It's not often that I complain about my job. I really do like it. I have busy days, hard days but today their was an incident that I can't shake. This mom with 3 boys ages 9,5 and 3 came in. We had an urgent visit and had gotten behind, so she had been waiting in a busy waiting room for abou 30 minutes. Another mom pulled me into the hallway and said "are you going to take that mom back soon because she has been verbally abusing her boys for just being boys the whole 10 minutes I've been here." I checked the sign in sheet, assured the other mom that I'd get her back as soon as possible. This mom we'll call her Patty is well known to our office. She has 3 boys, they get sick often, one time her 3 yr. old swallowed magnetics and we had daily discussions about his poop. She's a high strung mom, and anxious mom. I can be like that. Or probably was more like that when my boys were younger, so I try not to judge. I went about my business and took them back into a room. I tried to help her out, by getting the kids to sit down not climb on the chairs, I promised stickers if they listened to their mom. Most of the time kids listen better to other adults. I wish people in general had helped me out more when my boys were little. I thought everything was calm...then closed the door. And she let into those kids about how awful they were being, they weren't even that sick, blah, blah, blah...just on and on. Then the little one must have climbed back up on top of the chair. And Patty said just because the nurse is gone doesn't mean you don't have to sit on the chair and then...slap, slap, slap, ...slap, slap, slap,....slap, slap, slap. Now I'm not a perfect parent and we all lose it sometimes, I have spanked my boys a handful of times. I don't think it's very effective and haven't done it in a long time. I know others disagree with me. But the sound of him being hit over and over again was painful...of course he's crying and the mom is screaming. Dr. G comes out of the room next door at this point and says "what's going on?". I gave him a quick summary and he went into the room and asked the same question. Patty said oh he's just having a 3 yr. old temper tantrum. After they leave we discuss what to do. As a nurse I'm obligated to report abuse. Our dilemma was that I didn't see it or know for sure which child she hit. Dr. G had looked at all their butts because they had scabies and said there were no red marks. The law is you can hit your kids but only with your hand and it can't leave a mark. Dr. G said he would report it if I was uncomfortable, but I was the best witness. So I called the abuse hotline and told them what happened. They said even though it was inappropriate discipline they couldn't open up a case against her unless we have proof the child was injured. I believe red mark or not that child is injured. And I fear if she does that behind a door in a dr.s office what is going on when no one is looking or listening close by. Anyway awful story...nothing to do with weight loss...but had to vent.
2 comments:
By today's standards I was abused as a kid and back then nobody even batted an eyelash. For that reason I don't hit my kids. I did a couple times when they were younger but realized how stupid it was. Kids have a really hard time waiting that long and I agree that this mom probably does much worse in the privacy of her own home. Hopefully she was just having a really bad day and snapped (for the kid's sake). Sorry you had such a bad day.
As I slept on it,I now wish when I heard the slapping I would've opened the door and somehow stopped it, and offered some support for everybody. When Dr. G found out nothing could be done through the county he said he would talk to her at the next office visit.
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