child abuse
... rich poor, well educated and uneducated, from all races and religious backgrounds. Despite the conditions, child abuse becomes more and more frequent and must be stopped. 3When and where is child abuse being done? 4Why parents abuse their children? For some absurd reason, abusive parents see physical punishment as a suitable way to deal with their offspring. The parents may be unenthusiastically discouraged when spanking obviously transports no success, but truly see no alternative and grow depressed by both their own ridiculous behavior and their babies’ responses. Helplessly, “parents continue in the same vicious circle: punishment, deteriorating relationship, frustration, and further punishment.” [The abusive parent/ 83] “Exactly like their children, abusive parents were, are believed to have been brought up with images of themselves as bad, worthless and unlovable. They were brought up to distrust an uncertain, unforgiving world where joy, approval, and affection either did not exist or inevitably deteriorated into anger and punishment.” [The abusive parent/ 84] Child abuse occurs in the presence of three factors: “the parents must have a background of emotional or physical deprivation and perhaps abuse as well” [The abusive parent/ 76], “a child must be seen as unlovable or disappointing” [Damaged parents/02], and “there must be a crisis occurring” [Damaged parents/02] 6Types of abuse Child abuse involves a hurt child and the erroneous actions of care taking adults (parents, guardians, and friends). Four categories are commonly used to classify their behavior: physical violence, physical and emotional neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual exploitation. “Physical abuse is any non-accidental injury to a child. This includes hitting, kicking, slapping, shaking, burning, pinching, hair pulling, biting, choking, throwing, shoving, whipping, and paddling”. [Child abuse, the developing child/ 06] Physical violence simply involves physically damaging action directed against the child from the caregiver. “The borderline between willful injury and physical neglect, both of which can cause accidental harm, is sometimes difficult to determine, but examples such as giving large adult doses of sedatives to an infant or hallucinogenic drugs to a small child are so dangerous as to constitute clear abuse”. [Child abuse, the developing child/ 06] Physical and neglect is the failure to provide for a child's physical needs. This includes lack of supervision, inappropriate housing or shelter, inadequate provision of food, inappropriate clothing for season or weather, abandonment, denial of medical care, and inadequate hygiene. “Neglect implies the failure of the parent to act properly in safeguarding the health, safety, and well-being of the child.” [Child abuse, the developing child/ 06] “Emotional neglect almost always occurs with physical abuse; its can also occur with good physical care and inflict just as much damage on the developing personality. Flagrant cases describe children left locked in an attic; far more common are the subtle forms of emotional abuse in which a child is continually terrorized, berated, or rejected.” [The social context of child abuse and neglect/ 31] “Emotional abuse is any attitude or behavior which interferes with a child's mental health or social development. This includes yelling, screaming, name-calling, shaming, negative comparisons to others, telling them they are "bad, no good, worthless" or "a mistake". [Child abuse, the developing child/ 06] Emotional abuse also includes the failure to provide the affection and support necessary for the development of a child's emotional, social, physical and intellectual well-being. This includes ignoring, lack of appropriate physical affection (hu...