FAMILYThe Good Child signals
Anonymous thoughts about the good child.
Performance so sustained it became the self.
Praised for compliance so long you forgot what existed before compliance.
The specific loneliness of being praised for your disappearance.
// the good child signals
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The good child is the child who was praised for compliance, for accommodation, for being easy. The one who learned early that love was reliably available as long as they behaved correctly. This strategy works well until the person tries to exist as themselves.
Anonymous thoughts about the good child posted here are from people who were very good for a very long time — and the specific grief of learning that the praise was for the performance, not the person.