CHILD MALTREATMENT / How to protect children

Child maltreatment comprises four categories of different acts: indifference, physical abuse, psychological abuse and sexual abuse. These categories generally overlap. The responsibility for this failure is always shared between the child's parents and society. The child is never responsible for being abused.

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The enormous dependence of the child on the adult creates the most important condition to become a victim. Children abused or mistreated suffer consequences that manifest themselves in behaviors such as:

1. The child experiences the fact through nightmares, sensations of reliving the event either through images or bodily sensations.

2. The child makes important efforts to avoid internal events such as thoughts or feelings and external events that are related to the trauma.

3. The anxiety states in the child increase enormously.
   

   
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Child abuse in all its forms is a social problem, it affects a significant number of children, do not assume that it only happens to children you do not know.

Something to have in mind

• Abuse occurs most often by an adult who is familiar or known to the child. It is called intrafamilial, when the abuser is part of the family (father, stepfather, elder brother, uncle, grandfather or other family member) Extra-family abuse is usually perpetrated by someone the child knows: (neighbor, teacher, friend).
• Sudden changes in a child's behavior or mood can be a signal.
• The behavior with respect to masturbation or the loss of modesty.
• The avoidance towards the company of an adult, showing fear, tantrums, aggressiveness may be indicating something important.
  -In young children between 2 and 7 years, the game (with dolls of clear erotic content) can be a very enlightening and an indicator that the child may be being mistreated.
• Indistinct abuse in boys and girls, there are no differences in the risks.
• Abuse in all its forms does not depend on social class or economic status. The "old man in the bag" or the "black car" is a crude comparison of the perpetrators.
• The child who has bruises, bruises, burns and says he had an accident. It is very common to find that out of fear of reprisal or guilt (sometimes children say they are the ones causing that situation) they tend to hide or lie about the real event.
  
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Abuse in all its forms will diminish as social networks really protect children. For them, institutions such as hospitals through pediatric wards, schools and kindergartens, juvenile courts, etc. they must act as detention agents and report cases that arise.

What happens with the schooling of abused children?

It is not surprising to find that physically abused children have important differences in intellectual and social development, often these children are confused with hyperactive or aggressive children, many develop a special aggressiveness towards authority. Other cases are children who are completely passive.

The sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse includes rape by a relative or stranger, exposure to indecent acts, sexual rituals or participation in pornographic acts. There is no single pattern of victim of sexual abuse in regard to symptoms. There are certain factors that intensify the stress of the experience. They can be identified: duration, frequency, use of force and emotional closeness of the perpetrator.

Sexual abuse generally affects the emotional and behavioral development of the child and not about learning or intellectual coherence. The acute reaction to the trauma is always better detected by those who are familiar with the child since it is presented as a change in the abrupt and new behavior.

The most specific aspect of child sexual abuse is behavior that includes things like sexualization with other children or toys, excessive masturbation, knowledge about sexual activity that does not correspond to their age or seductive behavior. Secondary symptoms may be fear of people, or certain places, such as bathrooms or other.

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Indicators to help recognize the problem:

• Easy crying, little or no apparent reason.
• Sudden changes in school behavior.
• School truancy, arriving early and withdrawing late from school.
• Depression and decay.
• Sexual knowledge and inappropriate behavior at their age.
• Irritation, pain or injury in the genital area.
• Fear of physical contact.
• Refusing to play or work on a specific material.
  
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What to do in case of violation?

• Make the complaint.
• Require the full legal examination.
• Use the Child Care Center.

It is necessary to know that ...

• Children never lie when they talk about these things.
• Abuse is not a private matter, each one from your place can help and collaborate.
• Teachers should help by believing what the children are telling us, requesting specialized help. We must teach that it is not wrong to tell secrets, that you can tell them to your mother, to the aunts, to the teacher.
• Teach him that there is no need to shut up.
  
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How to protect children

As teachers we should be attentive to the attitudes of other adults towards the child. The perpetrator rarely appears as someone badly presented and unpleasant. Clearly explain to the child what is right or wrong about the behavior of adults.
Make sure you understand that, if it still happens, you will never be responsible for it and, for that reason, you should never be afraid to tell your mother.
We must study the declarations of the "Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child", devoting the necessary time to receive the necessary knowledge about the laws that protect them.

If we commit ourselves to be the guardians of all children, we are decisively contributing to the end of this social scourge.

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Say no, to the infantile vilencia

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