33 www.rnca.ca continued knew she had to speak to her sister, Irene, again. She could see that Irene's son Patrick was always on edge. His father, Sean, showed little interest in Patrick, except to criticize him. When it came to Patrick, the words "stupid" and "weakling" slid easily off Sean's tongue. Nothing Patrick could do would meet his father's standards. His school grades weren't high enough, his hockey game was poor, and his friends were lazy. On the other hand, their older son, Ryan, received nothing but praise. Nora wondered why her sister went along with this. Maybe Irene was too busy trying to meet her husband's expectations herself to see what was going on with her son. Patrick was either invisible or a problem. No wonder he was still wetting the bed! Nora had spoken to Irene, but her sister had quickly changed the subject. "It's not that serious," she had said. "Patrick needs to be tougher." Nora wondered how she could find the right words to break through to Irene. She had picked up some pamphlets about child abuse at the community centre. Perhaps she could use them to start a conversation about their own father's harsh behaviour. Maybe if Irene could remember the pain of that old abuse, she could find the strength to get some help for herself and for Patrick. Emotional Abuse Designed by Freepik Nora
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