How can I help protect my mum from my dad’s lifelong verbal abuse?

[Anonymous]

My dad is 72 my mum. is 68.

Ever since I was born he has always verbally abused my mum.

Me and my sisters stand up to our dad when he treats her like this.

She won't leave him, when I said bad things about him to her she starts hitting me.

He's ruined birthdays, family outings, I no longer have extended family because of him.

I can't take his crap anymore.

He said to me "you'll be sad when I'm gone" I replied "I can't wait when you are and I'm not going to your funeral." He got really angry at me after that.

I really don't know what to do about my dad's behaviour.

He grew up in then Yugoslavia with an abusive father so. I see the pattern.

It's affecting me and my mum's life.

I don't live with them but I don't know what to do about her safety.

[NoDecision]

Unless your mother is willing to leave him there is not much you can do. Maybe report it to the police or get an elder law attorney to sort things out. However, you don't really know. Maybe he has threatened to kill her and her kids if she left him?

[Likes2drive]

She’s used to him being that way and doesn’t know any other way of life being with him that long and still loves him or she would have left by now since all the kids are grown and gone, only she can make the decision to leave so not much you can do

[Danny_dan92]

She put up with it for this long I’d say drop it. You worry about yourself, if she really had a problem with it she would’ve divorced him a long time ago. Which she hasn’t.