Child abuse ..

Yes I agree there are far too many children being abused and for those who choose to pick on the most helpless of victims to take out their frustrations, they should see the same punishment which we give to those who violate children sexually as I believe both can be equally as damaging to a childs mental health. However I also believe that we need to teach children that there is a difference between abuse and discipline and they should be able to identify that difference. Our child protection agencies would not be so overloaded with work if they were not constantly responding to calls by children we are not being abused. My own daughter told me once as I went to spank her that if I touched her she would call DCF (department of children and families), as she was taught in school that it was wrong for parents to spank their children. However, the truth is there is limits but a parent has every right legally to spank their child on the bottom so long as the discipline is not excessive and does not due and permenant physical or emotional damage to the child. I think the growing misconception among youth today that their parents are not able to discipline them physically is causing our resources to be stretched and far too many children who truly are in need of help are not getting it or are getting it too late.

I agree with Curmont's response although I did not use spanking as a form of discipline myself. I do know good and loving parents who did and that is another argument in itself. I raised 4 girls without resorting to spanking. One of those girls was a real challenge.(there seems to always be one in every family). Never once did I give in to her as a child when she acted out or give her her way as a means of shutting her up. Still she was persistent and I could see from early on that she was going to be the one to really act out as a teen. I predicted right. She was like 10 teens rolled into one. She was just awful!! Still, I stood my ground. She often accused me of caring about her sisters more than her because they did not get grounded and got privileges that she did not get. I felt bad about that but still did not give in to it. The others did nothing to get grounded for and earned the privileges they had. I had a rule that I would support them and not charge rent as long as they were in school and working to better themselves. I would not, however, support a dropout to sit around and do nothing. If they chose to drop out of school, they had better get a job real quick because they would have to be paying rent or they would be out of here. That was clear from the time they were very young. Well this one decided to drop out at 17. She called the cops on me because I was "harrassing her". When the cops questioned her about it, she told them that I was being mean to her because I was making her get out of bed to go look for a job and she was "tired". The cops told her that the boundaries for child abuse vary depending on the child's age and that they would not have blamed me if I had slapped her face. I wouldn't have but the point is that I think the cops know the difference between abuse and discipline and too many parents fear getting charged and the kids get away with being brats. My daughter is now 25 and a very responsible and respectful person and a wonderful mom herself. She has thanked me for not giving in to her or giving up on her.

I agree that abuse of all kind should be stopped. But I think that in many places the word "abuse" is lightly used and children are taken away from their home where they are loved to be placed in foster homes where they are tolerated.

Hi little franciscan: I don't think we have done everything. But for me, it's not all about punishments. In fact, in my country people who commit crimes against children receive really hard punishments but we have not done enough. We have to work on education, to make better parents and to help families to denounce abusers. For me the safety of a child is more important so their future will always be the first priority. ALVARO