Re: I am sad for her!!
I would imagine common sense would give your friend AND you the answer to this question but since it hasn’t…let me state the obvious. Yes, you friends needs to be open about the fact that she has been slapped twice by her husband to her own family. Being abused to her husband is not something she should be hiding from her parents.
And yes, give the fact that a young child is involved…I would recommend she leave to other mother’s house immediately with her child. It’s pretty obvious that she herself is not safe living with her husband. The 1st and the 2nd time it was a slap…she has no way of knowing that this will not escalate to something more the 3rd time (and I GUARANTEE you that there WILL be a 3rd time of her getting physically hit…it’s just a matter of time). And also, if her husband can’t control his temper and sorts to hitting when with her…what on earth makes her think that someday he won’t lose his temper with her child?!
So yes, her immediate move should be to go to her parents house and be open about what’s been happening. From there she can tell her husband that she wants him to attend anger management and she wants BOTH of them to go to marriage counselling. She should determine what her next steps should be based what how her husbands reacts to this. After all…the #1 step in solving ANY problem is to admit that there is a problem.
** I don’t care how chalak the MIL is…there is absolute NO excuse for the husband to hit her! The idea that somehow the MIL is responsible for the husband slapping her is pathetic. The ONLY person who made the choice to slap her is the husband himself.