Abuse

It is so easy to want to throw out anything that was ever associated with him. To burn it and leave nothing left. But I can’t. You see, so much of who I am is because of him...

"It takes two to make a fight. I'm not perfect either. I left dishes in the sink and didn't have dinner ready when he came home. Sometimes, I was a little confused after he beat me up and didn't function so well..."

Bear in mind that what is coming out of your brother's mouth is basically bursts of hot air. You now have to make a choice as to how to decode this air and what interpretation to give to it...

To many, these laws appear extreme, over-reactive and unnecessary. A little 1st-grader can't hug her daddy's best friend? Two adult co-workers of the opposite sex can’t work alone in the office to finish an important project?

Yes, maybe he IS a nice guy, a kind father, or the all-too-familiar attempt at justification “he was abused himself” - but this is not an answer and in no way changes the situation. The facts remain that he is an abuser.

My daughter asks difficult questions about why we divorced and if I hate her father. For now I lie, but it is only a matter of time until she learns the truth about our marriage.

Many parents are reluctant to allow their kids to spend time outside unsupervised because they fear “stranger danger.” Yet the strangers can already be in our homes.

We hear a lot about child abuse. It seems that half the people we meet have been abused as children. How could this happen? And what is happening on a deeper level?

It is difficult to feel loved, or believe the sentence "I love you" when it's heard from someone who may not be lucid, or will not be lucid in an hour or two...