On November 19th we celebrate the World day for prevention of abuse and violence against children. To be successful prevention needs to come not only from state institutions but from the whole society. Intoleranceof society towards violence against children is an important preventive measure.
We should notclose our eyes to the violence. It is true that we risk getting into trouble for making note of a mother that behaves outrageously with her child. But this is the situation in our country. In fact, people in the West would not save it to her, no matter the consequences.
According todata based on a research and reported by the National Network for Children shows that more than half of the surveyed parents (61 percent) wouldn’t slap their child. It is good that more than half of the surveyed Bulgarians wouldn’t do that, but those 39% are a bit of concern. According to them there are extreme crisis situations that require a firm hand and this is the only way to deal with kids. The problem is that sometimes innocent slaps becomes systematic harassment. Could our ambition to do well as parents turn us into unconscious abusers? To be a parent is not an easy task and the child does not come with a manual. Often mothers and fathers are faced with a real challenge. However, incapability in any case could not justify inappropriate technique used in the upbringing of a child.
Physical violenceis perhaps one of the most easily recognizable, but it is not the only one. Not just a slap can damage the mental health of the child. The law defines child abuse as physical, mental, emotional, sexual. Mocking attitude, discrimination, insult is also violence. Each of these could seriously damage child’s mental and physical health. Different types of violencecould not be graded, because when we talk about violence, it sounds somewhat ridiculous to say what is less harmful than another. Each of them is bad enough, good examples of violence just doesn’t exist.
We are constantly being horrified by thecases of aggression among children, we are amazed bythe cruelty of which they are capable. But we should better start thinking about what is the cause. Is it at home? Investigation of “Alpha Research” from 2011, focused ondomestic violence, shows that one in three of the abusers used to be abused in family. Many organizations say that the model is confirmed. This vicious circle of anger must be broken. The main thing we need to know as a society is that violence creates violence. It turns out that violence against children is a crime not only on themselves but also on all of us because it brings in aggression. And we all carry responsibility.