Joe, you hit the nail right on the head with that one!

I look after toddlers all day, every day and you are right when you say manipulators learn the behavior from dysfunctional people who teach it to them. I’ve even written a book to teach people how not to do this (It’s on Amazon). It amazes me every day when I see people making the parenting mistakes that actively teach their kids to become manipulators.

There is a definite parenting behavior that does this.

It is hard to bounce back from bad parenting, I am also a survivor who spent many years struggling to understand the world around me.

Thank you for such an insightful article, it was worth the read.