Abnormal is normal for that child.

I've heard cruelty defined as that which you cannot predict—it's when you get punished for something inconsequential, or that you had no possibility of knowing. When you do your best but have the rug pulled out from under you.

It's one thing to be corrected when you've done wrong in a way you can understand and learn from. But when your whole world becomes a minefield with no stable reality, that's a recipe for trauma.

It's why we don't punish people without the mental capacity to understand, or punish dogs for something they didn't do.

Unpredictability is also how you break people down so they become compliant to anything you say. Cults, totalitarian regimes, abusive husbands and the like have used cruelty like this to their great advantage.

It's A Clockwork Orange.

"BLUE!? Wrong again. The sunset sky is red! I'm so sorry but I must administer the electric shock again."