a child watches you drink water with your meal and wants to do the same. they reach for the cup, it slips, and water spills onto your phone
and suddenly, all hell breaks loose over something they were only trying for the first time
what started at curiosity is met with rage
i genuinely don’t even think many parents beat children because of the mistake itself cause the mistake is usually small
it’s everything else they unload onto the child. stress, anger, frustration, power and the way they were raised
my mother beat me, i must beat my child too
some parents don’t punish the offense. they punish the inconvenience, the parts of themselves they’ve never dealt with, and the child is just unfortunate enough to be within reach