Physical child abuse is defined in various ways. Most people would recognize it as the presence of an injury that the child sustains from someone who is caring for them. The injuries are also referred to as inflicted or nonaccidental injuries. Some common examples of inflicted injury are fractures, burns, bruises, subdural hematoma, head trauma, and shaken baby syndrome. Physical abuse may also be in the form of maltreatment, including hitting with a hand, stick, strap, or other object; punching; kicking; shaking; throwing; burning; stabbing; or choking to the extent that harm results. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) estimated that 37% of children with maltreatment injuries developed a disability or special need, …show more content…
The difference between using physical punishment to discipline and physical abuse is huge. Teaching children right from wrong is the main point of discipline, making them live in fear is not! In physical abuse, the child never knows what is going to set the parent off. The children have no clear rules. The child is never sure what behavior will trigger a physical assault; they are constantly walking on eggshells. Parents or caregivers who use physical abuse may think that their children need to fear them to listen to them and get them to behave. They use physical abuse to” keep their children in line.” This teaches children that hitting or being hit is appropriate behavior, not how to behave or grow as …show more content…
A single incident of physical abuse can result in severe trauma. If the child were physically abused more often, this would result in a greater impact on the child. The age of the child when the physical abuse begins has a greater impact on the child. When the child has a very close relationship with their abuser, the feelings of betrayal are that much greater. The person that they trust and look to for protection is the person who is instead hurting them. When a child has no one to turn to, his or her feelings of abandonment increase. A child will find a way to cope with the abuse, different methods of coping include physical, such as becoming the “comedian”, some children use humor to cover up the fact that they are suffering. Another way of coping would be emotional, such as the child refusing to try anything new for fear of failure, avoiding any more negative messages about themselves. The children of physical child abuse suffer physically and emotionally. The physical child abuse effects also vary depending on the age of the
Currently, there are many children whom suffer from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in their family. Emotional abuse is the lack of interest or affection parents have towards their children. As a result of emotional abuse, children are left feeling worthless and unloved. Physical abuse refers to attacking children resulting visible bodily injuries from either being burned, pushed, punched, slapped, or whipped. Sometimes physical abuse can be extremely severe that children have broken bones, fractures, or hemorrhaging. Sexual abuse occurs when a person forces, tricks, or threatens children to have sexual contact. These acts of child abuse could prevent children from living a normal adulthood. In order to deal with such a traumatic childhood, adults abused as children should rid themselves of such burdensome, painful memories.
... violence of corporal punishment. In addition, corporal punishment can and often does become abuse when parents are especially angry or stressed (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, Perrin 292).
Physical abuse includes hitting, kicking, shaking, pinching, and burning. It may leave bruises, cuts, or other marks and cause pain, broken bones, or internal injuries. (Child Abuse and Neglect - Topic Overview)
There are many forms of physical abuse, such as, slapping, hitting, strangling, beating, kicking and sexual abuse. In many cases objects being thrown at a child that can injure them. Many times, physical abuse goes undiscovered because children tend to hurt themselves all the time anyway. According to the book, Violence the Enduring Problem states, “Many child victims are fearful or incapable of reporting their victimization to an authority figure. And Despite the mandatory reporting laws in place in all states, evidence of abuse and neglect can often remain hidden except for extreme cases, such as when broken bones and concussions require medical care” (170). Also, physical abuse is often explained away by adults as accidents. But according to Childhelp.org states, “A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. That in 2014, state agencies found an estimated 702,000 victims of physical child abuse” (Child Help). It is an epidemic that has plagued the United States for decades. Child abuse is an ever-growing social problem. Children that are physically abused have a high propensity to develop psychological disorders, such as, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. There is evidence about the mental health implications of physical abuse and environmental stressors that contribute to the ongoing
Critics of spanking need to understand that spanking and abuse are not the same. Spanking is a quick squat on the buttock that causes temporary pain. Child abuse is physical injury such as beating, kicking, or punching a child with cruel intent. Psychiatrist William Glasser makes a distinction between the two. Glasser explains, “Discipline is directed at the objectionable behavior, and the child will accept its consequences without resentment.” By contrast, he defined punishment as, “A response that is directed at the individual” (qtd. in Dobson 96). Spanking allows room for forgiveness and reconciliation. Abuse comes from a place of hostility. It is harsh and leaves little room for forgiveness or reconciliation. Yes, spanking may cause brief discomfort, but it is not the same as beating, punching, or kicking a child.
