It’s important to understand what child abuse and neglect really is and how it occurs. By taking the time to understand why children become abused or neglected we will be able to identify possible solutions in preventing this type of treatment. Also by learning information based around child abuse we will be able to have a better understanding of how people in our society feel about this issue. A few great authors have left us with some powerful quotes based around the topic of child abuse.
For example the author Kenny Guinn stated that children deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention. Quotes like these are very meaningful and powerful because they get people to really look at the different issues involving children. When I hear a quote like this I am drawn to it and need to read it more than once. Every time I read it I think about all sorts of different issues which are great because that is exactly what I think Kenny Guinn wanted us to experience.
If I attempt to break this quote down I can determine that Kenny Guinn is using a famous phrase that people often use which is “Give your undivided attention”. Many people will recognize that phrase because the meaning behind it is used in all sorts of situations. People use the phrase undivided attention because it means they want that person to focus on one thing and not a number of things. Kenny Guinn has used a clever method of making us as the readers to really think about his quote and how people should pay close attention to children and their needs.
He has made it clear that he believes that people need to devote time and effort to focusing on children and their needs rather than to neglect them. Even though this quote is a sentence long it has the meaning of a whole book. What I mean by this is from this simple quote written by Kenny Guinn you can take so much information and feel his emotion that he has written with to create such as brilliant phrase. He has truly done an excellent job of relating his personal philosophy about child abuse and neglect to the readers.
When researching child abuse you will find that the definition states that child abuse is “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm”. This definition helps us to understand that child abuse can mean a number of different things. Even if a child is not physically harmed he can be emotionally abused as well. It is important to nderstand this because sometimes people believe that if they don’t see marks or bruises on a child he or she is not being abused. This is totally untrue because a child that is mentally abused can actually be affected worse than a child that is physically abused. A mentally abused child will most likely develop low self-esteem and tend to blame his or hers self for just about everything. When a child is physically abused it is usually on a rare occasion and it is easy for the child to blame the parent for hurting them.
When a child is mentally or emotionally abused it happens on a frequent basis and it is harder for the child to realize that they have been abused. Emotionally it can be devastating for that child, affecting the way he grows up socially with others and how that child determines their own self-worth. The author Heather Mclane stated “The only reason why child abuse is alive today is because we as adults fail our children when we fail to listen to them. Listen to a child today”! When I read this quote I really think about different types of emotional and mental abuse.
As you can see from the quote Heather explains that parents often disregard or don’t listen to children. If a child feels like he or she is not worth paying attention to or everything they talk about is stupid or dumb than eventually they will give up trying to reach out to us. It’s the job of a parent to make their child feel important and loved. Sometimes parents don’t even realize that they are abusing their child but by not listening to them and making them feel worthless they could actually be harming there child more than someone that hits their children.
I believe Heather Mclane did an excellent job of stating that children need to be heard and it’s our job to make sure everyone understands the different types of abuse out in the world today. In my opinion many parents don’t realize the different types of child abuse. It is often a common thought that child abuse is a parent that physically hits his or hers children. If our society better understood mental abuse than I believe this issue would have a greater chance of being resolved. At the end of Heather McLane’s quote she states that people need to “Listen to a child today! When I read this I think society should constantly have gatherings and benefits that share this information with others. For example let’s think about the power of holding a benefit run or a public gathering. Usually a town or city will get a great turn out from their population, the information will be greatly spread at a hasty speed and the message will be clear that something needs to be done. I believe if our society started making it public that parents and adults need to start listening to children that our child abuse rates would go down a tremendous amount.
Public gatherings get the communities involved and learning about different issues. Before the gathering takes place a lot of advertising is done and people usually will go to great measures to make sure local businesses and recognized people in the different communities are a part of the benefit. This type of recognition is exactly what our children need because it lets people know and understand that child abuse and neglect is a serious issue and that we are going to do something about it.
During benefits like this a lot of great information is given and people have the opportunity to learn about issues that they may have over looked. Child abuse and neglect have major effects on how our state and country are run and perceived. When you think of America you think of people being free and living life to the fullest. The very thought of child abuse goes against everything our country stands for which is freedom and living the pursuit of happiness. When a child is abused they are not free or happy. “Child abuse and neglect offend the basic values of our state.
We have a responsibility to provide safe settings for at risk children. ” (Matt Blunt) This quote by Matt Blunt explains that child abuse offends the values of our state and that the people of the United States have a responsibility to discover a solution for us and our children. Children deserve to have a safe home and grow up without being abused. Child abuse rates in our country are rising and society needs to discover what the source of the problem is and the best possible solutions. Matt Blunt has made it very clear that he feels that our country is responsible to do this and it is not something we can decide to do or not.
This is a very powerful quote because when you read it you feel the pride that Blunt has for his country. He believes child abuse is wrong and that our society is obligated to take a stand and to create a positive solution. It’s very important to have men like Matt Blunt in our country because they stand up and speak out about their beliefs. By expressing to our country that we have an obligation to take care of our children the message is very clear that parents need to do a better job of treating children correctly.
If our children are affected when they are growing up then their children will most likely be affected and so on. When this type of chain reaction occurs our country can be affected greatly therefore, people in the United States need to learn about the child abuse issues and start taking action now. Another great quote that relates to this is by Kenny Guinn and it states “I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. When you read this quote you can understand that Kenny Guinn wants our children to stop facing neglect and child abuse. Our country is not doing the best job of listening to children and it’s important that we understand children even though they are young sometimes they have important message for us to listen to. In conclusion we have learned that child abuse has a number of different meanings. An example of a different type of child abuse is a person or an adult failing to act. In many of the quotes you have heard that we have an obligation or people need to start taking action.
Child abuse is not only physically or mentally harming a child but it’s not doing anything as well. Children need and depend on us to make the right decisions and to protect them while they are growing up. It is our job to make sure that if something is not right that we take the correct action to ensure our children’s safety. We have also learned that by providing society with the correct information that we have a number of possible solutions of helping to reduce the child abuse rates. Some examples that we went over for positive solutions were to create benefits or public gatherings.
Any event or method to spread information about child abuse and neglect will help our society to learn about the different issues. Neglect is often overlooked as a type of child abuse because it is simply ignoring problems. Parents and adults need to understand by ignoring problems or their children they are greatly affecting them and the way that they will grow up. One of the most powerful ways of making changes is by educating people. Many more people will help to decrease child abuse rates if they are educated on the subject.
We have also learned that some authors have gone to great efforts to express how they feel about child abuse and neglect. Kenny Guinn, Heather Mclane and Matt Blunt were three specific authors that used very creative quotes to express their views. By providing people with messages as powerful as theirs I believe people will really start to think about the issue of child abuse. As country it is our duty and obligation to make sure that our children have all of the same opportunities that we did when we grew up. By preventing child abuse and neglect we are not only saving our children but helping our country as well.
