Emotionally damaged children are extremely hard to parent. They do everything in their power to cause pain, annoyance, and anger to anyone who tries to show them love. Too scared to accept the ideas of love and trust, the child pushes everyone who cares about him or her away, as far away as possible.

Emotionally damaged children are very good at finding out what people’s buttons are, and then doing whatever it takes to make all those buttons go off. Every once and a while they will settle down, and start to act as though progress has been made, but only long enough for you to gain hope, once the tension in the house goes down, or a parent comments on how good the child has been, the child will let loose and go back to their old behaviors, knowing that they have dashed the parents hopes, and all at the same time controlled the entire situation.

This is extremely hard to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It sucks the energy out of the parents, and out of the entire family. It can cause the parents to fight between themselves, simply out of sheer frustration of the child, and his or her constant bad and or manipulative behavior.

It is important to not let the child come between you and your spouse. Take some time off and get a babysitter every once and a while, to remember that you are more than just parents, and that life is more than just dealing with a child who has a lot of pain trapped inside. Keeping the relationship strong between the parents will keep the family strong. The strength of the relationship between the two parents is the foundation of the family, so once the parents become angry and bitter, that will become the attitude of the family. By taking time for yourself, and time as a couple you will actually be strengthening yourself, as well as your family.

By giving yourself some time off to unwind and just relax, you will be able to recharge yourself, and be ready once again, for whatever it is that your emotionally damaged child has to throw at you. The stronger that you are, the less likely that you will be sucked into one of the child’s emotional traps, which takes the fun out of it for the child. The child is looking for, and feeding off of the parent’s emotional response. If the parent is not at the end of his or her proverbial rope, he or she will be better able to handle the child, and stay calm, and not give the child that big emotional response that he or she is looking for, thus transferring the control back to the parent. Emotionally damaged children will wound their parents. It is important that the parents take some time for themselves in order to let those wounds heal, and not keep them locked up inside allowing them to fester, and grow, eating at them a little more each day until they eventually explode. Parents must remember that there is no shame in taking time to let a wound heal, no matter what that wound may be.