SHOCKING! Mothers Who Have Been Beaten, Attacked & Bullied By Their Own Kids Tell Their Horrific Stories
Child-to-parent abuse (CPA) is more common than we think because it is highly under reported. In the UK alone, police figures revealed a 30 per cent rise in domestic violence offences by sons on their parents since 2010, to 5,294 last year, while of violence from daughters has doubled to 1,598.
There have also been increased reports of teenagers attacking their parents during the Coronavirus imposed lockdown.
According to stories published by pegsupport.com and adoption uk.org, a lot of parents don’t report cases of violence perpetrated by their children because of fear of losing them or the shame it brings within their family or community.
Mothers who have suffered the domestic abuse of being beaten, attacked and bullied by their own children have come out to tell their stories and it is heartbreaking.
Read some of the stories below…
1. Caroline Straw, 37
Cowering in her bedroom all night, Carolineās heart pounded. She knew the chest of drawers barricading her door offered scant protection from the potential killer in her home, who had threatened to suffocate and poison her.
Carolineās terror was complicated by a conflicting urge to love and protect, because her attacker wasnāt a hardened criminal, nor a violent husband, but her 15-year-old daughter, Daisy.
A teenager who enjoyed baking and art and whose middle-class upbringing seemed to offer stability, Daisy had nonetheless waged a two-year campaign of abuse against her mom. Caroline narrated:
”Sheās a loving girl, but itās as if she has a switch. Iāve had black eyes, cuts and bruises all over my body. It was horrific and heartbreaking. If I were being abused by my partner it would have been different. Child-to-parent violence is horrific, but itās not spoken about. I feel Iām betraying my daughterās trust by talking about it now.”
Daisyās behaviour changed when she was 13 according to her mum.
āShe started pushing boundaries, swearing,ā says Caroline, who split up with Daisyās father when she was 4 and has an 8-year-old son from a subsequent relationship.
Daisy started hitting and headbutting Caroline when she wasnāt allowed out or to use her phone. At 14, Daisy started using knives and saucepans to attack her mother. She said:
”She threw whatever she could get her hands on. Sometimes sheād scream that she hated me. I was constantly on high alert.”
If friends and family asked how she acquired her cuts and bruises, she told the truth.Ā ”I didnāt want to minimise what had happened. They didnāt know what to say or how to help,” she says.
Daisy, nearly 6ft, used her height to intimidate her 5ft 3in mother, and started attacking her 6-year-old brother:
”Sheād pin him down and punch him, or wake him up in the middle of the night and say she was going to kill him.”
READ ALSO: Lagos State Government Warns Perpetrators As Domestic Violence Cases Rise Amid COVID 19 Lockdown
In terror, Caroline moved her son into the bedroom she shares with her partner.
At a meeting with social services last July, Daisy calmly revealed she had researched how to kill her mother āin secondsā using suffocation and cleaning products. āShe said it would be āfunā.
“To hear her say she wanted to kill me and know she meant it was chilling. She was too high-risk to be taken into care,” says Caroline, who barricaded herself in her bedroom.
”I didnāt leave my room ā I wasnāt prepared to play Russian Roulette with my life. I was too panicked to sleep. I felt sadness, fear and desperation.”
2. Catherine Slater, 32,
Catherine from Staffordshire spoke about the abuse she suffered from her 10-year-old son, Richard.
”I love him, but I donāt like him, and thatās a horrible feeling,” she says, through tears, explaining how Richard became aggressive 18 months ago after she and husband Michael, 37, bought him an Xbox.
”When we wouldnāt let him finish his game he began throwing things. When I told him that wasnāt nice, heād retort, āWhat are you going to do about it?āā
Last Christmas, Catherine said Richard punched her in the face three times. She shared further:
”He hit me with such force I thought my nose was broken. There was blood everywhere. He didnāt apologise ā he told me Iād made him angry.”
She told friends and family the black eye was caused by walking into a cupboard: āAbove all, I feel embarrassed.ā The only person who knows the extent of the abuse is dad Michael, who Richard has never attacked.
Catherine insists if she were stricter, it would make Richard angrier still.
”I can see the anger in Michaelās face. Heās heartbroken that someone is essentially abusing his wife. A health supporter has seen him at school and said thereās nothing wrong with himā and to try to ignore it. They say he hits me because he cares about me most. But as he grows, I worry he could kill me.”
3. Miranda Rogers, whose 16-year-old son Tristan has been violent to her since he was nine also shared her sad story. In her words:
”People would be shocked if they knew āIām worried about people judging me, or that I might lose the children.”
Miranda lives with her husband in a West Country village. But she says:
”I lie in bed at night wondering where I went wrong to have a son like this. I love him unconditionally, but as he gets older I worry heāll break my bones.”
The deputy manager of a nursing home, who quit her job to raise her 5 children aged between two and 18, said she first noticed second child, Tristanās change in behaviour after her only daughter was born 9 years ago. She said:
”He started pushing boundaries and saying he hated me.”
When Miranda caught Tristan smacking his 5-year-old brother, she intervened and he punched her in the mouth.
”I took the two youngest children to my bedroom and cried. When he calmed down he said sorry and that he ājust got angryā. As his mother, of course I forgave him.”
Miranda explained the bruise to friends as an āaccidentā and when Tristan pushed her into a door frame after an argument aged 11, she blamed that bruise on playing with her 3-year-old. She revealed:
”They have to work for their pocket money and tidy their rooms. Iāve taught them there are consequences to their actions. But if I send Tristan to his room, heāll smash it up.”
Tristanās rages increased as he became a teenager.
”He pushes me so hard Iām knocked to the floor,” says Miranda, who at 5ft 3in is dwarfed by her 6ft son.”
Months ago, after Tristan punched a door, Miranda took him to A&E, admitting to a nurse that it happened because of his temper:
”She said I should speak to our GP to help with his anger, but Tristan cried and begged me not to take him. And I canāt drag him there ā heās bigger than me.
Perhaps because I do most of the childcare, Tristan has never been violent to his father [a 40-year-old warehouse operator].
My husband gets angry on my behalf,ā says Miranda. But Tristan also plays us off against each other, accusing me of winding him up. After heās been violent he usually apologises, and tells me I must hate him. I say, āI donāt hate you, but I hate the way you behaveā.”