How Children Carry the Weight of Child Abuse

The spirits of children are shattered, tender hearts broken with words, and precious bodies riddled and limp from abuse. Eyes that should glisten with wonder and excitement are enveloped with dismay and destruction. Fathers physically beat their little girls. Mothers leave newborns in locked cars, and some parents degrade their children with verbal daggers. Child abuse is much more serious than people want to believe. Child abuse comes in different forms: neglect, physical, and verbal abuse. But what are even more serious are its effects: inability to properly function in society, fear of trust, and a broken self-esteem. We should all be there to help these children, by holding their hands, or even giving them a sincere smile.

First, someone who suffers from neglect or other abuse as a child often has an inability to properly function in society. Parents who show little or no interest in their children's lives make them feel unimportant and often portray a distorted view of love. Their parents tell them that they will be at their basketball game and then fail to show up. They put social events, their jobs, or even their own lifestyle before their children. This continual act can cause the child to grow up feeling that they can depend on no one and that they are unworthy of love. They have problems making or even keeping friends, because they feel they will always be let down. Often in adulthood they tend to over compensate the loss they felt in their own life into their child's. They move heaven and earth, often to their own neglect, to be at every activity. They become driven by their own loss inside. Others who have gone through this often don't know how to love or even care for someone else in a relationship. Their parents ...

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...think about her and tries to act exactly like they want her to. It is as if she is like glass; you have to be very careful about what you say to her, because she could break and fall to pieces at any moment. Degrading remarks, time and time again, often leave people with a broken backbone, a shattered self-esteem. This part of them, the part that makes them believe in themselves, usually never heals to the fullest.

People need to be aware that what happens to children, as they are growing up, can affect them in many different ways. Children should have wonderful memories of their life, but unfortunately the ones that suffered from abuse growing up, still struggle today. The memory of the mind works in mysterious ways and often never allows one to forget the past. They struggle throughout their life in dealing with society, fear of trust, and a broken self-esteem.