Dandelion On My Pillow Butcher Knife Beneath Summary

Dandelion on My Pillow, Butcher Knife Beneath In Dandelion on My Pillow, Butcher Knife Beneath Nancy Thomas wrote about her early life experience with abuse and the many children she helped recover from the effects. He story includes domestic abuse from a young marriage and the abuse of her children by her husband. The effects of early abuse and time away from their working mother caused Chucky and R.B., Nancy's children, to suffer from Reactive Attachment Disorder. Nancy's effort to help her children turned into a life of devotion to children with this disorder. Nancy Thomas used her experience with abuse and trauma to change children with Reactive Attachment Disorder into responsible, morally conscious, and secure people. Nancy Thomas's childhood and young adulthood included a lot of abuse from the people she loved. She illustrates the abuse by saying "The more Dad smacked me, the more I tried not to knock my cup over. The harder I tried, the more I spilled and the more I spilled the more Dad hit. I was caught in a vicious cycle that didn't make sense." (Thomas 13). Nancy Thomas was …show more content…
The children that came into her home were angry, manipulative, and even dangerous. Some had killed animals, sexually abused their siblings, and destroyed everything in their path. Nancy put forth the effort to learn more about this disorder and help these children. She used methods such as strong sitting, assigned chores, reverse psychology, and rebuilding or paying for what was destroyed. Nancy reflects on the abuse that was inflicted on the children when she wrote "They were abused or neglected as babies. Rough handling and mean words fill their ‘parent tapes', so when they see other beings that are helpless and hopeless like they were, the internalized rage surfaces and can result in a killing rage" (Thomas 115). Nancy Thomas wanted to give these children love and the tools to tell right from