Violence In Children Essay, Research Paper

Julie, a four year old girl, was the only witness to her divorced mothers fatal stabbing. Several months earlier, at the time of the divorce, Julie s father had publicly threatened to kill his exwife Although the father lacked an alibi for the night of the crime, there was no physical evidence linking him to the homicide In describing the event, she consistendly placed her father at the scene, described significant portions of the central action, and recounted her father s efforts to clean up prior to leaving Only after the district attorney so Julie stabbing a pillow, crying Daddy pushed momy down, d d he become convinced that the father indeed was the murderer.

As shown in the story children are affected much from their families. That is why the families role in children s life is very important. One of the big threats for the wellbeing of the society is violence in children. It has many reasons, such as violence at home, the media, or witnessing the death of a family member. This essay is about the effects of violence, such as effects on society and the person s behavior, and some suggestions for reducing violence and its effects.

Violence in children has different reasons. Levels of self-esteem, family experiences, and abuse of children can cause violence in children. But these are not the only reasons. According to Shannon, there are nine inherited features for violence in children. These are level of physical activity and energy, regularity of psychological functions, the tendency to being introvert or extrovert, the capacity to adapt to new situations, the intensity of responses to stimuli, the quality of mood, distraction, attention span and the amount of stimulation needed to evoke a response. He believes that personality is a mixture of these and learned factors. A person can be a very easygoing, but he experiences violence in his family, sees the abuse of his mother then he may become a violent person (Shannon).

According to Edleson, beatings that aren t fatal, but brutal are adult domestic violence. Some types of violence on children are beating the child in the arms of his mother, taking the child hostage to force his mother to do something the father wants, or using him as a physical weapon against the victim.

There are also other ideas for explaining children s aggressive behaviors. The reason isn t only the low esteem of a child. It can also be a neurochemical imbalance or poor role models. Shannon says that peers and teachers have a great impact on improving a child s self esteem. Too much self-esteem causes a child to become narcissistic. If parents meet every wish of their children, then they will raise children who believe that they can have everything they want.

Another reasons for violence in children is toys, movies, and TV programs. Children watch likely television and especially cartoon but nearly all the cartoons include violence. As an example we can show Tom & Jerry, Coyote & Roadrunner and more.

Movies that are made for children also include violence. And these are the ways in which children first meet with violence (Carlson- Paige; Nancy Levin; Diane E.).

Most people believe that divorce causes violence in children. But Shannon suggests that divorce of the parents doesn t always cause psychological disorders in children. Also, in some cases divorce is better for the children when the family life is stressful. This means that when there is a quarrel every day at home the child experiences the violence every day. In this situation divorce is a better solution for the child s future life. Divorce becomes a problem when there is a disagreement between parents or a big change in child s life quality. When the child has had a good life with no money problems and after divorce he becomes a lot of economical problems, then this child will have emotional problems.

When a child experiences violence it may have several effects on this child. First of all, violence in the family influences children s development. Children who experience violence usually have a lot of psychological problems and lose their hopes and expectations for the future (Edleson; Guetzloe; Shannon). These children mostly become parents who abuse their children and this affects the well being of the society. Another effect is post traumatic stress disorder which has the symptoms, such as emotional numbing, lost of interest, and no feeling for the future. Abused children usually show their feelings chronically or try to damage themselves.

As violence effects children and society so much we have to know how to prevent it. One of the important things for preventing violence in children is early identification of and intervention with emotional and behavioral problems (Guetzloe; Fisher). After that the doctor has to show the child that his reaction to the situation is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.

For decreasing the stress of the child they are two different ways. First one is speaking with this child. If they talk with another person about their anger then their stress will decrease. The second way is using methods, such as catharsis and venting to people. According to doctors yelling, swearing, beating a pillow, or hitting are good catharsis methods.

The treatment of violence isn t easy. According to Shannon, the age and the condition of a trauma or abuse in which a child experiences violence affect the recovery of the child. Abuse can come either from the family or from the society, but even when the child is taken away from the environment, in which he experienced violence and abuse, he can t forget this violence because of some changes in his brain.

Another problem is that some children who are victims of violence or abuse don t talk about it and don t show any symptoms. In such a case people can believe that these children aren t affected but this believes may be wrong. The child is aware of the situation and is processing it in his own way. Even when the child doesn t talk about the bad situation he can express his feelings by playing with a doll or drawing pictures (Fisher; Guetzloe). Children who don t show any response may be more serious because help may be delayed. Even when the effects may not appear until later, the child must get help immediately.

To sum up, violence is a big threat for the future of the society that is why we have to do something against it. One method is to prevent the reasons of it. The important thing for its prevention is the family life. If everything is okay in the family of the children then they don t experience it from their family. The media has to be more sensitive against programs that include violence. Another method is identifying people who aim to be violent and making them the needed treatment.

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