We all know how strange kids can act at times, and their hyperactive imaginations simply add to their creative abilities to conjure up fantasies and act more weird. Well, putting that aside, when these strange acts start getting out of hand and take on an abnormal turn, that’s the time when adult intervention is necessary.
However, when Reddit user ThrowRA_25356 informed her boyfriend that his 11-year-old brother was behaving creepily, he simply shrugged it off and told her that she was overreacting. On the other hand, folks were quite alarmed when she posted it online and sought their advice!
More info: Reddit
Kids acting strange is quite normal, but their actions need to be checked when they start getting abnormal
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The poster's boyfriend has an 11-year-old brother who moved in with them after their parents were arrested
Image credits: ThrowRA_25356
Image credits: Kindel Media / Pexels (not the actual photo)
She finds the kid quite creepy as he has been constantly staring at her, entering without knocking, showering with the door open, and even was in her room when she came out of the shower once
Image credits: ThrowRA_25356
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
When he returned her laptop after borrowing it, he had downloaded adult content and it was also there in the history, which completely unsettled her
Image credits: ThrowRA_25356
She told her boyfriend about all this, but he was dismissive, claiming all kids his age do that and the poster was overreacting
In today’s story, the original poster (OP) went looking for advice online after she caught the creepy behavior of her boyfriend’s 11-year-old brother quite a few times. She lives with her boyfriend of 3 years, and recently, his parents got arrested (she didn’t reveal the reason), leaving his 11-year-old brother with them.
She understood how complicated the situation was, but gradually, she started noticing that some things seem off about the kid. For instance, he has been constantly staring at her, never knocks before entering her room, especially when her boyfriend is out, and has simply ignored her when she has told him that he needs to knock.
Despite telling him not to do it, he keeps the shower door open while bathing, and once, when she got out of the shower with her towel, he was just there in her room and kept staring. Ugh, it must have been so unsettling for OP. Another time, she gave him her laptop, and he returned it full of adult content that he had downloaded, which was even there in the search history.
Now, it was only natural for the woman to think that this was not normal, so she complained about it to her boyfriend, who simply refused to take her seriously. He said that she was overreacting and his brother was just doing something that all kids his age do. Well, after being dismissed that way, she was feeling very uncomfortable in her own house and even started to avoid being alone with his brother.
When she sought advice online, netizens were quick to point out that an 11-year-old watching adult content is definitely not normal; in fact, everything that she described about him screamed abnormal. Folks couldn't help but stress that the boy needs professional help and it's high time that his brother woke up and accepted it.
Image credits: Anastasia Shuraeva / Pexels (not the actual photo)
To get expert insights, Bored Panda reached out to Zinnia Bharucha, co-founder and psychologist at Holistic Solutions, who has completed her Masters from King’s College London. She mentioned that trauma tends to affect one in multiple ways often without us realizing its deep impact. In this situation, she said that apart from the parents’ arrest, there could be multiple factors simultaneously affecting the 11-year-old.
“A traumatic event like this, especially when the child is only 11, can lead to a massive sense of abandonment when parents are physically absent. This abandonment can lead to constant confusion, uncertainty, and feeling more lost in general.”
“Apart from this, other environmental factors can affect the child’s confidence, resulting in an overall low self-esteem. His sense of adaptability can hit an all-time low, and he might act out or be rebellious in order to feel noticed or to feel better,” explained Zinnia.
Folks pointed out that someone’s digital diet is a sure-shot way to influence their life, especially at a younger age, when kids don’t know any better. What the elder brother shrugged off as “normal for kids his age” was what really alarmed people online, as they questioned how appropriate it was for an 11-year-old child to consume adult content.
Zinnia informed us that when curiosity level is at its peak, and adequate parental guidance and gentle care are absent, children in such situations can get massively addicted to watching adult content. She added that it can also be used as a means to escape reality and can lead to wrong information being processed by the child.
When speaking about the child’s creepy behavior, Zinnia expressed that the child has learned to adopt other mechanisms to avoid acknowledging what he is truly feeling and suppress his emotions, and seems to be acting out via unhealthy behavioral patterns. This throws a light on why he was acting the way he was, and even ignoring OP when she told him not to do something.
Lastly, Zinnia ended the interview with some helpful advice. “It’s vital to help the child out via talking, but also encourage him to opt for therapy. A professional can help focus on the child’s feelings, internal and environmental triggering factors, and help the child develop healthy coping mechanisms, and modify their behavior as a result,” she mentioned.
Now that you have expert insights about the story, what would you do in a similar situation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Redditors were rather alarmed by the kid's behavior as they said that it's definitely not normal and he needs help
