One day we had what sounded like a tree fall on our house. i was surprised when I jumped on top of my husband to protect him. he didnt move to protect me.

I always thought it was a mother’s instinct to protect her child…
Your children look up to you to protect them and keep them safe.

It’s hard to know how anyone would react in that situation. I would like to think that I would protect my child, but when it’s all happening so fast and you don’t have time to think. Instinct takes over and it’s hard to say which instinct the body would obey.

I think I would put my child/children’s safety first but I am not in that position. I know that some instincts just happen before you can rationally think them through though. So I wouldn’t be judging either of this couple – but would advise that they see someone to mediate the position otherwise their marriage will not be in a good place and then their son will suffer even more.

How can he base leaving the child alone in her care after one incident that was totally out of the ordinary?

Either way I don’t think there is anyone that comment until you’re in that situation. Poor woman and poor child.

I truly believe none of us can say what we’d do in a situation like that if we had the history of this mother,i really don’t think that this one thing should define her role as a parent or the love she has for her child and for the father to take such stance and publicly shame her is so wrong. We all want to be the perfect protective parent but it doesn’t always happen that way ..

I’m shocked about what i have just read. As a mother I always put my child’s needs first. But i understand that in the moment, her fight response responded quickly and irrationally.

As a mother I can always say I put myself last, my safety included. I would always do anything and everything I can to keep my babies safe. I would be furious if my husband did something like this with our kids…

It was a reflex action. And she feels remorseful. I always say, in spite of the best intentions and training, you never know how you will react in a traumatic situation. You like to think you know, but instinct takes over. I think she gets it. I think the Dad is a little over the top. She’s obviously raised her son to a reasonable age already. Maybe a little empathy for what she felt.

I understand where this Mum is coming from because a similar thing happened to me. My late husband, our 2 year old son and I were walking along a footpath when a dog jumped over the fence and came at us. I was a short way behind my husband holding onto my son’s hand. I actually pulled my son in front of me while facing the charging dog. Thankfully the dog jumped back over the fence and my husband berated me for putting my safety first. I can honestly say I don’t know what made me do that but I felt ashamed of myself for a long time after. I think this Mum feels mortified by what she did without the husband going off. At the same time I can understand where the Dad is coming from but he needs to talk to his wife in a calm voice and not an accusatory one. I’m sure the Mum would have reacted the same if the roles had been reversed and it was the Dad who’d rushed off the road and left their son behind.

Do NOT judge this mum. This was an instinctive reaction and she would not have even known she had done it. I have seen it several times in my career. She was of course mortified.

This is really hard.

The mum clearly said that she was so scared and that she wasn’t thinking. The fury of the dad causes her to shut down and she doesn’t want to talk about the incident, not strange when there is little place for our emotions. We can’t always explain our instincts and emotions, but when we can’t listen to each other it becomes even harder to express them.

More caution and responsibility should have been applied. T.hank God the young lad was not injured. I wonder what the boy thinks about what his mother did to him? Has anyone bothered to ask him how he felt and dealt with the situation?