Child abuse lurks round many corners
Mon 10:46 pm +00:00, 9 Sep 2024Our daughter went to a kid’s party. What could be more fun? Pony riding for six year olds.
She was left to the last out of fifteen, but waited patiently for her turn.
At last it came and she was allowed on one of the four ponies, relishing her experience.
Until suddenly after just thirty seconds the owner walked over, and shouted to the groom to dismount her from the saddle, and she was plonked down in the middle of the paddock, saying the pony was needed for a photograph of two other children.
No photo was taken, and she was left by herself in the middle of the paddock for several minutes , as the others rode around her, no one explaining or speaking to her. She teared up, and was apparently invisible to the grooms and the owner.
Her mother eventually could not bear the scene any longer and shouted to the girl to come to her and not wait any longer.
She asked the owner for an explanation as to why this was happening.
The owner shouted at the mother, and told her that she did not know how to bring up children and if she compalined any more, she would be thrown out.
Nothing to do with being Asian, I suppose. Hard to know but all others were treated nicely. Only this one girl was left out and humiliated.
Her aggression was shocking.
That night the girl was shouting out continually having nightmares about the experience in her sleep.
A week later, she won’t go to swimming lessons as she says her new swimming teacher looks a bit like the angry woman who wouldn’t let her ride a pony, and she feels afraid to go.
She loves swimming.
The wounds have gone very deep.
The mother too feels that she is no longer welcome in this country, and feels that the owner of the pony rides business should be reprimanded for emotionally injuring her child.
The other mothers saw it all occurring, and say how wrong it was, but as the hostess was a friend, they felt constrained from saying anything at the time.
It seemed like this might not be an isolated incident. People should be warned before dropping off their children.
NJD pony parties, Weston Lullingfields, Shropshire.
Physical injuries heal.. Emotional can last a very long time.
