Cyprus-Forum.com

[Johnson&Johnson]

There is a Cypriot woman in my block who beats the living daylights out of her kids, particularly her son. I can hear the yelling and crying day in and day out. She sometimes locks her little boy out of the flat for being naughty, and he wanders off around the block bashing things or running into the road until she panics and goes looking for him.

The other day I saw her dragging him by his earlobe across the street. When he fell down she yanked him up so hard his head rebounded and smacked the concrete.

Another time my partner saw her beating the little boy repeatedly with her fists, the way you would hit someone in a boxing match or pub brawl.

So, pretty vicious stuff, as you can see.

Now don't get me wrong, the little boy (around 6 years old I guess) is the child of Satan. VERY spoilt and indulged in the typical way that most Cypriot children are, and totally uncontrolable. However it would be idiotic to lay the fault on him; he is obviously the result of poor parenting. The mother is your typical married-too-young cypriot 'complexiki' who is far too concerned with her hair, makeup and clothes, and the father spends most of his free time washing and waxing his BMW (I kid you not, that sucker washes his car every other day, and it isn't even a high-end model).

Anyway the dilemma is this : My partner is not a Cypriot and is not used to the way kids are raised out here. She is always shocked when she sees this going on and has told me that she will call social services as it is clearly a case of child abuse. I, however, am not so sure that we should get involved. I know that in the UK this woman would have the social down on her in no time, but the Cypriots seem to have a higher threshold for this sort of thing. Also I do not believe that anything would be done, even if it were to be reported. I mean, how effective can social services be out here, right ?

But still, I have a horrible feeling that we should not close our eyes. The kid has been getting worse lately, becoming more anti-social and crazy. He will definetly grow into a monster, if something is not done.

Anybody have any experience out here with social services/ government child protection agencies ?

What might be the best way to go about this ?

[Piratis]

Report it to the police.

That kind of behavior is sick, and it is not part of our culture, if thats what you thought. If you can take some videos to be used as evidence it would be even better. I believe you can do this while you stay anonymous. There is a 24 hour phone number for such kind of family violence but I can not remember it right now. Just call the police.

[G.Man]

Indeed, Piratis is spot on, not a part of cypriot culture...

From what I have seen, if anything, Cypriots are generally quite gentle on misbehaving children..

[twinkle]

It is not normal Cypriot behaviour to beat the living cr@p out of a naughty child. Report it to the welfare services and police. They will probably turn a blind eye to it but at least you've done the right thing and if anything serious ever happened to the kid you would have reported it first

[GorillaGal]

report it to the police or child welfare. and keep reporting it. the kid is in danger. and even if the kid is the child of satan, as you say he is, it could be he just has a medical condition, like ADD that needs to be addressed. certainly letting the woman get away with it is not the right thing at all. she could be creating a future serial killer....

[Sotos]

I agree. Report it to the police. If the child is so active maybe he has ADD and beating him up will only make his problems more!

[tessintrnc]

Call the police - yes - absolutely. I have lived in the TRNC for over 4 yrs now and have never seen a child disciplined like this. Imagine if you do nothing then find out something worse happened.

[GorillaGal]

it is the noble thing to do--tell the authorities....

[Johnson&Johnson]

Thanks for your replies, I am pretty sure what to do, but not how to go about it. That's why I ask if anyone else has experience of social services here. It would help to know if they are effective and efficient.

As for violence not being part of our culture - well sorry but i must disagree. We can be a pretty violent bunch, it is all just kept behind closed doors.

(PS I have also considered the possibility that the child is ADD or one of those other disorders)

[karma]

kidnap the boy and take him to TRNC, leave him at Fano's flat..he l be busy with the kid and wont have time for the forum..
flirt with the mom..
leave ur car to her hubby while u r having fun with her..
every1 will be happy...help people..u ll receive ur karma