I was reading this aloud to Margie this evening … and Katherine shouted from the next room, “Hey, you guys, I’m right over here listening!”
The poll, whose findings are part of a 700-page report released Tuesday by a coalition of child abuse monitoring and prevention organizations, indicts nearly 95 percent of American parents. It documents abuses ranging from less severe offenses, such as children being denied snacks just before dinner, to more egregious, long-term cases of neglect, such as never ever getting what they want, ever.
“My parents always tell me that I have to finish all my math homework or I won’t be allowed to watch TV,” said study participant and abuse victim “Derek,” 10, who told researchers that some of his earliest memories were of this kind of mistreatment. “They’re so mean. I hate them.”
“I hate them, I hate them, I hate them,” he added.
We had a discussion about sarcasm afterwards.