Whats the connection between verbal abuse and physical abuse?
There are two connections. First: Verbal violence is at the root of physical violence. Most people don’t just walk up to others and start hitting; first, there are angry words, and the interaction then escalates into physical violence. While the abuse is still verbal, anybody can learn to defuse it and keep it from escalating. Second: Children who are allowed — or, as all too often happens, encouraged — to use hostile language get the message that it’s okay to cause other people pain. It’s absurd to bring them up with that message and then be astonished when they use physical violence. Even in the rare case where an adult says openly, “You can say anything you like, no matter how cruel, as long as you never hit anybody,” children may not pay attention. It’s like lying; they hear adults say that they must never lie, but they hear those same adults lying all the time. Kids are smart; they understand the distinction between real rules and rules to which only lip service has to be paid.
