At a social event at someone’s house, a toddler was chasing the host’s cat and pulling her tail. The cat whapped her one, cue screaming toddler. The mother (she was a true horror of a woman) scoops her up to comfort her; I figured the kid learned a life lesson not to hurt others or she might get hurt back.

Nope. Mom tracked down the cat and held her down while telling the toddler to get the cat back by hitting her. I stared in horror as mom imparted her own life lesson to the child: ‘remember, if anyone ever hurts you you hurt them back twice as bad!’