There are two things that really piss me off - child abuse and domestic abuse. The former more so, because while it may be difficult, an abused adult ultimately does have the freedom to walk away from their abuser. A child does not. Ultimately, according to law, a child's entire life (through childhood) is to be decided by adults who, try as they might, can never fully comprehend what the child is going through. Often, adults really don't give a rat's ass, either. They automatically tend to assume the kid is wrong.
If you watch the show "Cops" enough, you will see what I'm talking about. Every time there's a call about a parent with an unruly kid, the cop, in my experience, has always sided with the parent without even hearing the kid's side, especially if the parent in question is the mother. Yes, the kid does have a side. I'm not saying the kid is always right, but it is worth hearing.
Yes, I'm a little bitter on the subject of child abuse. I've been abused myself... physically, emotionally, and because the previous two made me an easy target for it, sexually. During the time I was abused, I spent much of my time bordering on suicidal. Yes, I was a cutter... and for the armchair psychologists out there, I was not doing it for attention. I actually generally wore long sleeves to hide that I was doing it. The pain was a distraction, I think it may have momentarily satisfied my self-destructive impulses.
If you see child abuse happening, intervene! You may be saving a life. You may be threatened for it (I was threatened with a weapon once when I did), but you'll sleep better with a clean conscience for it. At least call the police and make sure they follow through... in said instance, it was like pulling teeth to get the police to do a welfare check on the kid afterward.
The inspiration for this rant is this:
One thing that kind of sticks with me is the people who witnessed this didn't realize that they were witnessing a murder. It also said something about concerned citizens having called the sheriff. The sheriff's department either was called too late, or they didn't think it was important. I have to wonder what might have happened if the sheriff's department did respond more quickly, or maybe if one of the "concerned citizens" stopped her and asked her what was going on. She may still be alive, and the stepmother and grandmother would be up on child abuse charges instead of murder.
This also hits close to home, as it sounds like something an ex of mine might have done, had we had a kid. They said something about a bladder problem being the reason this kid wasn't allowed to have chocolate. If you didn't read the article, the punishment of being made to run for three hours was because she lied about eating a candy bar a friend had given her. There was no evidence found of a bladder condition, so my speculation leads me to believe this was more about weight and vanity. I have seen mothers forcing that obsession on their kids. I even remember in elementary school, one classmate who said her mother would smell her breath for sugar every day and spank her if she smelled sugar... which was every day.
The father really should have stepped things up and stuck to his guns in getting divorced from that woman. He said that she was bi-polar and a drinker, but he still apparently trusted her with his daughter for some reason. It's one thing if you don't pull yourself out of an abusive relationship, but it's another if you have a kid in one. Having a kid means extra responsibility... so if you can't get out of the relationship for yourself, do it for your kid!
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