Yes it really is unlikely. But I go there every weekend, it would be really difficult to cover it up. Especially because I was looking out for any signs that things were going wrong. I see them during the week as well. So on average I see them twice a week. I must say that at the time I was probably exaggerating how crazy my brother is. I painted him out to be someone who should be in a mental institution. Don't get me wrong, he's a troubled person but he's not completely crazy. He is still paranoid, but he's controlling himself (and his rage) better and he mostly let go of his controlling behavior. Also it was the first time he had ever been violent with anyone. So it's not like he has a history of violence. He does have a history of being a paranoid self-centered jerk, and that's still there, but boundaries have been established as far as I can tell. The kids are also a good way to get a sense of their home situation when I'm not there. And all the signs have been very positive. And honestly, I don't think my brother is smart enough to hide something like spousal abuse to this degree. I think a big factor in all this is that my brother does not have chaos and misery as his goal. His goal is to have a happy family and be a good father. No matter how poorly he started out, his goal was not to be destructive. "If you cannot understand why someone did something, look at the outcome—and infer the motivation." -Carl Jung And I think that's the difference between him and truly malicious people.
