Stop Child Abuse

Child abuse can be an act of negligence be it physical, emotional or even education-wise by a person or persons responsible for the care of the child herself/himself. The most common and easiest to identify would be physical ones such as physical abuse or even sexual abuse. The acts of hitting, punching, kicking or hurting a helpless child is sick and it is heart-wrenching to see an innocent child being beaten half to death by some creeps. Or even worse, manipulating kids to do sexual acts when they didn't know better? Or forcing them to commit sexual acts and I quote "fondling a child’s genitals, making the child fondle the adult’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and sexual exploitation".I wish all these would stop and I never have to see news of child abuse appearing so often in the newspapers. Despite that, there are probably lots more not reported as it is.

This is the Part II :)

Note: Author only claimed the originality of the text, the poem and the smiley face. Other diagrams are googled from websites. If there are stuffs taken from other sources, it is mentioned below :)

Dear God, 

They say if I'm good, 

I'll be with you one day,

I just have to bear with the pain,

And I can't complain,

I really hope I'm at the top of your list,

Cause I'm not sure if I can take it anymore,

Maybe when I'm with you, 

I'll finally be loved,

Just like the kids in TV,

So God, I'm praying as hard as I can,

And if Santa knows you,

All I want for this Xmas,

Would be for him to bring me to YOU~

(Just something I wrote)

We often mistook child abuse for something that is apparent like in physical abuse or sexual ones (like what I've mentioned in the previous post) but there are others too~ Like negligence, where some families fail to even provide the basic necessity for the child in question, food, clothes, basic shelter, education, etc. Is it a question of financial difficulties? The lack of education? This is one of the child abuses that I would love to see being put to an end. As this is a more subtle form of abuse, lesser actions are more likely to be taken. It's hard enough that the obvious ones are taken lightly, especially by the Malaysian's attitude of "Let others take care of it, I'm staying out of their business" kind of attitude. This is definitely highlighted and exemplified in an article by Petra Gimbad recently in The Sun where Malaysians seemed to look the other way when faced with cases of sexual abuse and child abuse. I for one, would be more than happy to see that these acts of child abuse stop.

What about emotional abuse of a child? It is harder to pinpoint this or even detect it properly. It's not something which the public can see easily and even try stopping. The verbal abuse probably occur when there are no prying eyes or ears at the quiet of their homes. A child being scolded mercilessly for everything or anything they've done? What would that actually do to their growth? Always being told that they aren't good enough, aren't pretty or good looking enough, aren't smart enough, and aren't everything else. The 'bully' would cause a lot of grief and pain, especially if they are the ones the children look up to for protection. Sometimes these 'bullies' or 'perpetrator' did not realise the extent of the words they utter...If more awareness can be created, maybe this act of abuse will stop too! To end this post, let's all have a look at the myths surrounding child abuse :)

MYTH #1: It's only abuse if it's violent.

Fact: Physical abuse is just one type of child abuse. Neglect and emotional abuse can be just as damaging, and since they are more subtle, others are less likely to intervene. .

MYTH #2: Only bad people abuse their children.

Fact: While it's easy to say that only "bad people" abuse their children, it's not always so black and white. Not all abusers are intentionally harming their children. Many have been victims of abuse themselves, and don’t know any other way to parent. Others may be struggling with mental health issues or a substance abuse problem.

MYTH #3: Child abuse doesn't happen in “good” families.

Fact: Child abuse doesn't only happen in poor families or bad neighborhoods. It crosses all racial, economic, and cultural lines. Sometimes, families who seem to have it all from the outside are hiding a different story behind closed doors.

MYTH #4: Most child abusers are strangers.

Fact: While abuse by strangers does happen, most abusers are family members or others close to the family

MYTH #5: Abused children always grow up to be abusers.

Fact: It is true that abused children are more likely to repeat the cycle as adults, unconsciously repeating what they experienced as children. On the other hand, many adult survivors of child abuse have a strong motivation to protect their children against what they went through and become excellent parents.

(http://helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_physical_emotional_sexual_neglect.htm)