CHILD EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Inappropriately destructive or cruel behaviour including:
- destructive for enjoyment
- destructive out of anger or inability to deal with emotions
- cruel to others
- cruel to pets
- repeat the emotional abuse with peers
Because these children are often mimicking the inappropriate behaviours they experience at home, their own behaviour towards others can also be inappropriate.
An anger or inability to deal with their emotions may lead them to be overly destructive with toys to express their feelings, seek attention or just for the sheer pleasure of it.
They might be destructive or cruel to others with things they say and do. For example, you might hear a 4 year old girl say to another 4 year old girl, “I hate you – I’m never being your friend” - and whilst it’s an opportunity for you to provide guidance, it doesn’t ring alarm bells because it’s fairly normal behaviour for girls of that age group. But if you hear the girl saying “I hate you – you’re a piece of crap. I wish you weren’t born. You can’t do anything right and I wish you’d just go away and die” then you know that this is a strong indicator of emotional abuse.
It’s also the kind of behaviour that doesn’t win the abused child any friends in the playground which can create a cycle of destructive and cruel behaviour in response to increasing isolation due to rejection by their peers.