Playing the Victim Card by Dr. Michael Brooks

Playing the victim Card (1) By Dr. Michael Brooks


I listen to a lot of people these days that take no responsibility for their personal actions whatsoever. They blame everybody for their circumstances or poor choices. Do you know people like that? They come in all different shapes and sizes. They’re young, old, teenagers, children, rich, poor, famous, and not so famous. You hear them in your family, at work, on television, radio and in the papers and social media. It seems we can’t get away from them.

Being raised in a military family, you were not allowed to play the victim card; it wasn’t allowed nor permitted. Believe me; I sure tried, and it never worked for any of us kids. You were responsible for your behavior, and the consequences had a price to pay. If you got out of line, you paid the price with the right hand of righteousness (spanking for you younger readers).

I was watching a father and son interact after his son played in a baseball game. I think the boy was 12 years old. He didn’t play a very good game and made a lot of mistakes. The son blamed the ball glove, the coaching wasn’t very good, he had all kinds of excuses. The dad listened patiently as his son spoke and when his son was done talking to his dad, the dad said something very profound “son, maybe you’d better practice more on your baseball skills and spend less time on your computer and watching TV.” I think the dad handled the situation very well. It’s easy to fall into the trap of letting your kids get away with blaming others for their mistakes and not being responsible for themselves.

I have heard kids who can’t complete assignments have many reasons for not doing their homework. I’m sure many of us adults have used the same excuses. Here are a few.

• I was too tired
• I left my homework assignment at school
• I forgot
• I don’t understand it
• I’ll do it tomorrow
• I’ve got two weeks to do my book project, I’ll get to it this weekend
• Stop bugging me, I’ll do it after dinner

The sad thing about our kids these days, parents don’t want to be parents, they want to be their kids best friend. This is a perfect setup for allowing your kids to use the victim card. Parents need to recognize that confronting your kids using the victim card will help them to take responsibility for their own actions. Kids need to stop blaming others for personal mistakes and bad choices they make. Kids need to learn that at an early age and parents need to stop making excuses for their kids.

Do you feel that you’re living with a spouse that plays the victim card on you and you want it to stop? Do you need help in confronting someone who abuses the victim card? Are you someone who uses the victim card and you want to stop? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then contact Dr. Mike for personal help and planning your next steps at 303.880.9878.