Category Archives: Uncategorized

Laws Against Hitting Children

July 18, 2009

Take a look at this list of countries where all corporal punishment against children, including in the home, is now legally prohibited:

Sweden (1979)
Finland (1983)
Norway (1987)
Austria (1989)
Cyprus (1994)
Denmark (1997)
Latvia (1998)
Croatia (1999)
Germany (2000)
Israel (2000)
Bulgaria (2000)
Iceland (2003)
Romania (2004)
Ukraine (2004)
Hungary (2005)
Greece (2006)
Spain (2007)
Venezuela (2007)
Uruguay (2007)
Portugal (2007)
New Zealand (2007)
Netherlands (2007)
Republic of Moldova (2008)
Costa Rica (2008)

In addition, in Italy in 1996 the Supreme Court in Rome declared all corporal punishment to be unlawful; this is not yet confirmed in legislation.

In Nepal in 2005, the Supreme Court declared null and void the legal defense in the Child Act allowing parents, guardians and teachers to administer a “minor beating”; the Child Act is yet to be amended to confirm this.

Do you notice a country that is noticeably absent from the list?

A number of countries, some motivated in part by the UN’s convention and resolution protecting the rights of children, have taken the important step of legally standing behind child protection. This is clearly a step forward in the advancement of civilization.

In fact, the UN Study on Violence Against Children set a goal of universal abolition of corporal punishment against children as 2009. As of March 2009, the count of countries with full abolition was 24. The prohibition is being added by further states at a fast rate.

Here is a statement made at a discussion of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child:

“As for corporal punishment, few countries have clear laws on this question. Certain States have tried to distinguish between the correction of children and excessive violence. In reality the dividing line between the two is artificial. It is very easy to pass from one stage to the other. It is also a question of principle. If it is not permissible to beat an adult, why should it be permissible to do so to a child? One of the contributions of the Convention is to call attention to the contradictions in our attitudes and cultures.”
Concluding statement to Committee on the Rights of the Child General Discussion on Children’s Rights in the Family, October 1994

In America, suggestions to legally prohibit hitting children are rarely well-received. A recent attempt at a limited watered-down ban on corporal punishment (only on children under 4) in California was angrily received as well as ridiculed by many and shot down. (See Spanking Still Legal in California, Feb. 24, 2007, by Eric Fleming.) Why are Americans so hell bent on protecting the rights of parents to hit children?

How about this:

“Consider the injustice of hitting children. We hit in order to inflict pain. The law does not permit us to inflict pain on anyone other than our children. Floggings of prisoners and in the armed services, the beating of wives and servants are part of an unwanted brutal past. Our laws prohibit us from inflicting pain on animals. Why our children?”.
Ian Hassall, New Zealand Commissioner for Children, 1993.

Michael Jackson’s Childhood Abuse

July 12, 2009

Here’s Michael Jackson several years back speaking on how horribly and how painfully his father Joe Jackson abused him (along with the other Jackson children) as a child – severe beatings, whippings, tripping him and pushing him into walls, severe pervasive put-downs. Reading other interviews with family friends and other family members, including Joe’s admission to the whippings (which he has said he believes is good discipline), I suspect the admissions in this video are only the tip of the iceberg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbItFJJPPmA

What Famous People Have Said

July 9, 2009

Here are some important words from some important people:

“Each generation of parents commits atrocities against their children which by God’s decree remain invisible to the rest of the world.” – John Updike

“If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Men are what their mothers made them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Deprived children. . . are a source of social infection as real and serious as are carriers of diphtheria and typhoid.”- John Bowlby

“Men are to be viewed as the organs of their century, which operate mainly unconsciously.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Harvard Center on the Developing Child

July 7, 2009

In 2007, the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, published a concept paper based on scientific research, The Science of Early Childhood Development (2007). Among so many important concepts, the study printed the following list of what it terms the “Core Concepts of Development”:

