Just witnessed a dad thump his son

[Superleo837]

I’ve just been to a car show and whilst waiting for my DS9 to take a photo of a car a woman was putting a child about age 3-4 in the back of a car. They were about 80 yards away. The child was being a bit fussy and she promptly handled the child to the dad/man who threw him with some force in to the car seat and started hitting him quite hard possibly around his head but I couldn’t see and was clearly raged with anger shouting. The kid screaming even more. The dad then looked over and saw me staring. Yes I was looking. I was horrified. He stared at me for a few seconds then drove off quickly.

Each to their own parenting but in my view that’s just abuse. I hate any form of violence. Kids can test you but by being like that you’ve just lost control. The child can’t move out of the car seat to get away. No child deserves to be hit like that. Being fussy isn’t naughty. I come from a childhood of physical abuse and find this abhorrent. Had I not been 8 months pregnant and on my own I would’ve said something. If this is what happens in public what happens behind closed doors? So upset about this. I wish I’d done something now even taken the registration down.

Oh my OP that must have been horrendous!!

Sorry you had to witness that what a poor child x

Did you get a car reg? I would personally report the incident.

Apologies, I didn't read your last sentence. I can imagine this has really distressed you, there are some extremely disturbing people around. Be kind to yourself, there isn't anything more you can do xx

I’ve just asked my son to go through his video of cars and look for registration. I wish I’d done more now but it happened quite quickly.

Was this at an English Heritage place beginning with B? I saw something similar but can't tell you what the car was. It shocked me too.

I would still report it to the police with a description of the car, let them take it from there.

Report. The car park should have cctv

So sorry to hear this OP - an awful thing to witness. Just wanted to say: you said you wish you'd done more at the time, but that kind of "freeze response" is very normal AFAIK. Hope you're ok

You can claim to be upset by the abuse of a child if you stood there and done nothing.

cant

@Lanadelrat the car was 80 yards away, he drove off a few seconds later, and OP is pregnant and probably not in a position to sprint. It's easy to say in hindsight that you should spring into action but people very often freeze, especially if you've experienced something similar and you are horrified.

OP seeing if the car reg shows up is a good idea. And calling the police too - you don't know if someone else has reported it too and it would be good to have another corroborating witness.

Thank you for your support. I’m really glad I messaged on here. We didn’t get the registration and there’s no cctv. I’ve messaged the NSPCC to see what I can do.

...and in future I’m always going to try and do something even if it just means taking a photo of the car. I feel very sad that I didn’t do more and I’ll never ever understand how some people treat their children.