I look after somebody else’s child when ever ----I am at home. I live on a complex where he lives with his parents, If I am at home I look after him.
he is now 8, I have been doing this since he was about 4. I never really wanted children but looking after him and caring for him has been so rewarding and made me such a better person.
His parents are quite abusive and shout at him a lot. The amount of times he has come over to me distressed and crying has increased lately. I have become a safe person for him, his mother seems to take delight in making him upset. He is a wonderful boy and to be fair he is as good as gold when he is with me, every now and then he will do something bad or unacceptable, but we deal with it and it’s over and he learns.
I feel that he is living in a battleground at home, I have tried to speak to his mother before but she didn’t grasp that I was trying to help and she made it hard for him to see me for a few weeks. He is not very close to either of his parents but very close to me. This has happened by default as I have filled the gap, breaks my heart when he see’s that I am the only person who is nice to him and says “why are you so nice to me”.
His mum wanted to try and build a relationship with him last year so I did everything I could to help, limited contact, gave them interests to share and even asked him to be friends with his mum. But after a couple of weeks she lost interest. If he doesn’t want to do what she wants then she shouts at him, reminds me of how some people treat dogs.
I cannot sit by and see him so unhappy, I used to be at peace with the situation because I made him happy, but lately things have been getting worse and the threats are getting worse to him and of course his behaviour is getting worse. Any advice would be appreciated