Discipline or child abuse: Differences of opinion

Can you determine the difference between discipline and abuse?

How would you determine the following parents’ acts, do you view them as a means of discipline or as abusive?

- Last week, a 10-year-old boy arrived to his elementary class with bruises on his face. When his teacher asked the boy how he got these bruises, he informed her that he had been hit by a live-in relative for violating the family rules. Later that day, the male relative was taken into custody, arrested on suspicion of child abuse (Times-Press, 2011).

- This past Christmas Eve, a Mukwongo father, Jeffrey Gleiss, rolled his car after missing a turn on state Highway 83; his 5-year-old son was inside the car at the time of the accident. When police arrived on the scene it was immediately noted that Gleiss smelt of liquor, was unsteady, and was slurring his speech. He was charged with his sixth drunken driving offense and since a judge has granted a child abuse restraining order against him for endangering his child (WISN, 2011).

- This past November, an 11-year-old, alleged sexual abuse victim, disclosed that she had been severely punished after reporting her assault. According to the girl’s therapist, the mother had made her daughter kneel on popcorn kernels, limited her diet, and threatened to beat her daughter for reporting her sexual assault. The 32-year-old mother was charged with causing mental harm to a child, intimidation of a victim and child abuse (The Post Crescent, 2010).

At what point do well-intentioned child rearing practices turn into malicious acts against a child?
Unfortunately there is little agreement across the nations, disciplines, and even amount similarly-minded individuals regarding this issue. In the recent years...... click here to read the rest of the story

Sticks and stones may break my bones: No Name-Calling Week debunking this myth Continue reading on Examiner.com: Sticks and stones may break my bones

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” As children, many a well-intended adult attempted to soothe our tears with this rhyme; but even then we knew that it wasn’t true. Words hurt and in fact, they hurt a lot! For centuries, the long-lasting, physical and emotional effects of bullying have been grossly underestimated, but several new studies finally expose the damage that these verbal assaults cause.

In one such study, “Empathy Gaps for Social Pain: Why People Underestimate the Pain of Social Suffering” currently featured in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2011), it was found that most people fail to realize the consequences of social trauma ...... click here for the rest of the story