Child abuse can be defined as the crime of harming a child in a physical, sexual or emotional way. Against the wrong conception of many who believe that whatever the child becomes in future is nothing short of the architectural designs of the parents. The blame for child abuse, with its many ugly faces has often been shifted on innocent parents. But contrary to this, parents are not to blame because of other contributing factors of which a few are presented in this article.
Firstly, child abuse is an offshoot of the so-called modern, highly westernized age and not the parents. Since the assimilation of the western culture into our system especially in Nigeria for instance, our own culture had been jettisoned and replaced with westernized culture. In Nigeria today, children are wrongly influenced and enticed by their peers; this had in most conditions resulted in sexual abuse, which is about the most common form of child abuse in the world today. Can one therefore say that parents are responsible for the peer group influence on their wards? No, it is a decision taken by the child himself. According to the 2001 Child Rights Acts, a child has the right to freedom of character.
Another fact is the economic crunch in the world today, especially in the developing countries of Africa and Middle East, everybody wants to get rich and as a result of this, children suffer abuse. How? You see, UNICEF reported in 2001 several cases of murder, many of whose victims were children, corroborated the fact that some people still look for wealth and power through fetish sacrifices using certain human parts, notably genital organs. Children returning from schools are kidnapped like Christmas chicken without the knowledge of their parents. Can we then say that parents are responsible for such abuse? No! Not really; parents are not in anyway responsible for this and they are not to blame for such demeaning action of others.
Besides, let us look into the culture of most developing countries like Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya in Africa. In these African countries, young men are largely influenced by a highly promiscuous culture. As a result, young women in that country suffer from sexual abuse. Studies have shown that the boys here engage in early premarital sex and parents do not have any means to alter the existence of the culture.
Why then should we accuse these innocent, caring and loving parents we have for a crime they never committed? So my reader, it is sheer ignorance, to believe that parents are to blame for child abuse.
[ad_2]Source by Kehinde Oyeniran