Recently I’ve been arguing with my parents about how they treat my little brother as I felt that it wasn’t right and was too extreme. Once my mother slapped him till he had bruising on his cheekbecause he broke a squishy and there was the sticky substance around the house. I didn’t say anything but just witnessed it with my eyes as I was shocked. Recently we argued since she was using exercise as a punishment for him as he cut his sleeve on his uniform. It was a cut about perhaps 5cm long? And we argued as I told her not to do that anymore since my little brother did not know how to do a push up right but she simply brushed me away and said it’s not her problem, and that she’s the one punishing him. I walked past her and said that it was child abuse and that’s how it all started. Then my stepdad butted in and told me that from now on he’s rooming in my room and that they’ll see just how great I can parent him. I can’t take this anymore since my national exams are coming and I’ve been losing sleep over my little brothers snoring. What do I do? I talked to an trusted adult who sort of agreed but I don’t know if I should report this or just keep quiet
Hey there, this sounds really exhausting and distressing especially with exams coming up… Hearing the different things that have happened, it does sound concerning… Like the slap that caused bruising and the exercise punishment… Deciding on whether to report or not can be hard as it could lead to intervention that protects your brother, but it could also lead to investigation that could be stressful for the whole family… Since you’ve already spoken to a trusted adult, it might be worth seeking their advice on whether to report or not… Also, if you want to explore about the reporting anonymously without it triggering a formal investigation you could reach out to 1800-777-000 (MSF) which is the child protective service hotline… They could answer your questions and also advise you… You are not wrong for feeling that something needs to change… If you need someone to talk to at anytime, please call us at 1771 or text us at 6669 1771… Take care…
Hey, thanks for replying! The trusted adult did say like if I don’t wanna separate the family I shouldn’t report which made me not know what to do. I just moved all my little brothers things back to his room and sent a paragraph to the family group chat stating that I couldn’t sleep well bc of his snoring, need to focus on my n lvls as it’s coming in 5 days and that I’ll still check on him and monitor his work. If you were in my shoes, what would u do?