My house is on the main route to an infant/junior school and each day I see mums and dads taking their children back and forth. There's one young mum, who I've been told is a single mother, with 2 little boys aged 7 and 9. She's slightly built, seems quite timid and frequently looks frazzled. The first time I encountered them was as I was getting off a bus, just as they were walking past. The bus driver and I both gasped in surprise as one of the boys ran, from some distance, and drop kicked his mother in the back of her legs. She fell to the ground and both her son's ran ahead laughing. The bus driver and I helped her to her feet and she brushed away any offers of help. The 2nd time I saw them was as they were walking back from school, going up a flight of steep stone steps. Again, one of the boys came up behind her and kicked her in the back of her legs. Fortunately, she didn't lose her balance and managed to carry on. The 3rd time I saw them was just last week, as they walked past my house. Mother and one son walking together; 2nd son lagging a little way behind. Whilst his mother had her back to him, he once again ran up and kicked her hard in the back of the legs and again she fell to her knees. Both boys ran ahead, laughing at her. Other parents ran to help her but, probably embarrassed, she shrugged off any offers of help. I spoke to my DIL, who knows the family well and she said that father left some time ago and the mother struggles to keep any control of the boys. Worryingly, she has bruises on her arms and legs and, whilst schools were on lockdown and the children were at home all day, she was seen with a black eye.
Those children are 7 and 9 years old, desperately needing a positive father figure in their lives and someone to teach them respect for their parents and themselves. I worry what they, and their mother, will be like when they're 6 foot teenagers and able to drink.