I had an alcoholic mother who used to belt the crap out of me for looking at her sideways......

She'd drag me out of bed at 3am if she thought the dishes weren't washed properly(I was praised as a dishwasher in a cafe at age 14 for my thoroughness,

with Melbourne TV personalities frequenting the cafe)

I had a cat scratch on my arm at age 13..my mother claimed to all and sundry I "was an injecting drug addict and out of control"....and the scratch was proof.

Several mornings,she belted my face and arms,in front of a school friend,with the heel of her shoe,right before school........the teachers just bandaged my arms and face and didn't ask any questions.(Before teachers were compelled to report any suspected abuse).

Many times my mother would speak to me nicely then suddenly lash out and hit me with her hand( or whatever she held....carving knife/fly-swat/wooden-spoon/letter-opener/piece of wood,etc) and claim " she can't be trusted",if anyone was nearby.

If I disagreed with her,in conversation,on our own,she would suddenly scream and start hitting me with "stop it you lying bitch" over and over.....strangely enough there would be another person about to enter the room to "witness" my mother "defending" herself against me....and of course,she was the parent and adult(who hid her drinking so well) and I was the "difficult" child who "caused sooooooo many problems".

Oddly enough...after I left home...the screaming matches continued....between my parents !!!! and the supposed abuse was from my father...who'd never laid a finger on my mother their whole married life......

Suddenly the neighbours were more welcoming towards me,whenever I visited on my own...things I had claimed in my childhood were strangely true !!!!

Sad to say,my mother actually admitted her alcohol dependence to me,just before she was diagnosed with her 3rd(and final) cancer....although she never apologised for her behaviour,she DID say she had given me the rough end of the stick and she wished she could have been a better parent.

And while I realise this is a hell of a lot more than other people get from their abusive parents,it has taken DECADES to re-gain the trust of both the extended family members and neighbours and their children I grew up with...who should have known better....and some of my immediate family still refuse to have anything to do with me,which,while it's sad at first, I figure they will either grow their own brains or they weren't meant to be ,in my life.

 

And I really would like to know what went through the minds of the teachers who sopped up the blood from the broken nose( x 2 )the split lip,or the green-stick fractured forearm or the punctured ear-drum...or the extensive bruising up the arms,legs,face,neck,back,feet even....and they never even reported the infected eardrum after 5 months....or the weeping(revoltingly so)black eye and infection.... and STILL kept stating I was a "hypochondriac" who imagined health problems when I attended school !!!!!

 

And no,I haven't outlined even the worst my mother put me through,some of which I refuse to even face,to this day.