For the record I do believe that Norman is specifically abusive, not neglectful, though I must stress many forms of neglect are also forms of abuse.
Here, example. The first movie tells us that Harry has been flunking out of boarding schools, doing enough times that putting him in public school is his only remaining option.
A good parent would go and work to find and address the actual root of Harry’s academic struggles.
A neglectful parent would fail to act on the subject at all.
An emotionally abusive parent would take the information that Harry has been struggling and weaponize it in order to insult Harry when Harry makes a minor request his parent has found something to dislike about. An emotionally abusive parent might, say, tell their child to their face that they didn’t think their child would graduate.
It also manifests pretty blatantly in that first car scene in general. A good parent would one, do the absolute bare minimum that was asked outright by Harry and just pull around the fucking corner but would also two, notice that Harry’s implying he’s receiving negative treatment at school and try to do something about it. A neglectful parent would fail to take any action at all. An abusive parent would take the relatively polite request of pulling around a corner and twist it into seeming like their child has actually demanded something unreasonable like selling the parent’s car as if that’s remotely equivalent, in the process framing their child’s feelings as unreasonable and selfish.
