I have a suspicion that this is because we are loathe to criticize mothers, especially in a society where they are becoming increasingly rare. Statistics show that the days of the large families like mine — I had five siblings — are over. More importantly, we have this sense that women are often unfairly burdened with the lion's share of the blame when something goes wrong. That could be the case, although I don't really think it matters to a child abused by his or her parent.