# Why does this keep happening to children??? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841 "2004-09-30T13:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/21 "2004-09-30T22:33:02Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I can’t, I just _can’t_ understand how there are people out there that can so horribly abuse and neglect an innocent living being who depends on them… ☹ :mad: There will always be people who are, in clinical terms, just fucking nuts. The beauty of the internet is that now you get to hear about each and every one of them. Ahhh, the wonders of technology. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/22 "2004-09-30T22:49:00Z")
Shit **lissener** no wonder you have issues with parenting. I think I’ll go hug my boys. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/23 "2004-10-01T01:22:19Z")
If Lissener **did** have any issues, I’d say they were honestly earned. It’s a “whole nother thing”, between having experience with someone who went throught it (second hand) and going through it yourself (first hand). We had yourstepdad’s kind in our family, he married one of my cousins. When her father and uncles found out, they went nuts. They had a “talk” with him and he “agreed” to go quietly. It’s too bad someone like them was’t there for you. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/24 "2004-10-01T04:10:56Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > It’s a “whole nother thing”, between having experience with someone who went throught it (second hand) and going through it yourself (first hand). If you’re referring to me, I went through it from one of my brothers. Not the same thing, I know, which is why I brought up my SO instead. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/25 "2004-10-01T12:50:01Z")
How could someone DO that? Didn’t she feel the need to look after her child? Wasn’t she _worried_?And if not, WHY? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/26 "2004-10-01T13:01:15Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Why do I feel like I’m trapped in a Monty Python argument sketch? No you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/27 "2004-10-01T13:14:20Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No you don’t. Yes he does. He’s nothing but a snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/28 "2004-10-01T13:14:47Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > See, that’s what I mean. I make a perfectly honest observation and you get all hostile. Your perfectly honest observation is only those things to you obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/29 "2004-10-01T14:09:50Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Your perfectly honest observation is only those things to you obviously. Come again? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/30 "2004-10-01T14:17:19Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Come again? Learn to parse, you malodorous pervert. Try this version: Your “perfectly honest” “observation” is only “perfectly honest” and an “observation” to you, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/31 "2004-10-01T15:33:17Z")
> [@Desmostylus](#): > > Learn to parse… I parse just fine, thank you. Not being honest? I can understand **lissener** thinking that, I can sort of understand _you_ thinking that, but **Mockingbird** and 48,519 others? And what was it if not an observation, the Bolivian Navy on maneuvers in the South Pacifc? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/32 "2004-10-01T15:48:23Z")
I read what you just posted, several times, but I have to admit that I really can’t work out what you’re trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/33 "2004-10-01T15:57:11Z")
Don’t worry about it then. I’m hoping it was all one big whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/34 "2004-10-01T18:26:57Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I can’t, I just can’t understand how there are people out there that can so horribly abuse and neglect an innocent living being who depends on them… I think that some people are so self-destructive that they can’t see outside of themselves. They aren’t capable of taking care of their children because they aren’t capable of taking care of _themselves_ (in fact, sometimes a person’s inability to care for him/herself leads to the parenthood). It’s horrible, and terribly heartbreaking, but unless we start regulating procreation (or it gets a lot more [difficult](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278623)), situations like these will always happen. ☹ > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > …I happen to have the useful option of not getting my genitals within fifty yards of a woman’s, so it’s an issue that’s unlikely to come up. Fifty yards? So much for the idea of ever having a beer with you… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/35 "2004-10-01T20:32:45Z")
Just fucking great. I know where this women lives (the building at least) and I fucking go to both those clubs. Now, every time I go salsa dancing I’m going to be thinking "a slime of a person went here _and let her kid die_. I feel for the father in all this. He didn’t know what was happening. I think I’d be haunted for life knowing that while he spent those 33 hours doing whatever, his child was dying. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/36 "2004-10-01T21:49:39Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > **lissener** , my SO also went through that sort of hell so I hope you take this in the spirit in which it’s intended. I agree with **tdn** on the whole but, whether you’re aware of it or not, sometimes you come off as trying your best to lower yourself to your stepdad’s expectations. You’re okay, really, but there are times when you overreact and that can drive people away. It’s the same way with my SO. Wait, WTF?? You go on to say later that you “don’t know [Lissener] from Adam” but you feel the need to hijack this thread to start handing out unsolicited personal advice? On how Lissener tries to “lower [him]self to [him] stepdad’s expectations”? > [@Lissener](#): > > Once, when I was washing dishes, my stepdad stood behind me and whispered in my ear for twenty minutes or so that I was useless and worthless and stupid and doomed and no one like me or would ever like me and I should probably just kill myself. Those expectations? You mean Lissener is acting “worthless and stupid”? Jesus fuck! What would ever make a person decide they had the right to start offering psychological advice to a perfect stranger, and right after that stranger had divulged an incredibly painful story? Offering advice to strangers about their psychological problems is already the height of rudeness; you compound it by implying that Lissener is acting “worthless and stupid”. :: shakes his head in utter shock :: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/37 "2004-10-01T22:35:50Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Wait, WTF?? You go on to say later that you “don’t know [Lissener] from Adam” but you feel the need to hijack this thread to start handing out unsolicited personal advice? On how Lissener tries to “lower [him]self to [him] stepdad’s expectations”? Now hold on a second. I meant that **lissener** sometimes overreacts and overanalyzes posts; I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Maybe it’s the impersonal nature of the Internet but when he acts like that it’s as if he is purposely trying to drive people away. > [@](#): > > \*Those expectations? You mean Lissener is acting “worthless and stupid”? I thought it was obvious that I was specifically referring to the "no one like me or would ever like me " part.\* > [@](#): > > _What would ever make a person decide they had the right to start offering psychological advice to a perfect stranger, and right after that stranger had divulged an incredibly painful story?_ Advice? What advice? Did I suggest he do something? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/38 "2004-10-01T23:30:17Z")
Maybe what I said could be construed as advice. It wasn’t intentional; I’m no good at being indirect. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841/39 "2004-10-02T04:08:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > There’s something obviously mentally wrong with someone who isn’t instinctively protective of their own offspring. Nah, she’s just a selfish bitch. I think I’ll stop opening threads like these. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-this-keep-happening-to-children/266841.md?page=1)