psychopathology
Reading Response #6 Psychopathology Most parents and other caregivers do not intend to hurt their children, but abuse is defined by the effect on the child, not the motivation of the parents or caregiver. Tens of thousands of children each year are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them, making child abuse as common as it is shocking.
Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they’re supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts across all lines of ethnicity and class. Whether the abuse is rooted in the perpetrator’s mental illness, substance abuse, or inability to cope, the psychological result for each abused child is often the same: deep emotional scars and a feeling of worthlessness. Many parents and caregivers “hit’ the children to teach them how to behave. But it should not be a way to teach a child. A child understand with words. If parents and caregivers use other methods such as time out or take something away that the children like they will do things as told. Also, if the child is spoken to and told why he or she is doing is wrong or right he or she would understand. When a child gets “hit” it is more likely that he/she will continue to misbehave. Maybe not at that moment but further in the future.
Also hitting a child teaches them that problems are solved with violence. It can cause lots of problems in their future when they begin to socialize with others outside the home. They may hurt or injure a classmate because they may think or feel the classmate is doing something wrong. Children should not be hit, speaking to them should be enough. Corporal punishment shouldn’t be a way of punishment.
Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they’re supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts across all lines of ethnicity and class. Whether the abuse is rooted in the perpetrator’s mental illness, substance abuse, or inability to cope, the psychological result for each abused child is often the same: deep emotional scars and a feeling of worthlessness. Many parents and caregivers “hit’ the children to teach them how to behave. But it should not be a way to teach a child. A child understand with words. If parents and caregivers use other methods such as time out or take something away that the children like they will do things as told. Also, if the child is spoken to and told why he or she is doing is wrong or right he or she would understand. When a child gets “hit” it is more likely that he/she will continue to misbehave. Maybe not at that moment but further in the future.
Also hitting a child teaches them that problems are solved with violence. It can cause lots of problems in their future when they begin to socialize with others outside the home. They may hurt or injure a classmate because they may think or feel the classmate is doing something wrong. Children should not be hit, speaking to them should be enough. Corporal punishment shouldn’t be a way of punishment.