"To every mother and father out there,remember that when your child grows upthey will want to be..."

“

To every mother and father out there,

remember that when your child grows up

they will want to be just like you.

When a son sees his father

push his mother against the arch

of the dinning room table

because she over-cooked

the steak and he had a bad day,

he is going to tell his wife

when his hands are around her neck

that his father did the same

to his mother, and they are

still together.

Children act in the way

that their superhero acts,

so don’t be angry

when you find them

repeating your mistake.

When your daughter

is being pushed against the wall

by her husband and her daughter

asks her why did daddy do that,

she will tell her exactly what

you told her. That daddy was

stressed out and needed a way

to be happy again. When

your daughter shows her daughter

the map of her bruises on her body,

she will say to her daughter

what you said to her when she asked

why you were too sore to pick her up.

That bruises fade, and that daddy

didn’t mean to hurt mommy,

but to remind her of his hard work.

When a child finds their parents

being pushed to the ground,

or is the one doing the pushing,

they will think that’s the proper way

of loving someone.

So when you get a call

at 3 a.m. from a police officer

saying that your son has been

arrested for beating his wife

into a coma, or that your daughter

is the one who is in the hospital bed

hanging on to her life, don’t be

surprised. Because as their parent,

as their self-destructive superhero,

you should have seen this coming.

”

- "A villain in disguise," - Colleen Brown