Where Do We Draw the Line? In many households, parents are confused on where to draw the line between discipline and abuse. Sadly, because of parents with such confusion, the children in our society have not been taught a firm definition of love, but instead, abuse as an acceptable form of discipline. They have continued to feed their children false information, which they will later carry on to their children and so forth. These parents must begin teaching the act of love and the negative effects of testing the idea of coexistence between love and abuse. Before it is too late, parents must teach children how love and abuse can not coexist, because it creates confusion, the abuse can hold long term effects, and the children become oppressed in the home. Although many have tried, no one has been able to find a balance between love and abuse. In most cases, it has led to a lot of confusion between parents and their children. In “When My Father Hit Me” by Bob Shelby, he writes, “I realized what hurt me the …show more content…
For example, many of the people held behind bars are grown people continuing to suffer from the effects of abuse. Jay Masters explains prison as a long term effect by writing, “Their stories said much about how all of us had come to be in one of the worst prisons in the country” (2). The stories that Masters references are stories of his prison mates that were abused as children. Having been abused as children, these men all grew up, still holding on to the anger they raised from continuous abuse and the lack of love. The anger that they held onto, as well as their false ideas of love, are things they began to take out on others as the years went on. However, these aren’t the only long term effects of abuse. Childhood abuse has been linked to everything from depression and eating disorders to alcohol and drug abuse. This a cycle that almost never
The dynamics surrounding the decision to leave or stay, and possible consequences are very complex. There are various reasons victims may either opt to stay in an abusive relationship. Feelings of fear, shame, hopelessness, and the inability to provide for themselves are common factors. However, one of the primary reasons is some people do not realize they are victims. Quite often abusers can be very charismatic using apologies, affection, and promises to end the negative behavior to control their victims. Unfortunately, this tactic can create an emotional sense of conflict as the victim begins to reflect on the good times, while battling with the reality of the present. This type of behavior often predicates or serves as the prelude to the cycle of abuse theory, a component of the Battered Woman Syndrome; thus being the primary reason victims find it difficult to leave. In an article entitled “When Love Hurts” by Jill Cory and Karen McAndless –Davis, various facets and resulting impact of domestic violence are explored and correlated to BWS. In making the correlation between the cycle of abuse of and BWS, the cycle of abuse is the eighth component of the Battered Woman Syndrome (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009) defined as a distinct pattern having three
A common problem in the world today is domestic abuse. Many times the male of a household abuses the woman and children that they life with. Although there are opportunities to safely get out of these situations, women too often stay. While this seems crazy that anyone would even think of staying in a situation of such violent nature, the reason is for more astonishing. Many times the women of these relationships love their abuser. An article written by a woman named Amanda
...g and filled with detailed solutions for each act of child abuse. The book allows the reader to visual themselves in each situation and knows how to react towards such each incident. It helped me understand why adults abused as children act the way they do when it comes to social interaction. Personally, I have attained new information that I was unaware of. In the beginning, I have always believed that child abuse only involved physical or sexual abuse. I did not know that emotional abuse actually existed. I was unaware of the fact that emotional abuse gravely affects children as they grow up. This book may open up the minds of people who are unaware of or refuse to believe that child abuse is occurring daily in our society because it is so informative and persuasive at the same time. If one needs to educate themselves concerning child abuse, consider this book.
The effects of abuse tend to vary with different children but any type of abuse can cause serious damage. Not all children display the same responses to physical and emotional abuse. A few of the typical emotional responses include; showing excessive fear, extreme anger, low self-esteem, and an inability to trust adult figures. In contrast a few physical responses are difficulties developing speech patters, difficulties getting involved with other ch...
Doak, Melissa J. Child Abuse and Domestic Violence. 2011 Ed. Gale Cengage Learning: Detroit. Print.
