Kinds Of Child Abuse
There are a variety of kinds of child abuse. A child is a human being that demands our complete devotion until he or she is developed into a fully grown man or woman. Unfortunately, there are parents that, not only do they not commit themselves to raising their children properly, but they in fact mistreat them in many ways. The scientific community recognizes four kinds of child abuse, each one worse from the other.
Physical: the most common of the four kinds of child abuse is physical abuse. It basically refers to the hitting, pushing, or in any way causing harm to the child. In more rare cases, child abuses may involve burning, or even poisoning of the child.
Emotional: a rather complicated form of abuse compared to the other kinds of child abuse is emotional abuse. Such a phenomenon occurs when a parent or caregiver systematically treats the child in a way that it impairs its emotional development. Emotional abuse can come about both intentionally and unintentionally. An example of unintentional abuse would be the child to witness the ill treatment of another member of the family, and thusly end up feeling scared for his own safety. On the other hand, the intentionality in cases of child abuse would translate into examples such as: direct exploitation of the child, or indirect by raising the bar of expectations way above the child’s developmental stage. Causing a little kid to feel that it is worthless, because it cannot fulfill a difficult task that we assigned to it, is definitely a kind of emotional abuse, that can prove to be traumatic. Besides from the above mentioned, sometimes a parent may harm his child’s emotional development by being overprotective, and by depriving the child of the chance to be exposed to new experiences, and essentially discover the world on its own.
Sexual: the most wicked of all kinds of child abuse, is definitely sexual abuse. It occurs when someone forces or lures a child into any form of sexual activity, whether it involves a penetrative act or not. An abuser may simply encourage a child to take nude photos and videos, or simply force a child to watch inappropriate content. In conclusion, a child need not be actually rapped in order to be considered sexually abused.
Last but not least, neglect deserves also to be on the list of the various kinds of child abuse. A child has physical, emotional, and educational needs. Failure to provide those to a child constitutes neglect. More specifically, failure to provide, food, clothing, shelter, and the proper medical care are kinds of physical neglect. Failure to provide psychological care, meaning love and affection, as well as attention to the child’s specific psychological needs, counts as psychological neglect. As for educational neglect, it refers to any failure to provide the child with adequate mental stimulation. A child, for example, must go to school in order to learn new things and develop socializing skills, and it must do so at the appropriate age. A parent must also be careful of any learning disabilities that might require special attention and in general one must be close enough and show an active interest for his child’s education. Failing to do so are all examples of educational neglect.
One realizes that there are many kinds of child abuse, some being more explicit and straightforward with directly harmful consequences for the child, while others being rather more implicit and indirect. All kinds of child abuse, however, are harmful. The reason this is the case, is because children need attention on multiple levels. We must never forget that a child is just a little person that relies solely on us, its parents or caregivers, for every single thing in his life, whether that is a nice warm meal, a gentle touch, or help in solving a math equation.