IfYouthKnew

They gave us a case depicting a 6-year-old coming in for a well visit with their dysfunctional family. These soft-tempered professionals tried hard to teach us how to ease the tension in the room, not to take sides, not to point fingers. “Celebrate the fact they showed up,” they said. “Be cheerful.”

But at what point do we tell the ultimate truth? Personal responsibility is taken out of the equation for the sake of saving the parents from the bitter feeling which is YOU are ruining your child, YOU are making your child’s life chaotic, YOU failed as parents.

I am going to take sides, the child’s side, and blame it on the party that deserves it.

I was that child. I carried a resentment to my family to date. How much I wished there had been a voice slapping them in the face.