As a small child what was the most simple, innocent lesson you had to learn the hard way?

@Therealsteve Ouch, holy shit, I'm sorry you had to go through all that! But yeah, I can see how painful experiences can teach you many lessons. I have heard a phrase that was something like when people are in comfort, they learn nothing. But when they're struggling they learn more. But even if that is true nobody deserves to go through what you did.

My story has been pretty rough too I'd say. Compared to yours, hard to say, different people deal with pain in different ways. But I'm basically EXTREMELY mentally ill, and have been since I was a little kid, though it gradually got way worse with age.

I've literally lost count of all the stuff I've been diagnosed with, but some include Bipolar Type 1, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), etc. I wish I was making this all up. I've also tried to kill myself many, many times in the past. At one point I was trying to kill myself every single day for like an entire year. So it was like well over 365 times total.

I don't know if I'd say my parents were abusive per se, but there's the saying I think applies to them, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." They've been in severe denial that I've had ANY mental illness for like the longest, and even after all the diagnoses they still seem to somewhat believe that it's mainly just laziness and me acting out for attention. They just weren't prepared for a mentally ill kid. And though it's relatively obvious they care for me and want the best for me, they'd give me all the external stuff I'd need, like food, water, shelter, toys, candy, computers, clothes, etc...but they were never able to satisfy me internally, emotionally. They never really outwardly said they loved me or anything.

So all in all my parents had good intentions but were just straight up dumb and clueless when it came to actual parenting. They gave me all I need but never stopped to think why I was struggling so much emotionally, mentally, academically, etc. They basically thought everything would resolve on its own without help.

That's how my story went. Not to necessarily say the pain is comparable to yours, but I also went through rough shit that taught me rough lessons. Mainly about showing empathy/sympathy for people. You never know anyone's true story. When a person is acting out in any way there could be a much deeper reason behind it.