The Effects of Physical Child Abuse

by Brad K
(Pleasanton, California, USA)

I am simply talking about physical abuse, not molestation. I am referring to parents or guardians that punish their children physically by spanking w/ either hand or weapon (such as a belt). Unfortunately, a lot of parents come from homes where they themselves were abused and they just didn't realize it. They thought that since they were beaten by their parents as a form of discipline that this is actually how kids are supposed to be disciplined. Very wrong. What a destructive notion this is.

If only these parents realized that the exact opposite is true. A child, just like an electronic instrument, should not be hit, kicked or dropped simply because it's not behaving properly. You would think common sense would tell a parent never to whack, hit, beat or punish their greatest treasure, their own child. Children physically punished by parents show developmental problems such as stuttering, excessive nervousness in speaking in front of class, which are caused by the fears & anxieties from the beatings, as well as severely introverted personalities and extreme shyness.

A parent like this has not been informed that it is THEIR job to teach their children why the child shouldn't lie, steal or vandalize in life. Now these unfortunate kids will have to find out the hard way even though it wasn't their fault that they didn't know any better because they didn't have a knowledgeable parent. These parents raise a belt and say well I guess this is what I'm supposed to do (start beating their kids when they misbehave instead of explaining why not to misbehave).

When a child is still young and hasn't had a chance to misbehave yet, this is when some simple instruction should be done. For instance, we should tell our kids not to lie in life because people will know if you lie whether you realize it or not and then they won't trust you anymore. Likewise, we shouldn't steal because how would you feel if someone stole something from you that you rightfully earned, and/or "vandalize", etc. This should be explained to kids without any anger tone in the parents' voice.

Children learn by example. So, if a kid sees a parent using anger to punish someone, they then think that using anger as a way of punishing another person is normal. These are kids that get picked on in school because they "spas." Other kids get entertained by the ones that have anger problems. As you can see it's a perpetuating cycle.