Psychological Abuse of Children

Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a clinical report detailing the potential harms of psychological abuse on children. It was clearly stated that while psychological abuse is often hard to detect and rarely leaves physical indicators, it is just as damaging as physical abuse on children. I wanted to quickly go over some points stated in the report on what psychological abuse is and how to detect it.

National Family Day!

Mark your calendars, the CASA National Family Day is coming soon. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has declared Monday, September 26, 2011 as a National Family Day - A day to eat dinner with your children. CASA has been conducting studies on the effects of eating meals together since 2003. Each report has concluded with generally the same findings - eating dinner with your children at a dinner table decreases risky childhood behavior (i.e. alcohol and drug experimentation). Below is a quick recap of some of the most recent findings in their September 2011 report.

Emotional Nurturing

Emotional Nutrition - When children misbehave, the attention they receive is tied to a message of failure and rejection, it therefore brings no sense of accomplishment, intrinsic worth, or real connection. Children become “addicted” to negative behaviors even though the attention they gain is not satisfying, even when the level of negative energy escalates.

Try This! Work on introducing more ways of connecting in small moments (waiting in line, leave-taking and reunions, meals, bed time, etc.) so that emotional hunger is satisfied.

Comments - Please post comments about your experiences for other parents to learn and grow from.


Posted in behalf of Anne Brown