Just A Little Smack? and Baby Dies Due To Failure to Supervise

I was sitting watching a father of seven (7) children supervising his one year old who could only just walk in a doctor's waiting room. Firstly, he was a good Dad for acting on the idea that children need to be taught appropriate behaviour when they are out.  The lesson Dad was trying to teach was not to pull posters off the wall.  What Dad was doing was to slap the toddler's hands every time he tried to pull the poster off the wall.  He simply slapped the child's hands and said a stern 'no'.  It made me wonder if he trained dogs for a living.  the Dad did not attempt to remove the child or distract the baby in any way.  Children that young do not understand verbal instruction; until they do they need to be removed from what ever it is that is the danger or the item they should not be touching and distracted. 

On a sad note; another child has died (the second in the last few days).  This little boy found matches in the lounge room and made it to his bedroom where he shut the door and played with the matches striking each just the way he had seen the adults do.  The child could barely walk and was just a toddler.  Why, oh why, did smokers who know that their bad habit not only impacts upon the lungs of their children not have the common sense to keep the matches out of reach!  There is no excuse or reason for this death; it was not an accident.

Another Tween Dies Tragically Because Parents Fail To Use Common Sense

Yet again another child (5 years old) has drowned. This time in a dam that the parents knew was within walking distance for a child that age. The tragic loss of such a little fella only highlights AGAIN the need for parents to supervise small children at all times-there is never a reason to leave one or more young children unsupervised.  Small children rarely die in accidents; certainly those that involve water.  Yes, sometimes tragically a parent or adult can be in the water with a child and something will happen and a child will die.  However, when an unsupervised child wanders off and drowns-that is not an accident it is failure to adequately supervise a child.  Small children can NEVER be left with instructions not to go somewhere or do some action.  They are small children; they need to be under the continuous watchful eye of a parent or adult. Parents must never take a break from watching small children; when you do this death is an example of what happens.  It is very interesting to note that under the Westminster system if a child dies from inadequate parental or adult supervision the parent or adult who was suppose to be supervising is rarely held accountable when they state it was an accident.  However, in the work place if someone dies or is injured a CEO who may never have been to the workplace can be sent to jail.  (This happened in the country I live in whereupon parents failed to adequately supervise a five (5) year old who fell into a river and drowned). It is time for some legislators to re-exam the notion of parental liability (which under local laws is limited) and make parents responsible for not adequately supervising children. When other parents fail to adequately supervise their children it is EVERYONES RESPONSIBLITY.

Striking A Child In The Name Of Parenting

Children and teens phyiscally strike back at parents when they feel threatened and unsafe.  If you do not want your child to hit you; do not hit them.  Hitting a child generally means the older they get the harder you have to hit to get the same response.  Remember; many children will grow to be faster and stronger than you and if you leave the child no other way to communicate with you other than to hit you back you could be in serious physical danger - just like the child is when you hit.

us-teen-killed-parents-then-partied

http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/-/world/9871110/us-teen-killed-parents-then-partied/

It is NEVER acceptable to take the life of another person.  However, in some countries the law allows abused wives to do so with relatively little punishment.  In the country I live in we have not yet realised that children who are constantly hit and abused often become like abuse wives and seek out ways to revenge their abuse.  Yes, both wives and teens can also be mentally-ill and/or criminals.  I hope the events surrounding the intent and reason for the death of two adults citied in the story above draw the attention of researchers who determine what happened for these awful deaths to occur.  Abuse of children, and of wives, wears away year after year until some people simply break and react.  This alone is reason NEVER to hit a child or a teenager.

Kids Rights and Obligations

Every child or teen has the right NOT TO BE HIT at home by parents or care givers.  However, once you claim such a right, you have the obligation not to hit other kids or teens or anyone else for the rest of your life.  There is never any excuse or a reason to use physical violence (and smacking is low level violence) against a child.  Parents who resort to smacking or spanking do so because they do not possess other parenting skills.  Fortunately, many organisations of value both online and in local offices offer training and support for parens to learn parenting skills that abolish the need for them to smack or hit kids or teens in any other way.  The best organisations to seek advice from are Government organisations as these staff are not permitted to offer anything other than parenting advice and may not use religion or culture as an excuse to permit parents who hit to continue in their set ways.

Points to Ponder for Kids, Teenagers and Parents

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

The greatest danger for most of us is not that we aim is too high and miss it; rather, it is that we aim too low and reach it. Michelangelo (1475-1560)

Introducing Me-MORE IMPORTANTLY THE CONCEPT

Thank you for reading this.  The blog is the first focusing on the area of non-violent child raising. This means discipling children without spanking, hitting, smacking, whacking, belting or any other physical punishment.  Yes, children need guidance.  Yes, children need discipline; however, discipline is not mandatory physical assualt.  Children and teens recognise hitting for what it is - violence. Kids will respond out of fear; not because they have learnt anything from the person who hit them.  When you hit a child to 'discipline' or 'control' them you need to be very large and very fit because a time may come when the child snaps and hits you back.  Such action is not disrespect; it is merely a physical response to common assualt.