping is still fairly normalized in some cultures, hence the parents feeling comfortable to do it in public.

I wouldn’t say it is at all in England? Weird that you would rationalise this..

OP posts:
kittywittyandpretty · 14/12/2025 14:40

Fends · 13/12/2025 21:21

So bloody what?

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Agreed my mother was a piece of shit who happily let the stepdad batter her children but the day that she nearly got killed by him. That was the step too far.
Fuck them, they have choices. The kids don’t.

Jamesblonde2 · 14/12/2025 14:45

RessicaJabbit · 13/12/2025 20:15

You'll probably have got the mother into trouble at home with him... Making him look bad.

If he hits his kid,a, and she minimises it... he probably does the same thing to her

Well that’s on her to remove her and her children from that situation. The services that support this are amazing. He is abusing his child and she is failing to protect.

JadedVeryJaded · 14/12/2025 14:46

I’d call the police. This is assault.

bondsy · 14/12/2025 14:47

I would absolutely report. At the very least it might put the family on the radar of police or SS.

It amazes me when people can see a child or animal being hurt and not say something.

VikaOlson · 14/12/2025 14:47

I had a similar experience years ago with a woman trying to slap her child (who was trying to hide) - I don't know if I 'helped', I stopped the child being attacked on that occasion and I almost got battered by the aggressive woman, but I guess at least that child knew someone else could see what was happening was wrong.

Fransgran · 14/12/2025 15:57

We were leaving a shopping centre. A man was approaching with a boy of about twelve when he suddenly slapped him on the ear so hard that the kid stumbled. I tried to stay calm and polite, telling the man that it was assault and he could have caused the poor boy serious injury. The man unleashed a torrent of absolutely vile, misogynistic abuse and started squaring up to me. I said if he touched me, I would call 999 immediately, whereupon the boy told me to fuck off and leave him and his dad alone. My (now ex-) husband witnessed this from a safe distance and afterwards told me I should have minded my own business. That was over thirty years ago and I remember it as vividly as if it were yesterday. I still wish to this day that I could have done something other than watch them disappear into Christmas crowds in a big shopping centre.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 14/12/2025 16:44

I would have alerted the pub to call the police rather than confronting the assailant myself

CinnamonBuns67 · 14/12/2025 16:50

I'd have rung the police and SS, well done OP for standing up for this little boy and I do hope you reported it yesterday and they are able to find them and get this little boy to safety.

Harold99 · 14/12/2025 20:47

If at a train station, then it's surely caught on CCTV. Get that chased and charged

MoodyMargaret11 · 15/12/2025 01:32

Gardener82 · 13/12/2025 22:01

Yeah we all marched down the road together until the police arrived! The slap happened in a Tescos carpark so im
guessing the police collected cctv?
I don’t know what happened after, I never heard anything.
I reported it to social services too. It was a terrible thing to witness, the baby was probably about 6 months old and she slapped her so hard. I really hope she is somewhere safe now.

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You've done absolutely everything you could. Even if you dont know what happened, you triggered a response from both police and SS. Given the baby was so young and couldnt talk, you may have very well saved them from terrible future.

MoodyMargaret11 · 15/12/2025 01:37

Yorks2Lancs7 · 13/12/2025 22:08

I wouldn’t say it is at all in England? Weird that you would rationalise this..

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I'm not rationalizing it at all, just trying to explain WHY some people seem comfortable abusing their kids in public.
England has many immigrants from many cultures and countries... as I'm sure you know.

GaIadriel · 15/12/2025 01:46

Kibble19 · 13/12/2025 20:22

I wouldn’t have stayed quiet either. People will always give it “you just put the mother in danger tonight” but what alternative does someone have? Avert their eyes and pretend they didn’t see?

Call the police, the pub will have CCTV and can track them down.

You answered your own question. 🤣

DidIJustHearWhatIThinkYouSaid · 15/12/2025 02:57

I think it was rhetorical…

ktopfwcv · 15/12/2025 05:55

Kibble19 · 13/12/2025 21:37

And the assumption is always that she’s also a victim. In this case, it seems like she had no issue squaring up to the OP. Hardly the cowering victim.

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Only a victim if they fit a certain stereotype? Gotcha.

SuePlarr · 15/12/2025 07:54

OP many thanks to you and all the other posters who have intervened in similar situations. Believe me, it does make a difference to the child….. just knowing that someone bothered.

The kindness of strangers is never forgotten.

sleepyjessie · 15/12/2025 07:58

Besides speaking out at the time, and then running away and telling your partner, did you actually do anything? Did you make a note of the time, the platform and where it was, in order to report it?

MeridianB · 15/12/2025 08:20

You did the right thing. I would have stepped in, too, and have done the same several times.

ThatOpenTraybake · 15/12/2025 08:23

mrssunshinexxx · 13/12/2025 20:21

I would of followed them to address and called the police and SS to report,
VILE

You'd have followed them to their home?

Well that would be stupid.

sleepyjessie · 15/12/2025 08:26

MeridianB · 15/12/2025 08:20

You did the right thing. I would have stepped in, too, and have done the same several times.

But she hasn’t. Her stepping in didn’t stop anything, it likely just made things worse for the woman and child. She didn’t actually attempt to report it.

Kibble19 · 16/12/2025 21:40

ktopfwcv · 15/12/2025 05:55

Only a victim if they fit a certain stereotype? Gotcha.

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because women can’t possibly just be cunts, can they?

Glindaa · 16/12/2025 21:47

Yorks2Lancs7 · 13/12/2025 22:08

I wouldn’t say it is at all in England? Weird that you would rationalise this..

Show quote history

It was 35 years ago or so I think ?
maybe not now

Glindaa · 16/12/2025 21:50

ThatOpenTraybake · 15/12/2025 08:23

You'd have followed them to their home?

Well that would be stupid.

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I don’t think so at all

Bobiverse · 16/12/2025 21:51

Yorks2Lancs7 · 13/12/2025 22:08

I wouldn’t say it is at all in England? Weird that you would rationalise this..

Show quote history

In England, you’re allowed to hit your kids as long as you don’t leave a bruise though? I thought.
Here in Scotland, you can’t hit your kid at all.

wfhwfh · 16/12/2025 22:46

I think you were very courageous to speak up and it was absolutely the right thing to do.

For those saying it probably means the mother will get given a hard time by the father - the mother is an adult who can make her own choices. Maybe it will cause her to pause and think about the abuse she is exposing her child to.

The child has no choice or intervening. But, by intervening, you made the child realise they are not alone and people do care.

I would report this to the police as well. Men like that need locked up.

Ive intervened in situations like this but i am terrified and often get emotional because of the mixture of disgust and fear and anger. It sounds like you handled it so much better.