Tag Archives: abuse

To Smack or Not to Smack? What is the Answer?

I was recently asked to be a radio talk back guest on smacking children. The young female presenter gave the following scenario: A young mother, on her way home from work and after picking up here 3-year-old daughter from day care, stopped to choose a DVD. While cruising around the isles attempting to choose her only entertainment for the week, her young daughter starts pulling videos off shelves and throwing them at her mother. The mother smacked the child, one hard swift smack on the bottom, paid for the DVD in her hand and left. The young video store attendant … Continue reading →

Journaling for Improved Mental Health: Scrapathy is the Cheapest Health Cover.

Visiting a therapist is EXPENSIVE! I should know: I am one. I charge high fees to assist people to understand them selves – what they are feeling, thinking and what they can do to change. Private health insurance is also expensive and it doesn’t always cover therapy fees. Oh bother…what to do?? How can the average person pay their mortgage, school fees, buy groceries, clothes and still see their beloved therapist? Apart from visiting our excellent Frugal articles, why not become your own beloved reflective therapist and make a soul investment in Scrapathy. Scrapathy is a term to cover how … Continue reading →

Ten Thousand Sorrows — Elizabeth Kim

“Ten Thousand Sorrows” is a nonfiction account of a Korean girl who was born to an unmarried mother. The social stigma this birth brought to the family was incredible. The mother was forced to live on the outskirts of town, far away from the other villagers, and while working in the rice paddies, she was virtually ignored. No one would associate with “that kind of woman,” and she was treated like a leper. Despite this treatment, she did everything in her power to raise her daughter with joy and love. Elizabeth remembers a small town made of cardboard boxes and … Continue reading →

Thera Pea Dolls: At home Protective Play That Won’t Break the Bank.

Thera Pea Dolls are a tool I use to teach Protective Behaviors. In my role as a child therapist and Protective Behavior consultant, I am always on the look out for different ideas to present as teaching utensils for parents to use with their own children if they want to. I like to suggest protective play resources that are either free or take little expense to make. One of the favored resources I use is Thera Pea Dolls. The dolls are simply a stuffed body outline that can be written on, or drawn upon, for numerous at home psycho-educational purposes. … Continue reading →

Are You Crazy? Take a Fun, Free Test to Find Out for Sure.

Are you concerned about your mental health? Perhaps you just worry that, because you’re at home minding children, you’re missing out on something better. Take a free test from Queendom.com to find out just how concerned you need to be. To take any of a multitude of tests on personality, anxiety, health, love, need for therapy, stress, etc, you just need to join Queendom.com for FREE. The tests are scored on line and you receive an almost instant analysis of your current state of emotional health. Although the tests have a high rate of validity, the just-for-fun tests DO NOT … Continue reading →

Teen Dating Violence: A Serious Problem

I never experienced any violence while dating as a teenager or otherwise and neither did either of my two sisters. We were lucky since statistically at least one of us should have experienced date violence of some form. According to the Bureau of Justice Report “Intimate Partner Violence:” About one in three high school students’ will be a victim of an abusive relationship. Thirty to fifty percent of teenage girls report having experienced teen dating violence. Young women from 14 to 17 years account for 38% of date rapes. Sixty percent of rapes occur with someone the victim knows at … Continue reading →

The Affirming Value of a Child’s Teddy – Voices from Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Teddy bears have long been the comfort of children everywhere. In an effort to reclaim the comfort of my lounge room I have this morning been packing up hundreds of teddies left over from the 2006 Cairns Teddy Tour-A-Thon to donate to children’s charities. As the Teddies beady little eyes pleaded with me not to suffocate them with my large black plastic bags, my conscience did a real Megan act and stood up against the emotionally flat and repetitious packing actions of my hands. Determined to stay strong in my task, I shut my ears and heart to the silent … Continue reading →

FREE Posters to Help the Transition from Boy Child to Real Man.

To get FREE posters and brochures from the Coaching Boys into Men campaign, click here. While doing some research for another “End Violence” project I’m working on, I stumbled across an American website with FREE and immediately downloadable posters. The website of the Family Violence Prevention Fund is concerned with ending men’s violence against women and children. Bravo to them. They have recognized that violence is not a women’s issue, that it is a whole of community concern and that if men are part of the problem then they are also part of the solution. While the women’s movement was … Continue reading →

How Children Learn the Cycle of Violence

The Cycle of Violence is a pattern of behavior that occurs in many relationships. It is insidious, refuses to use clear communication, and relies on people reacting through behaviors rather than clearly identifying and calmly stating their case. Why are so many adults sucked into the Cycle of Violence? Because they have learnt it as children. This is how it goes… Mum awoke this morning with conviction anew. During the night she had slept badly, worried that she was yelling at the kids too much. Leaping out of bed, eager to start a new day, she said aloud to her … Continue reading →

The Cycle of Violence: part 7, Stand Over.

This is the last part of the Cycle of Violence. It is the culmination of the insidious and convincing trick behaviors that have occurred during Explosion, Remorse, Buy Back, Honeymoon, Normal, and Tension Build Up. The tension in the air has become so great that the home is like a powder keg. Every waking minute, the household members live in fear of an explosion. People speak in hushed tones, they become hypervigilant and keep a check on where the perpetrator is, and they wait. The moment he enters the scene they know there’s going to be trouble. It may be … Continue reading →