When emotional abuse is minimized or ignored, children learn that their pain doesn’t count. Recognizing emotional abuse validates a child’s experience and opens the door to protection, healing, and long-term resilience. Protecting children means looking beyond what we can see—and listening closely to what they’re trying to tell us.

Children believe what they are told. If they’re constantly told they’re worthless, difficult, or unwanted, that message can become the lens through which they see themselves and the world. But the reverse is also true. Words can heal. Validation can rebuild. Connection can restore. It’s time we treat emotional and psychological abuse with the same urgency we give physical harm—because the damage is real, and recovery is possible.