Dear Dish-It, My Dad Hits Me

Advice About Abuse

Dear Dish-It, is here to whisper "ttyl after I've thought about this some more".

Dear Dish-It,

Please help. I don't know what to do. Yesterday I asked if I could go bowling which is only a couple blocks away. The time was like at 9:30pm, so I called my dad and asked. He says no and I keep asking. When he comes home he tells all my friends to leave when they were supposed to be sleeping over. They leave and then he starts yelling at me saying why do I yell at him? I tell him I don't care what you tell me to do I'll do it anyways. He comes up to me and grabs me by my shirt which is pulling on my neck. My mom breaks it up. And then I go to sleep. I ask him, 'Dad, do you want me out of your life?' and he's like, 'I think so.' I was planning on calling abusive parenting or even the police, but I'm not sure what to do. This also has happened before. Ever since I was little he would always hit me and my sister. How do I make him stop or get rid of him and only him because my mom is good to me. My dad is the only problem. So please help me on what I should do to stop the hitting or to even get rid of him.
manarkthar

Dear manarkthar,

It sounds to me like you need to sit down with the 'rents for a talk. It's totally not cool of your dad to be hitting you, but it's also not cool to be disrespectful to your mom or dad. It's definitely your job to challenge your parents when they are being unfair, but telling them that you're going to do whatever you want, whenever you want isn't the way to gain their respect. If you're not comfortable talking to your dad about his temper, you should try talking to your mom by herself. Let her know how unhappy you are with your dad's actions and that way she might be able to smooth things out between you guys.

If you think you've attempted be a more respectful, and you've talked to your mom about how you feel, but still nothing's changed, you might want to talk to a school counselor or call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD. Remember though, reporting that your parent is abusive is a very serious accusation that is never taken lightly. The police might end up getting involved or child services may step in. It's important that you try to talk things out with your 'rents before taking the next step and getting the authorities involved. Of course, you are the only one who really knows how bad things are, so the ball is in your court. Hope this has helped - Good Luck!

So, ya gotta burnin' question? Need some love directions? Thinkin' 'bout stuff like depression, sex,how ya feel 'bout YOURSELF (that's called "self-esteem"), boyfriends, girlfriends, losin' old friends, bullyin' or peer pressure, but too scared to ask the parents? Don't be scared to .

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