Child Abuse Awareness

               
         I'm not going to go into the gory details of the latest viral video of a man beating his daughter for disappearing for 3 days as well as wearing a slip of a dress in public.  If you are interested, you can watch it here.   I'm also not about to make you gag at the mother of 5 who was imprisoned for neglecting her children in filth, but if you are curious you can click here. What I will say is, it's easy to look at such an obvious outlier such as public abuse and say "that's not right" but there are other forms of abuse that are dismissed every day.
          April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and here are some signs of abuse.  Hopefully if you are guilty of some these behaviors your will seek help.  Psychology Today categorizes child abuse as physical, emotional, verbal or sexual.  The abuse can be the result of neglect.
         I often find myself engaging in thought-provoking conversation about what is acceptable in the way of chastisement for children.  It is hard to know at times if you are doing the right thing for those with older children, but if you don't understand what abuse is, you will exact it on your child, thinking the ends justifies the means.  Verbal abuse is more than just a firm tone of voice; it is berating a child into obedience.  I have witnessed parents using this tactic and I always want to say something but parenting is such a sensitive subject I refuse to volunteer information.  Embarrassing your child in front of his or her friends about a bedwetting problem with not help them get over it any faster, especially if bedwetting comes from a lack of emotional security.
         If there is anything I can say about these horrific tales of neglect and abuse, I would like to say be careful with your words and actions, even in moments of extreme anger.  A child's wrongdoing is not an opportunity to hand out whatever punishment comes to mind.  A heavy hand only provokes wrath after so long.
     
        This is Realest Mother Dearest signing off.