NARCISSISTS ENGAGE IN “SPLITTING”, EVEN WITH THEIR OWN CHILDREN…splitting means the narc sees things as all bad or all good, and other similar extremes.
With two or more children, they make one the “golden child” and the other the scapegoat.
The golden child’s burden is that they must live up to the narcissist’s “mini me” expectations, and is expected to reflect well on the narc. The expectations can be extremely burdensome for the golden child, and this carries out into adulthood. If the golden child fails to make the narc look good, or ever sees the narc for what they are, there’s hell to pay.
The scapegoat is the opposite. While the golden child is favored and can do no wrong, the scapegoat child is constantly blamed and shamed by the narcissist. While the golden child is given so many good things and treated like gold, the scapegoat treated as virtually worthless and a shame on the narcissist.
As a result, children often report very different childhood experiences. The scapegoat child will often report serious abuse and neglect, while the golden child may report that the narc was a nearly perfect parent, and may turn on the scapegoat child and be a flying monkey for the narc, and abuse the scapegoat child for speaking out about the abuse.

