Majority Of Parents Abuse Children, Children Report

[gravity]

LOS ANGELES—A chilling national poll of U.S. children ages 3 through 12 estimated that nearly 75 million youngsters suffer both physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their parents on a daily basis.

The poll, whose findings are part of a 700-page report released Tuesday by a coalition of child abuse monitoring and prevention organizations, indicts nearly 95 percent of American parents. It documents abuses ranging from less severe offenses, such as children being denied snacks just before dinner, to more egregious, long-term cases of neglect, such as never ever getting what they want, ever.

...

Encouraged to speak freely and confidentially about their home lives, subjects shocked even seasoned child welfare advocates with tales of systematic deprival and gratuitous cruelty. One Illinois boy told of being forced to linger with his mother in fabric stores and later leaving a Toys "R" Us empty-handed, even though the store sold a water gun he really wanted. An Arkansas 9-year-old said he spent all of third grade carrying a boring brown backpack instead of a super-cool Spider-Man one like a friend, whose parents love him, had. And a 6-year-old girl from Wisconsin was forced to sit at a dining room table for nearly two hours until she finished her canned green beans, a food widely considered by poll respondents to be disgusting and suitable only for adults.

"To hear the sadness in these kids' voices when they talk about how they are scared—literally scared—to bring home poor report cards, is heartbreaking," said Dr. Deirdre Fulton, child psychologist and director of the Nationwide Coalition to End Child Abuse, who co-authored the study. "Some of the children we interviewed even wished they were dead so their parents would feel guilty at their funerals."

More: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/majority_of_parents_abuse_children

[LostinVA]

1. I kinda agree with the kid about the fabric store

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Me, too. That is an offense that CPS should know about, IMHO.

[realisticphish]

4. god, me too

"Mom can't I just sit in the car and read?"

"No, I need you in here... for some reason"

So many hours wasted standing and staring forlorn at the drawers of patterns.

[LostinVA]

5. Fabric stores, banks, and looking at curtains

So many wasted hours of my childhood!

[ChoralScholar]

13. Oh boy... I spent many hours toiling at the McCalls and Simplicity

drawers myself.

[dropkickpa]

3. Dropkid must've been one of the study subjects

She threatened me with calling the police once when I made her take a bath and *GASP* wash her hair then brush her teeth. I also yelled at her for throwing food on her bedroom floor, drawing on all of her furniture with markers, and bathing the guinea pig in the toilet. I am a terrible mother.

[mark414]

11. you monster!

:rofl:

[Zuiderelle]

6. I'm surprised the Onion would satirize a real problem like child abuse.

Disappointing really.

[Deep13]

8. Oh, that's nothing.

Consider these "headlines":

Video camera capture's baby's last steps.

New study reports babies are stupid.

op-ed: I hate it when Jews talk through the movie.

Middle-East peace process dead, buried, shovelled over with dirt.

Bullshit Jesus! Those were my footprints.

Unregistered sex offender notifies neighbors in his own way.

FEMA (N.O. Katrina): show us your tits for rations!

Area woman's life looks bearable in scapbook.

Scientists discover delicious new species.

Jenna Bush's private wetlands now open for public drilling.


If it wasn't a real problem, there would not be much point in satirizing it.

[Zuiderelle]

9. But it seems to me that this particular satire is making it seem as if people are exaggerating

abuse. That there is so much reported abuse that isn't really abuse. I think that this satire is saying that the "problem" is with what people consider abuse.

Personally, I think that there is more abuse than what is reported, so maybe I just can't get that this is funny.

[mark414]

10. i would say they are doing the exact opposite

our culture is turning into a bunch of alarmists and overreactors when it comes to something like child abuse - for some loonies anything short of pampering your kid and doing whatever they want is child abuse. on a different level there's those people who claim that a couple swats on the ass is equivalent to a good old fashioned beating...which of course it is not.

the onion makes all those claims of 'abuse' sound ridiculous because they are ridiculous. too many ways of dealing with unruly kids, in some circles are now taboo and vicious and abusive. i call it raising a kid.

so while others would like to wrap all of our children in bubble wrap and cater to their every need and never talk down to them (you might emotionally damage them!!!), the onion calls bullshit, and the fact that this satire piece willfully omits any mention of real child abuse is their way of saying enough with the crap, and focus on the real problem.

the folks at that paper are absolute masters of satire and parody and it seems like they just keep getting better and better

[Zuiderelle]

12. That's exactly what they are doing, which was my point.

That child abuse is a serious problem, and despite some claiming that some people yell "abuse" over something as trivial as the article's examples, does not make it less of an issue. Making the claim that cries of abuse are largely exaggerated does a lot of damage to those children who might have spoken out about their own abuse. If others are not believed, then why would anyone believe them? I believe that child abuse is well underreported, and not exaggerated as this article claims.

Have you "raised a kid" yourself? If you had, you'd know that being a parent and wrapping a child in love is much like trying to wrap them in bubble wrap to protect them. Children SHOULD be protected. If more parents DID want to wrap their children in bubble wrap, instead of hitting them, we'd all be much better off.

There will always be some people who carry things too far, out of love, or attention, or greed or a thousand other things. Just like anything else, claims of abuse can be abused. I just don't like a publication, that is largely progressive and political, satirizing claims of child abuse.

[ChoralScholar]

14. I know. But I try not to be one of 'those people'

who fuss when we're not serious in the lounge.

I do see heart-rending cases every day of kids who are abused in one form or another - but I am making an attempt to enjoy this article in the light it was intended.

[Deep13]

7. Child walks out on toy nonproliferation talks.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39455