abandonment; strength; children 'testing' parents

Children need someone to protect them, to look to for security - somebody bigger and stronger.

One of the ways they 'test' the strength of so-called 'parents' is by PUSHING on the parents - either physically, psychologically, emotionally, or whatever - to SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

I believe it is actually TERRIFYING for a child to believe that she is stronger than her parent, either emotionally or physically. Because this means she has NO ONE TO COUNT ON, NO ONE to DEPEND on. She is alone. She has been, as the shrinks put it, emotionally abandoned.

I, here and now, raise my hand to count myself among the numerous children who have been 'left behind' by their parents in such ways.