Born Bad or Made Bad? Early Signs of a Child Psychopath
There is a very specific kind of late-night Google search that only parents of difficult kids know. You type something like “Is my child a psychopath?” into the search bar, stare at the word psychopath a little too long, and then backspace half of it because it feels like a curse. You do not want that word near your child’s name, yet you cannot shake the feeling that what you are seeing at home is more than just a strong-willed personality or a rough developmental phase. The tricky thing about fledgling psychopathy is that, at first glance, it does not always look like a horror movie. Sometimes it looks like a bright, charming little boy who makes adults laugh on cue and then casually hurts the family pet. Sometimes it looks like a kid who terrorizes his siblings, shrugs when you discipline him, and seems genuinely baffled when you ask why he did something cruel. On paper, he might have a decent home and t...
