Tell me if y'all think 9 & 10 year olds can pick up on sexual tension between a man & woman (Parents, but not necessarily the parents of the same children.)
How would children in an abusive home react to the abused mother having feelings for another man, not the father?
What if the new love protected the child who is also abused? As a matter of fact, protecting the child came before any relationship between the man and the woman.
Hi Janet! I think kids that young could pick up on sexual tension, but how much of it would they truly understand? Back in the Dark Ages when I was a kid, perception without full comprehension would have been the case. Today? I don't know. This could be a nice opportunity for character development through discovery.
ReplyDeleteI think it really matters what the relationship the abused mother has with the abused child and also what relationship the abusive father has with the abused child. A girl might be more likely to have a unhealthy body image (especially if she is also sexually abused) and might seek her abusive father's affection in order to fill that void. Thus her mother's infidelity might be looked on as against to the family unit or even that her mother not be available sexually for the abusive father is blamed for the sexual abuse done on the daughter. (Even if the abuse started long before the affair.)
ReplyDeleteA boy might look at himself as his mother's protector and thus hide and encourage the affair as a means of defying the abusive father. He might see it as "we are all in this together" and his mother breaking free even a little would be counted as a victory over his father.
Everyone is different and every circumstance is different.