This week I saw a kid who was just the biggest liar ever. Holy cow, he was fun. I interviewed him for about an hour before he finally started to relax and actually cracked a smile.
He has a bad temper, but still tells his mother that he loves her, for no reason at all. His mother, who'd taken them both across the country away from a life of physical abuse and neglect, figuring he'd heal on his own. He'd recently begun to turn his anger outward, until his school sent him home because they couldn't handle him any more.
He wanted so desperately for me to see how dangerous he was, but he's only ten, so he hasn't quite gotten that bravado down yet. He alternated between malingering and socially-desirable response sets. He stopped once to let me know there was an earring under my desk, and then told me that he likes being viewed as "scary". He brightened when I told him about the sports he'd get to play as part of recreational therapy.
He told me how he'd done every drug (he hadn't) and how he'd killed many, many animals (he hadn't). I guess, if you aren't sure you can make people like you, maybe you can get them to respect you and be afraid of you. If you're ten, and watch a lot of movies, that must look like a viable option.
How lonely he is. How devastating is abuse. We got him early. We can help him.
Meanwhile.
If you can't love your kid and raise them properly, fucking give them to somone who can.
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