Child Abuse in the Modern World - Essay Example

Child Abuse Parents are prone to upsetting the children in different ways. The refusal to heed to the needsof the child and the process of managing a child’s difficult behavior form part of the role of parenting. The human nature of parents sometimes makes them lose control, mostly because of stress, and fatigue (Dubowitz & Joav, 2010). These conditions may prompt the parents to say or do certain things that hurt the child, or even do something they regret. Child abuse constitutes the actions by someone that causes a child suffer by instilling significant physical harm to their development and health (Warner, 2009). Punishing the child too much or shaking and hitting a child causes the child significant harm. In some circumstances, threatening, rejecting or criticizing a child constantly also hurts the mental strength of the child (Powell, 2011). Some parents or guardians fail to look after the child, they dot give the child enough food, not allowing the child to play. By not ensuring that the safety of the child is guaranteed, or by ignoring the child, the development of the child is jeopardized. All these contribute to child abuse (Davies, Liz & Nora, 2010). The abuse of children happens in the immediate family. The people who abuse the children normally come from within the family. The immediate family includes sisters, brothers, parents, and other close familiar adults like the babysitters. It becomes unusual when strangers get involved in child abuse (Dubowitz & Joav, 2010). The story by Dave Pelzer, A Child Called It the captivating story about the survival of one child in one of California’s worst ever reported child abuse case. The author, Dave Pelzer, depicts a world in which he lived a life of starvation (Jensen, 2011). The society seemed so cruel to him, and the frequent torture made him feel frustrated about life. His rescue was facilitated by a group of school officials who were courageous enough to step in to end the young man’s twelve-year period of agony that stared at a tender age of four years. The autobiography of Dave Pelzer sets out a horrific but inspirational depiction to the readers of the book (Espejo, 2013). The journey of Dave’s life is incredible, heightened by the dark insanity of his outrageous mother (Watkins, 2009). At an early age, Dave had started washing the dishes. This in itself hurt the conscience of the boy, as he hoped to finish the job fast enough to avoid the outrageous character of his mother, and perhaps give him an opportunity to take breakfast. His breakfast came rarely as he was only allowed to take the cereal leftovers that his brother left. Dave’s starvation indicates the deprivation of food hence hindering his development (Leverich, 2006). Dave’s mother drove him to school on some days. There were days that Dave ran to school forcefully, as his mother could not allow him to drive in her car. At the school, in more than one event, Dave reported to the nurse to receive treatment for his injuries. This routine went on for quite a long time (Pelzer, 1995). As soon as the school nurse discovered the trend was too frequent and severe, she contacted the principal on the issue. It was after this that Dave’s rescue came. Dave is an example of a boy from a typically good and happy family. Despite the heart wrenching stories from the book, Dave explains how he felt and enjoyed the love from his parents (Myers, 2012). During holidays, he would take trips out of town with his father who was a firefighter working 24hrs each day. These experiences began changing, with his mother showing depression, which eventually pushed her into drinking (Sutton, 2007). The drinking habit took toll on her mother who released her frustrations on Dave, with each incident escalating in more violence than the previous (Leverich, 2006). These encounters left Dave with a broken arm. Dave’s experiences were exclusive. This made him depressed as his mother directed her rage towards Dave, excluding his two siblings. The mental punishments that the abuse inflicted on the boy’s mentality were grievous (Turnell, Andrew & Susie, 2006). He spent days starving and long times in the cold showers. His mother later bore two other sons, making the punishments even harsher with the privileges of the other two siblings getting more luxurious (Myers, 2012). The depression that Dave faced left him lying in the baths, as he listened to his mother and the other siblings sharing good times. This routine continued, with Dave being excluded from the events in the family, even Christmas, which is preserve for the happiness of children in the Christian Calendar. The situation’s severity escalated, Dave being pushed out of the house. Instead, he slept in the garage (Pelzer, 1995). The rage of Dave’s mother was outright and unquestionable. She never hid the abuse she showed Dave, with his ego challenged when he was forced to wear dirty clothes to school. His mother further threatened (Watkins, 2009) to beat him more if he diverted from the stories he was coached to tell if asked about the bruises. His condition raised suspicion amongst the officials, but whenever her mother came out to answer to the questions, she found a way out of the interviews, and tricked Dave into believing his sorrows were over (Turnell, Andrew, & Susie, 2006). Dave’s father was his only rescue. In as much as his mother punished him in the presence of his father, the