Violence Comes in Many Forms
There is more than one way to hurt a person. Some people are attacked physically. Once I received a letter from a woman saying her husband rolled up newspapers until he had a big, thick roll the size of a baseball bat. Then he beat the children with it.

Other parents grab their children by the shoulders, back them up against the wall, and bang their heads against it until they fall unconscious on the floor.

Perhaps the most devastating form of abuse is sexual. Children who are sexually molested not only lose their innocence prematurely; they feel used because their boundaries are violated. And they have a terrible time trusting others.

Other adults abuse children by not meeting their emotional needs. At a seminar, one lady told about her experiences as a child. "When I was growing up," she said, "I could never please my mother. She was a Christian and she took good enough care of me in physical ways. But I could never satisfy her. She wanted everything done in a certain way. If I failed, she would scold and yell at me. I guess you'd call her a perfectionist. At any rate, she had a tiny mold and it was up to everybody in the family to fit into Mom's mold. It became unbearable. On two occasions I tried to take my own life. I thought that was the only way of escape."

Many people do not realize how much they abuse others. I'm sure this "perfectionist" mother did not realize what she was doing to her daughter. In fact, the mother was probably unaware that she was a perfectionist.

In marriage, some spouses run roughshod over their mates' thoughts and feelings and desires. They think only of themselves and routinely neglect or emotionally abuse their mates.