Chapter 1076: Father and Son (Part Five)_2

"In you, he seeks to establish the self-esteem that he himself couldn't. His insatiable greed is disguised as expectations of you."

Robert looked at Shiller, and Shiller interlocked his fingers, placing his hands in front of him, and said, "He doesn't do this to others, only to you. Not because he loves you, but because you are a child and cannot resist or discern."

"He tries to shape you with his conception of a perfect life and what he imagines the skills needed are to achieve it. Both of which are misguided and selfish."

"In essence, he believes he didn't achieve a perfect life due to bad luck. He believes if given another chance, he could make amends and be more successful."

"He sees you as a second chance to start over, he strongly believes he has the answer key to life's exam, and insists you fill in the answers just as he has. If you don't, he assumes you're ungrateful."

"But in reality, if he knew how to answer every question correctly, he would already be living the life he wants."

"The answers he provides are merely derived from his mediocre life. These experiences are not the correct answers. Even if you follow his instructions correctly, it wouldn't result in a high score."

"But he won't believe all these." Shiller shook his head, "He will only increasingly blame you, considering you useless for failing even with the 'correct answers'."

"Even if you were a completely emotionless robot replicating every step he instructs, and yet you still don't achieve the success he hopes for, he would only say 'Why didn't you think for yourself?'."

"He holds a 60-point test paper, demanding not just full marks from you, but even expecting you to spontaneously generate inspiration, improving it to a score of 90. If you can't achieve this, he'd just see you as useless."

Robert stared blankly at Shiller, touched his lips awkwardly, lowered his head, gripped his blanket and said, "This is pure magic..."

Once finished, he suddenly looked up, eyes wide with surprise, saying, "Doctor, about my father, there are always these fragments in my head which I can't piece together..."

"But your words just now perfectly weaved these pieces together, even expressing them more succinctly and accurately. Is this your superpower?"

"It's only psychology." Shiller looked down at the notebook in his hands and said,"And the second thing I need to tell you is that your home education situation is not an anomaly. It can be seen as typical, almost textbook. There are too many people in the same situation as you."

Robert opened his mouth wide, and then slowly said, "Is it just my bad luck?"

"Your luck indeed isn't very good." Shiller adjusted his glasses and said, "Your father's behavior is a bit more extreme, but many people's parents have the same symptoms, just not as noticeable as your father."

"...Symptoms?" Robert repeated the word.

"Yes, this is indeed a typical psychological issue, not just as simple as 'hoping the best for one's child', it requires understanding and treatment."

"And yet, I'm the one who's lying in a hospital..."

"Not getting treatment doesn't mean there is no need for it". Shiller shook his head, "The main reason this isn't given more attention is because the victims are children who barely have a voice."

"When your father treats you erratically, when his control issues show through, would you run to the hospital and tell a psychiatrist 'I think my father is sick, please treat him'?"

"Even if the doctor believes you, everyone else wouldn't, for he is an adult, whereas you are only a child."

"Put simply, educating has a threshold. It requires patience, perseverance, knowledge of pedagogy, child psychology. It requires consistency in beliefs, consistency in words and deeds, but bullying the weak does not, lack of manners would suffice."

Robert clenched his fists, agitatedly saying, "That's exactly what I wanted to say!"

"When I was young, every time I was scolded for not doing as my father said, there was no one to justify my actions. The tasks he asked me to do were impossible from the start, or he couldn't even clearly state what he wanted, nobody would listen to my explanation..."

"Over time, I began to believe it was truly my fault. I thought I'll never be as successful as him anyway, might as well play the villain to the hilt. Witnessing his disappointment and anger, I felt a sense of pleasure since I was successfully taking revenge."

"Yet, people around me blamed me for not following my successful father's footsteps, they said I didn't appreciate what I had, how many people lacked a decent background..."

"Alright, calm down, Robert." Shiller began to comfort the increasingly agitated Robert "Do you remember the two points I told you about? First, this is not your fault, second, you are not the only victim."

Upon hearing Shiller's last words, Robert slowly calmed down. After a while, he asked, "What about the others?"

Shiller quietly watched him, waiting for him to elaborate on his question, but surprisingly, Robert asked, "Have you told the others about this? Do they know these two points?"

"Regrettably, no." Shiller shook his head, "So far, I've only encountered your case, but tragedies regarding home education are everywhere."

"So why don't you let more people know?" Robert asked.

"I've merely analyzed the cause of your problem. As an excellent psychologist, I should also provide a solution." Shiller said as he stood up, walked to his desk, opened a drawer, took out a book, and handed it to Robert, saying

"This is a book I've previously written. The contents are not important, but the title is."

Robert, following Shiller's train of thought, looked at the book cover. The cover design was very simple, even a bit too simple. On the beige cover, there were just a few words.

Robert read the words aloud:

"'Learn to Speak Well'?"