Raising a child is a challenging life task that is given over to individuals all over the world without an instruction manual. People must learn by experience how to nurture, care for, and provide for miniature versions of themselves for almost two decades in most cultures! Discipline plays a major role in raising a child because most parents truly want what is best for their children and want them to grow up to be responsible, respectable, and successful adults; however, in some unfortunate cases, parents misinterpret the term discipline and in turn end up abusing their children. The question becomes, is there truly a difference between discipline and abuse? And if so, what is it? With education, individuals can learn how to properly distinguish between discipline and abuse and realize that there is a clear black and white difference between the two. The origin of the word discipline stems from the Latin word disciplina, which means “instruction [or] knowledge” (“Definition of discipline”, n.d.). As stated in the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the word discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, [or] using punishment to correct disobedience” (“Definition of discipline”, n.d.). According to WebMD, a website that is visited and seen by millions of people in the United States every day, discipline is “the process of teaching your child what type of behavior is acceptable and what type is not acceptable. In other words, discipline teaches a child to follow rules” (“Child Discipline Methods”, n.d.). It even goes on to state that “it sounds so straightforward, yet every parent becomes frustrated at one time or another with issues surrounding children and discipline” (“Child Discipline Metho...
Physical and emotional abuse affects the child’s life equally, so one will never be better or worse than the other. Physical abuse is “any non-accidental physical injury”. (Morin 1) Child neglect is defined as “the failure to provide a child with food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and the supervision necessary to prevent harm”. (Morin 2) Emotional abuse can be defined as the, “willful destruction of significant impairment of a child’s competence.” (Network of Victim Assistance) Children sometimes challenge parental expectations, sometimes they misbehave to get what they want, but it is part of a learning process for children. Although, it should not go without some type of consequence but the consequence should be beneficial to the child and the parent. It should teach the child a lesson in a positive manner, it should be a learning opportunity, and you must be consistent when disciplining. If you are not consistent when giving you’re disciplining your child it may cause confusion in the future and it may continue to happen and could get much
Which can soon turn into more than just discipline if repeated frequently. What a parent considers legitimate discipline can quickly deteriorate into violence (Toth). “Spanking carries the risk of an angry chain reaction that sometimes ends in child abuse. Also, spanking makes aggressive behavior worse because it teaches a child to lash out when he or she is angry. Other forms of discipline can be more constructive, leaving a child with some sense of guilt and help them for a conscience” (Schmitt, B. D.). To be relying on spanking of a child every so often can cause serious injuries to your child either physically or emotionally. Being caught in the heat of the moment, can cause a parent to not know when they might be crossing the line into discipline and abuse. Causing them to physically hurt their child with just one smack or with multiple smacks. “Hitting a on the face is demeaning as well as dangerous. In fact, slapping the face is inappropriate at any age. Your child could suddenly turn his head and the slap could damage his vision or hearing” (Schmitt). It is known, it is never okay at any time to spank your child when you are out of control, scared, drinking, or have any type of anger issues. For that can just increase your risk of hurting your child. Schmitt says, “A few parents can’t stop hitting their child once they start. They can’t control their rage. They must learn to walk away from their children and never
Abuse can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time. This is repetitive acts of behavior of wanting to maintain power and have control over someone whether it be through childhood, adolescents, or adulthood. This subject is sensitive as it impacts so many different people around the world. The topic of abuse is not just a family matter, it comes in all forms, such as sexual, emotional, and physical. Abuse is accompanied by the long term emotional tolls, especially on children because their brains are still developing and can take abuse harder than others. One question to ask, is how does one overcome abuse? As children and adolescents develop, how do they function emotionally and physically? These traumatic experiences that happen through
As with all the forms of correction, the concepts of punishments and discipline are absolute opposites. Punishment is motivated by anger, focuses on the past, and results in wither compliance or rebellion and feeling of shame, guilt and hostility. But on the other hand, discipline is motivated by love for the child, focus on the future, and have results of obedience and feeling of security. Parents want their children to understand that the gentle sting of a spanking is connected to the greater and often long-term pain of harmful choices. A child should always receive a clear warning before any offense that might merit a spanking and understand why they are receiving the spanking. As Jared Pingleton says in his article; “Parenting is a hard job. None of us do it perfectly. And to make it even more challenging, none of our kids come with an instruction manual attached. But our children need us to do it to the best of our ability, with all the wisdom, love, gentleness and strength we can muster. We won’t go wrong if we exercise a firm and consistent hand with a soft and loving