punishments were not as severe as those when his father was away. He failed to protect Dave in certain occasions when things got out of hand, as explained on that day his father failed to intercede when his mother stabbed him in the process of issuing threats to him. This indicates the father’s fear to react for fear of the insanity to spill over (Davies, Liz & Nora, 2010). Dave’s father spent a lot of time away from home, eventually finding a way out of their home. Dave’s picture of being rescued became fantasy, and this motivated him to care less about his mother’s insanity as he lost hope. He felt so depressed that he opted for death than the continued harassment and frustrations (Jensen, 2011). He got into deep prayers, obtaining strength from the belief in holding on for better days. It was until then that his elementary school officials rescued him. Currently, Dave is grown. He went over his past abuse experiences during his childhood, and is now a father (Pelzer, 1995). Dave’s experiences present a variety of behaviors and difficulties that abused children exhibit. It is difficult to highlight and spot the abuses (Powell, 2011). It is also difficult for the victimized children to tell another person about the abuses as the abuses accompany threats of not telling their experiences to anyone. The abuses make the child have a mentality that it is their fault deserving such treatment. The society tends to believe that the children are not always serious with explaining such issues, ending up in teasing the child hence further traumatizing the children (Powell, 2011). The effects of the abuse affect the child’s character. Physically abused children are wary, cautious, and watchful of adults. They bully other children and tend to be abusive and over aggressive (Davies, Liz & Nora, 2010). The abused children are unable to concentrate or play as spontaneously as other children, leading to poor results in school. In some situations, the children exhibit temper tantrums, making it difficult to find friends as they keep indulging in weird behaviors such as theft, lying and constant contact with the police (Espejo, 2013). Sexually abused children develop behavioral changes in the early stages of the assaults. These children fail to look after themselves, and continuously lack confidence as the abuse persists (Jensen, 2011). They become more secretive as they lose sleep with their actions being more seductive. The sexual molestation of children inflicts the children with fear of physical contact from any adult (Warner, 2009). At such points, depression checks in, and with age, the child begins to think of sexual related activities such as prostitution (Myers, 2012). If not rescued, the children surrender into drugs and alcoholism, as they develop increasing eating disorders. The problem of child abuse is difficult to identify (Espejo, 2013). Within the family, the person involved in the child abuse case may not own up to their actions. When these people accept these actions, others can help to look after the child in a desirable manner. The help takes the children away from the abusive characters (Sutton, 2007). This may be a permanent or temporary before the situation gets better. The best therapy for child abuse victims is specialist treatment. The abuse causes depression and distress amongst children and adolescents. Some help comes from family centers that are run by social service centers (Leverich, 2006). This is center for the less rebellious victims. Help for severe symptoms of depression and trauma comes from the Child and adolescent Mental Health Services. This unit reforms both the families and the victims of the abuse (Watkins, 2009). Sometimes, it may be difficult to care for children who suffer from serious abuse. It is necessary to offer advice to parents and guardians on the basics of parenting (Warner, 2009). The children should be enlightened more on their rights, to instill in them the courage to speak about the frustrations that come with abuse of their rights (Dubowitz & Joav, 2010). References Davies, Liz, and Nora Duckett. Proactive Child Protection and Social Work. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd., 2010. Print. Dubowitz, Howard, and Joav Merrick. International Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2010. Print. Espejo, Roman. Parenting. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Jensen, David Hadley. Parenting. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Print. Leverich, Jean Marie. Child Abuse. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Print. Merino, Noël. Parenting. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Print. (Merino, 2010) Myers, John E. B. Child Maltreatment. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print. Pelzer, David J. A Child Called "It". Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, 1995. Print. Powell, Catherine. Safeguarding and Child Protection for Nurses, Midwives, and Health Visitors. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2011. Print. Sutton, Amy L. Alcoholism Sourcebook. Detroit, MI: Omni graphics, 2007. Print. Turnell, Andrew, and Susie Essex. Working With "Denied" Child Abuse. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2006. Print. Warner, Sam. Understanding the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. Watkins, Heidi. Child Abuse. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print. (Watkins, 2009) Read More