Define the line btwn "tough love" and child abuse?

I don't think there is a line . Tough love is just an excuse abusers use.

Tough love means loving your child by teaching them boundaries.

But abuse is when someone excuse punishment for boundaries.

Example: Saying no to your 12y child when they wanna go to a concert, is tough love.

Physically hurt your 12y child when they were caught drinking alcohol is punishment and abuse.

I would say an example of tough love would be to tell an adult child who is a drug addict that they cannot move back in with you unless they go for treatment. Tough love means not enabling unhealthy behaviors.

For a child, it might mean "no television until we see your next report card. Start doing your homework and get your grades up." (And only if the child is actually a bright student, and they have gotten poor grades because they have blown things off, not because they are genuinely struggling with school.)

Child abuse is nothing at all like that.

If one needs to call it tough love it’s no longer love.

I don't believe in smacking.

Sometimes 'tough love' is implementing a healthy boundary, sometimes it's not meeting another party with empathy, patience and compassion. I'd say if there's any level of intentional neglect, vindictiveness or retribution motives then it is likely abuse.

I’m not a parent, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I’d say if you’re doing it because you’re angry, it’s not a good look.

How the child is affected.

Sometimes there's a thin line between tough love and child abuse.

Because his parents abandoned him to live in the shed, Bubbles from TPB was definitely a victim of child abuse. That broke my heart.

Punishment is not supposed to cause harm but to teach. The child should still be able to come to you as a parent for their needs. If you find a child avoiding you, you're doing it wrong.

Asian parents left the chat

No physical abuse and you don’t demean your child.

was routinedly mindfucked since 7 by my father (who died in 2002), physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically and was a prick to the moment of his deathbed