Child development is a foundation for community development and economic development, as capable children become the foundation of a prosperous and sustainable society.
Brains are built over time.
The interactive influences of genes and experience literally shape the architecture of the developing brain, and the active ingredient is the “serve and return” nature of children’s engagement in relationships with their parents and other caregivers in their family or community.
Both brain architecture and developing abilities are built “from the bottom up,” with simple circuits and skills providing the scaffolding for more advanced circuits and skills over time.
Toxic stress in early childhood is associated with persistent effects on the nervous system and stress hormone systems that can damage developing brain architecture and lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health.
Creating the right conditions for early childhood development is likely to be more effective and less costly than addressing problems at a later age.

The paper contains important information and research conducted by many highly-regarded, well-trained specialists in human development; I plan to refer to it over and over again. My question is, if Harvard came out with this study in 2007, why are policymakers not listening? If we are in fact aware that childhood mistreatment directly impacts society as a whole, then why are large amounts of budget dollars not being allocated to the parenting education and child abuse prevention? Why are child welfare programs some of the first to be cut from budgets, instead of the first to be prioritized?

Alice Miller’s New Book

July 6, 2009

Dr. Alice Miller has just released a new book. It’s called “Free From Lies, Discovering Your True Needs.” Big news for many. For those who don’t know Alice Miller is a highly-regarded Swiss psychotherapist who writes about child abuse and the mechanisms by which it affects victims into adulthood. She writes a lot about denial, lies, and the adult impact of childhood abuse on victims. She is one of the relatively few who study historical figures and their childhoods and has written on the brutality of Hitler’s and Stalin’s childhoods, including the connection between the pain of their childhoods and the cruel adults they became. Here is a link to the Press Release about the book: Free From Lies, Discovering Your True Needs, By Dr. Alice Miller. I recommend her books. She is very intelligent and knowledgeable, in addition to being highly experienced through her work with large numbers of psychotherapy clients.

So Shocking and So Sad

July 5, 2009

How can this be, some of us might wonder – and yet it goes on daily – all over the world, no culture has been immune – parents using their own children for their own gratification, as sexual objects and/or as a tool to make money. The facts are that most cases are never brought out in the open. There are people walking around all around us who have been sexually molested by their own families, sometimes at the most shockingly young ages. It’s a dirty secret that is passed on through the generations. The impact on the child as a human being has not been studied enough. How can we not put focus on this in our legislature, in our research dollars, in the allocation of our important resources? Do we think that if it is not told and if it goes on in basements and bedrooms that it will not matter? The fact is that it defines our society, no matter how much we ignore it or deny it, those children become the adults that comprise our world. Frequently, they become angry, abusive, broken, perverse, cruel, selfish, and they work to keep their bad deeds a secret from the world just as their parents did.

Inspiring my post-Fourth of July rant above is this article out of Florida:

Child porn’s dirty secret: Dads often behind lens, from Tampa Bay Online, TBO.com.

Believe it or not.

What do you think of that?

July 5, 2009

Here’s one for those who think that children forget what happens to them by the time they grow up. Globe Life writes about a study out of the University of Toronto that found that victims of childhood physical abuse are 49% more likely to develop cancer as adults.

“Child Abuse Victims More Likely to Develop Cancer”, Globe Life.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the research that’s out there today on the subject. There are several doctors writing and researching today on the subject of physical illness developing out of childhood trauma. According to many, a possible explanation for the increased susceptibility is changes in brain chemistry caused by chronic stress.

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

July 3, 2009

Here’s an unbelievable one from the state of Georgia – a father severely abusing his own 2 month old daughter from birth! Even more unbelievable is that these things happen every day. “Good News for 2-Month Old Child Abuse Victim,” From 11Alive.com.

It’s really not clear to me where the good news is, however. It seems from the latest studies I’ve seen that after this kind of abuse by a child’s own parents, the child’s mind is forever predisposed to pain, violence, and disorder, absent some very successful intensive long-term therapy.