Recently I read an article which stated, that according to experts, child neglect can be just as detrimental to a child’s development as physical and sexual abuse. Those are pretty strong words.
According to a recent study children of a sampling of 4000 children aged 14 and under, those with repeated history of abuse on average scored lower by 3 IQ points that those children who had not been abused. The sad but interesting thing is children who had been neglected scored equally as poorly as the children who had been abused.
So the long term effects of neglect are just as detrimental to a child’s development as abuse. That started me wondering exactly what constitutes neglect.
I admit to being pretty much of a traditionalist when it comes to the subject of children. I believe our children are a gift from God and that as parents we need to do all we can to care for them and love them. If that means sometimes having to give up things we would like to do, then so be it. If it means putting a career on hold or even stopping it to spend adequate time with your child, then to me it’s a no brainer.
But I realize other people will have different opinions on this. All I know is that when I had children I wanted to be with them, to love and enjoy them and spend time with them. Sadly some parents seem to resent time they spend with their children and see it as time wasted. I never did.
Now as I see them and relate to them as adults bringing up their own families, I’m glad I had that time. It enabled us to build a relationship of love and friendship as well as that of parent and child.
I remember some time back author Mem Fox created an uproar by declaring that putting children in child care was tantamount to abuse. Maybe you wouldn’t go that far. What do you consider amounts to neglect?
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