Words by Daniela Farrugia Camoin
BA, MA Youth and Community Studies and Personal Performance Coach Founder of Positive Parenting Strategies
Child maltreatment is certainly not a new phenomenon. Unfortunately it has existed since the beginning of recorded history. Even more unfortunate is that it is on the rise across the globe. We often associate child abuse to broken bones and bruises. In other words, to visible scars. Yet other than physical abuse there are other types of abuse, which more often than not go unnoticed because the scars are not as obvious. This type of abuse includes emotional and sexual abuse and neglect. All abuse, whether physical, emotional, sexual or neglect leave deep, lasting scars which children carry with them into adulthood and beyond the time they were actually abused. No individual should turn a blind eye to child abuse. It is important to break the cycle when we find out that this is actually happening. The earlier abused children get help, the greater the chance for them to heal and not let the abuse inflict lifelong problems such as lack of trust and relationship difficulties, trouble regulating emotions and feelings of being ‘worthless’ and ‘damaged’. There are a number of common myths surrounding the tragedy of child abuse. Society tends to think that child abuse does not happen in ‘good’ families. However, statistics show that child abuse crosses all economic, racial and cultural lines. Another very common myth is that the majority of child abusers are strangers to the child – yet the very sad truth is that most abusers are family members or people who are very close to the family. Children who have been abused do not always grow up to be abusers. Whilst the chances of the cycle repeating itself is a strong possibility, most survivors indeed grow into strong adults who have a strong motivation to protect their children against what they went through and become excellent parents.
Daniela Farrugia Camoin
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