Little ones bullied me

SINGLE mum Pauline Bubb was punched, kicked, strangled and even stabbed by her own children during months of truly terrifying abuse.

They attacked the 49-year-old up to 30 times a day, leaving her covered in bruises and bite marks.

Pauline lived in fear of Sapphire, 11, and Spencer, 14, and dreaded the moment they came home from school.

But for two years she was too embarrassed to ask for help, ashamed that she had lost control of her own kids.

She said: “It was horrendous. The slightest thing would set them off and they would turn on me, pulling my hair, biting me, kicking me.

“Sapphire would throw things at me and when Spencer was only four he stabbed me in the stomach with a pair of scissors.”

Scared

Scared for her life, she eventually sought help and was enrolled on a Non Violent Resistance course for parents.

She also agreed to take part in the 2015 Channel 5 show My Violent Child, through which she received support from parenting expert Islay Downey.

Pauline, from Southampton, said: “I realised that it wasn’t my kids who were the problem, it was me who had failed.

“They needed a parent to put boundaries in place and make them stick to those boundaries. I wasn’t doing that and they didn’t feel safe.

“It was as if we had swapped roles. I was the child and they had taken control. They bullied me and I was too scared to say no to them.”

Pauline’s relationship with Sapphire, who has a twin sister Jorga, has now been transformed, and Spencer’s behaviour is also much improved.

She said: “Spencer has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, so coping with his behaviour is aan ongoing thing, but he is very rarerarely violent towards me any more. “TThings are so much better for us as a family. I’m happier

anda the kids are happier.”