Nothing excuses child abuse. Nothing. Stop excusing bad parenting. Stop undermining and downplaying objectively horrible parenting. Don't try to "redeem" or let off the hook bad parents and guardians by gaslighting the audience into thinking that their words and actions against their children are "not that bad", or by never bringing up especially cutting moments of their abuse, hoping the audience will forget about them. Bring these grown adults to task. Call them out on their harmful, hateful, manipulative BS. Narcissistic, toxic parenting is tragically all too real and common, it's almost an epidemic. It leads to long-term, even lifelong, childhood trauma in so many people. In a fictional story, at least have adults apologise to children - to the new generation - by the end. Make it clear that the parents don't hate their kids for existing; for not being their narcissistic ideal of a "perfect" child. Let them know that their children are their own people. And stop it with the "they were only trying to protect their children by acting like evil c*nts" BS excuse. It's child abuse, and it's wrong.
On that note: Have characters apologise to their targets/victims for their wrongdoing. Saying "I'm sorry", and admitting to being wrong and having flaws to learn and grow from, seems to be a chronic fear that a lot of writers suffer from for some reason.
Redemption is more than saying "I'm sorry", but when a redemption arc is written well, it reminds people that they are responsible for their own actions. It lets them know they can call real people out when their entitlement and insecurities hurt others, or else these same selfish opportunists will take it as permission to get worse. They will always find a way to be worse. They will never be happy and satisfied in their evil. Don't give them an inch.
And adults and authority figures keeping secrets from the main characters, usually children, for no good reason other than it gives the story a mystery and intrigue to be invested in, is still a frustrating and annoying cliché that needs to die.
Never allow love interests or potential love interests to willingly hurt a character, especially physically, violently, as a choice they made, for any reason (it's usually done through plot contrivance), and don't make it worse by, again, not having the attacker apologise to the victim.
One more thing: Please keep characters - character traits - consistent throughout their story. Keep it in their development and growth, in ways that make sense to them.
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Oh, and:
The most fundamental fact of life: If you reward horrible people for doing horrible things, they are going to keep doing horrible things. Stop rewarding them and letting them go unpunished.
When you weaponize your privilege, loudly, against others, in order to oppress minorities further, and to maintain your "superiority" in human existence, you are not a good person. You are a weak, desperate, pathetic, abusive, unhappy, loveless oppressor and predator, no better than colonisers, tyrants and genocidal dictators.
Never allow a society to exist that rewards greed, cruelty and anti-intellectualism, and punishes the victims of a caste system. Of a fascist government.
Allowing billionaires and homeless people to exist at the same time is f*cked up. You realise this, right?