Abuse in child can differ from physical, emotional, mental, sexual and neglect. The effects of child abuse vary between children these effects can be long lasting. Some of these problems can be psychological such as anxiety, depression, academic problems in school, withdrawn and difficulty connecting with others, and can even experience flashbacks and post-traumatic stress. They also have physical effects such as bruises, sprains, fractures, poor hygiene and inappropriate dress. Children living in an environment that is full of fear and violence develop poor coping skill some of these coping skills can be eating disorders, drug use risky sexual decision and self-harm. Some children fall into a cycle of abuse and become abusers themselves. Each child can experience one or more
Several forms of emotional damage have been associated with physical punishment in children such as confusion, aggressive behaviors, and mental illnesses. These are all signs of abuse or to be more specific a parent that did not fully understand the limitations of the biblical approach. On the other hand, are these factual claims? Not even research can back these claims up. Afifi, T. O., Monta, N. P., Dasiewicz, P., MacMillan, H. L., & Sareen, J. (2012) authors of a journal called Physical Punishment and Mental Disorders: Results From a Nationally Representative US Sample clearly state that research is flawed and no findings can be proven to show a link between physical punishment and mental disorders. Parents may have heard “spare the rod, spoil the child” but there is more behind that saying. The Bible does not say to use excessive force it tells a parent to use their love and words of knowledge to correct a child.
Any kind of benefit from using corporal punishment is short-lived and it is not worth threatening the relationship between a parent and a child. The negative outcome from hitting a child carries an emotional price that is too high (A Case Against). Parents who choose to use physical force teach their children what not to do when they should be teaching them the exact opposite. The article A Case against Corporal Punishment stated, “America is one of the most punitive of Western democracies in regard to children, misbehavior, and defiance. And this proclivity to use physical punishment has made our country of the most violent in the world.” There is no doubt that parenting is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It is an everyday commitment and requires an immense amount of self-control. No parent is perfect and they all make mistakes, so it is important for them to learn from their missteps and make sure to do better. Children are entitled to parents who are capable of modeling kindness, patience, and love (A Case Against). Corporal punishment is neither kind nor loving, neither effective nor useful, and neither patient nor warm; therefore, parents should never establish this kind of discipline
“It hurts and it’s painful inside – it’s like breaking your bones; it’s loud and sore, and it stings; it feels like you’ve been adopted or something and you’re not part of their family; you feel like you don’t like your parents anymore; you feel upset because they are hurting you, and you love them so much, and then all of a sudden they hit you and you feel as though they don’t care about you” (Pritchard 9). These are the feelings of those juveniles who suffer from corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has been one of the main topics of research in Psychology in last few decades. Although people had believed, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” but in the present age of science, research has revealed that the corporal punishment causes more harm to the children instead of having a positive effect on them. According to UNICEF, “Corporal punishment is actually the use of physical measures that causes pain but no wounds, as a means of enforcing discipline” (1). It includes spanking, squeezing, slapping, pushing and hitting by hand or with some other instruments like belts etc. But it is different from physical abuse in which punishment result in wounds and the objective is different from teaching the discipline. Although Corporal punishment is considered to be a mode of teaching discipline and expeditious acquiescence, however, it leads to the disruption of parent-child relationship, poor mental health of juveniles, moral internalization along with their anti-social and aggressive behaviour and it is against the morality of humans.
As children grow up, they’re more than likely exposed to being disciplined in one way or another. “Surveys of parents show that 90 percent have used some form of physical punishment on their children” (Graziano 1). So therefore, we can all agree that when it comes down to being punished, parents more often than not resort to spanking their child(ren). That being said, many parents will readily agree that spanking a child should not be considered a form of child abuse. However, the question still stands: how far does the spanking have to go in order for it to be considered child abuse? Although some are convinced that there are better ways to discipline a child, there are others that maintain the idea that spanking is the best option for disciplinary action.