I hit my chidren. The worst thrashing I ever gave was to my son for hitting a girl. He was only ten years old. But I was already so afraid for him. I was afraid he was going to be an abuser like his father.
Children learn what they live with.
In my mind, the potential threat of his father s influence hung over my son s character like the blade of a guillotine. I was determined to save him. Although clear now, it didn t occur to me, at the time, that I was saving him with the same twisted tactics that his father often saved me. I was teaching him the very lessons that I had learned from his father, influencing my son in exactly the same way that HE had done. Unfortunately, I didn t figure that out for a couple of years.