Hi.  My best friend's five year old son has been having epic melt downs when transitioning from his mom's house to my friend's house.  I had some of the same issues with my son's but it was going from my house to their mom's and it passed quickly. 
  
Any advice on how to approach this?  I know the mom spanks the boy and the dad has once - the one time in response to the child's melt-down.  It  seems like a toxic situation.  Once the child is at the dad's, he's fine and doesn't want to go back to mom's. 
  
In this case there are cultural and linguistic elements - the mom is Asian, the dad American. 
  
Just thought I'd see if anyone has experience with how to deal with this type of situation. 
  
Thanks in advance!