One of the saddest things that normalized + sometimes even prompted in culture is slapping or hitting children as they’re developing emotionally. Many of us experienced this + believe it’s a “normal” part of childhood. Many well meaning parents believe this is the way to get their children to do what they want. Because this was done to them. They lead through fear + physical force— not understanding that this breaks a child’s sense of trust in the world. It damages their sense of self worth. And most importantly it primes them to either: enter an abusive relationship or become abusive relationships. Do we understand what mixed messaging it is to hit a child + to then tell them as an adult to “just leave” abuse? It doesn’t work this way. When the response is “I turned out just fine” or “we’re raising a generation of snowflakes” or “well, life has consequences.” I hear pain. I hear an adult that’s had to cope with sarcasm, with appearing “strong.” With putting on a persona of sarcasm to never appear vulnerable because that would mean they were weak. And, at one time weakness meant they were helpless + put in a situation where they became a punching bag for an adult who could not regulate their emotions. May we wake up to these patterns. May we heal from the (usually invisible) scars that physical force leaves for an entire lifetime. May we look a bit deeper + see that people aren’t actually fine. I’ve got a long format video just dropped on my tiktok that goes deeper into this. Click the link in my stories to watch #selfhealers