Child advocates speak on differences between discipline and abuse
Heriberto Perez
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Experts and professionals in children’s development say that while people often try to discipline their kids, they frequently cross the line into abuse.
According to the Advocacy Center for the Children of El Paso, discipline is acceptable; parents can put their children in timeouts and help them understand that there may be negative consequences for bad behavior, teaching them to obey rules.
However, abuse occurs when any kind of harm is inflicted on a child, which is not discipline.
According to ACCEP, examples of abuse can include:
Name-calling
Threatening
Yelling or screaming
Punching
Kicking
Beating
Choking
Hitting a child with a belt or another object
Not feeding them
Abuse can stem from a desire to control or harm a child, or to release anger or frustration.
“If a child makes an outcry, we need to listen and we need to take note of that and we need to report it. If a child had been sexually assaulted, if a child had been touched, if a child had been smacked or beaten at a barbecue. You know what? We need to make that report to find out what happened,” said Susan H. Oliva, executive director of the advocacy center.
“We need to support them if they’re trying to make a disclosure; we need to listen. And I think that’s our biggest problem as adults; we’re so busy doing things—picking up the child, driving home from school—that we’re not listening when the child is actually trying to make that disclosure,” executive director Oliva said.
The ACCEP encourages anyone suspecting a child abuse case to immediately call 911 or contact the Texas Child Protective Services at 1-800-252-5400.