“The scorn and abuse directed at the helpless child as well as the suppression of vitality, creativity, and feeling in the child and in oneself permeate so many areas of our life that we hardly notice it anymore. Almost everywhere we find the effort, marked by varying degrees of intensity and by the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child within us – i.e., the weak, helpless, dependent creature – in order to become an independent, competent adult deserving of respect.”

~ Alice Miller, For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence