I don't understand this

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At work, I've been in such situations. Kid with bruise under his eyes, kid with a black eye, kid with bruises caused by falling with glasses still on, kid with red blotches over the their cheeks and disappearing into the hairline, kid bleeding all over the yard from cuts on his face... first think to do in each case was discovering what had happened, sometimes preceded by first aid.

I wasn't a kid but once in my late teens I went to Planned Parenthood for a pelvic exam and because I had a lot of bruises on my arms and legs they thought I had an abusive boyfriend. I didn't. I just bruise easily and bump into things a lot.

One other time when I was a teenager and I had a huge dark bruise on my leg someone I knew was telling someone that my uncle beat me up and was in jail. I don't even know how they came up with that. I bumped my leg on the doorknob when climbing off the bed.

Being an incredibly clumsy child (hasn't changed that much ) I often managed to give myself black eyes and facial brusing crashing into things.

I was asked several times between the ages of 4 and 7 if someone hurt me at home, but never really understood why. Personally, I'd just assume they walked into something...

It happened to me. My parents also tell me that if I am asked about an injury, I can't use my normal, "I'm not allowed to talk about it" excuse otherwise, they will think I am being abused and they won't even ask, they will just assume.

I bruise quite easily.

I don't like strange people assuming things when they know nothing about the situation.

HisDivineMajesty, are you saying I'm dumb because I don't assume it's abuse? I'm not talking about people I know, I am talking about complete strangers.

SilklySifaka, what if the accident happened at school and teachers knew they got it because they saw them fall off the playground?

I always had bruises and cuts as a child because I was sooo clumsy. My parents hardly ever laid a hand on me at all. If I saw a bruise on a child, depending on where it is (ie. black eye--I would think abuse), I would usually just assume the child had an accident.

One time when I was a kid, I fell off my bed in the middle of the night and hit my head on my nightstand on the way down. The fall left a beautiful bruise just above my right eyebrow, and even left a small cut in that same area (I hit the corner of the nightstand obviously). A lot of people at school asked if I was being abused, and I told them I fell off my bed.

It is probably useful that people assume it is abuse. Domestic abuses can be hard to uncover, so if people always conclude there is something wrong, there is a higher chance that the actual cases of abuse will be reported.

Nonetheless, I would probably not notice bruises on a child, and if I did, I would not think about it very much. Maybe he fell, maybe something fell on him, maybe he got into a fight at school, how should I know?