Advice for communicating with an Iraqi family

[u/Future_Material3654]

hi, I’m very sorry if this isn’t allowed or is deemed offensive in anyway, I was hoping for some cultural advice.

I am an Australian living in Australia, at my sons school we have an Iraqi family who are Christian refugees, they came to Australia before their son was born.

when our boys started kindergarten I made a big effort to help them feel included as I could see they were on the outer socially, I invited them and their child to my house and made sure they were included in all school related social groups And made sure their son was included in out of school gatherings. I thought we had a good relationship.

this year their son has been having some issues at school, he’s been very violent toward some of the other children including my son. one day their son kicked my son to the ground and stomped on his head and back, I contacted them and asked them to talk to their son about this as it was very dangerous and got no response. I smiled at them and said hello the next time I saw them at school to show there were no hard feelings from me but they refused to look at me

a few days later the school got involved due to the increasing violence and bullying from this boy toward the other children and from that time they’ve been hostile toward me and will either refuse to look at me or will give me bad looks then walk away.

im trying to find out if this is a cultural issue, have I been offensive in some way and is there any way to repair this or is it just their character? in Australia it’s normal to try to discuss the issue with the other parents first and that the school will get involved if there’s violence but perhaps this is a cultural clash? We can be direct in dealing with a problem and typically try to fix it with the parents rather than go to the school first.

[u/Serix-4]

Nah, they are just shitty parents. Things like this aren't acceptable anywhere.

Stay away from them and don't help them, it's not your fault that they can't discipline their son.

[u/Coryndex]

it only seems like irresponsible parenting, not much to do with culture, protect your kid and family and good luck

[u/SubstantialAbility34]

Nah it ain’t a culture thing they’re just straight up irresponsible parents

[u/Beautiful_silence844]

That's not cultural clash their son need to know his limit and they're not good parents,just protect your kid

[u/Sultan_Cat]

I'm sorry but you're trying to be so nice that its a little irritating. Being shitty parents and keeping an a-hole kid undisciplined is not normal in any culture (I hope) and certainly not ours.

You have our permission to treat them as you would treat shitty people in Australia.