Due to domestic violence’s widespread effects, most individuals either retain, or know an individual who retains, personal experience with domestic violence. In both my personal experience and my mother’s, I preserve three distinct experiences of domestic violence. My first exposure to domestic violence occurred when I was four years old, as my parents reached the breaking point in their marriage. I witnessed physical and emotional abuse in my parent’s marriage as they fought over their three children and their marriage. The physical abuse represents the first, and only, memory I retain of my parents being married. Because I never witnessed my parent’s happily married, it affected my childhood through making me feel as if I must pick a side. I felt that my childhood did not represent a family, but rather a continuous battle over who retained more power over us children and the resources. I deemed relationships as degrading and selfish due to the
Exposure to violence in the first years of life brings about helplessness and terror which can be attributed to the lack of protection received by the parent. The child can no longer trust their parent as a protector (Lieberman 2007). This lack of trust early in life can bring about serious problems later in life, as there is no resolution to the first psychosocial crisis, trust vs. mistrust. For these children exposed to domestic violence, the imaginary monsters that children perceive are not only symbolic representations or a dream. The monsters that children who witness domestic violence have to deal with carry the reflection of their parents. Children who witness domestic violence face a dilemma because the children’s parents are at their most frightening exactly when the child needs them the most. The security of the child is shatter...
The word violence has many different meanings and has many ways of impacting people. It can beat someone down not just physically, but emotionally. Unfortunately, violence and abuse is not uncommon within families and intimate relationships. Webster 's Online Dictionary says that violence is "the use of physical force to harm someone, to damage e property, etc., great destructive force or energy" (Websters,2014) It includes abusive words, actions and criminal acts that seek to degrade, humiliate or harm a woman or child.. Often, the term violence is used to refer to specific, usually physical, acts, while the word abuse is used to refer to a pattern of behavior that a person uses to gain or maintain power and control over another. This essay
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
While looking into this particular topic, children are very dependent on their parents in their everyday life; they are the ones who have raised them from birth. Would you not consider the child whenever a parent wants to integrate an argument in front of the child, leading to physical violence? Looking through the child’s perspective, the child has many different emotions running through his mind and body when seeing his own biological parents constantly fighting. Although the child itself is not engaging in child abuse from the father, the child is still experiencing emotional abuse through witnessing these altercations. Children can be affected in numerous ways by witnessing these arguments. Witnessing the arguments from the same roo...
All parents are deficient from time to time and no parent can be emotionally available all the time to their children. It is perfectly normal for parents to yell at their children once in a while. Some parents may be controlling while some resort to physical discipline, but as long as the child receives plenty of love and understands why the discipline took place (Forward,1989). The question that lies ahead is: Does all of these options portray the parent as “cruel or unfit” to raise a child? Of course not. The saying “Spare the rod, spoil the child” stands true. Without discipline or order in the household, the child feels that there is no boundaries and can react in any form that he or she wants to without fearing the consequences. But, there is a distinct line between “discipline” and “abuse” which will be explained in the next chapter.
Emotional abuse is prevalent within our society. Some child experts “argue that almost all parents are guilty of emotional maltreatment of child at some time or another” (Crosson-Tower, p. 211, 2010). However, it remains “the most difficult type of abuse or neglect to define or isolate” (Rees, p. 59, 2010). While physical abuse leaves detectable signs like scars and bruises, emotional abuse is hidden deep within a person. It lacks the public profile of sexual or physical abuse (Rees, p. 59, 2010).
Domestic abuse and child abuse have widespread social and emotional costs. Family violence affects all segments of the family. The impact of violence on childrens' lives appears to be far more substantial than the impact on adults lives(Family, Pg. 1). In most cases of family violence the family has conformed to a pattern in which the line of family violence started generations ago. This pattern must be broken before more children growup and live in a family that resorts to violence. But there are also children who live in loving families who do not resort to violence and as these children mature they start resorting to violence to help solve and deal with their problems. Studies show that physical punishment could cause aggression in children, but other studies show that even abusive parental violence does not always lead to an increase in children's aggression. Only by recognizing and addressing the multifactorial roots of violence in our society can we move closer to living in peace.
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the
Abusive relationships hurt children to watch one parent harm the other. The child will also be hurt mentally and physically if the parent is abusive to the child in which it is a safe option to