Child abuse has reached global endemic proportions. Physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect is only part of the problem. Children dieing from of being involved in preventable accidents may also be a form of child abuse. Child labor, children soldiering in war, children being forced into adult roles, all are forms of child abuse.
Photo of Happy family having fun outdoors by andresr at stock.xchng
Whose fault is it that our children are abused? Is it the government; is it the education department’s? Is it merely a reflection of the lives we lead? Is it each individual parent? Before we even work out whose fault it is, we need to look at who has the responsibility to protect children and prevent child abuse.
Child protection is a community responsibility: the business of us all. Your responsibility, or my responsibility, somebody or everybody in our communities needs to do something now. Imaginif is working to achieve online global child protection conversation. People like you are needed to keep the safety of children uppermost in people’s minds, not only while we are busy talking away on the net but when we leave our computers and permeate our real time community spaces again.
Child protection is contagious. A rich and famous only has to mention that they support a particular charity, and that charity attracts more interest than it has ever had in the past. I used to poo poo that phenomena because I saw it as pretend fixes – band aids. Nowadays, I wish Oprah would touch Imaginif’s grass roots approach with her golden fingers. I pray that our grass roots approach to child safety will seed itself in barren patches of parenting and blossom into protective play areas that every kid and their parents want a part of.
Lack of play and inappropriate play are often points of external assessment in abusive or borderline families. This suggests that play is so important for functional child development that play can keep our kids safe. Have you seen Imaginif’s Protective Play etutorial? Register over in our Safety Talk forum for a fee copy (sent to you via link when you register). It is full of simple play ideas to get you acting protectively in your everyday interactions with children.
All of us have the ability to be able to play. Play is so much more than a physical activity though. Play is a concept, a state of mind, a culture which can also be contagious. A twinkle in the eye is a visual representation of a playful nature – Santa with his sparkling wink is not suggestive of being a grumpy old man nor is the colourful patchwork coat and fake Gerbera that Dr Pediatrics wears on his Children’s ward rounds representational of an old fashioned Doctor who thinks he is as important as God. The colourful twinkles and gaudy flowers are easily recognizable signs of play and laughter, happiness and safety.
When was the last time you took responsibility for spreading child protection? The smile on your face or the twinkle in your eye as you pass a child or young family can go a long way to saying, “I value children and I recognise your worth.” It costs you nothing more than a facial exercise and cognitive prompt to smile as a way to protect kids.
Spread a random smile for child protection upon your dial today. Be careful and responsible though, its contagious and may cause great relief to a troubled person.
Article by Megan Bayliss who has no trouble smiling for child protection.
Another great one from you all… Keep up the good work! I love the Spread a Random Smile for Child Protection Today…, suggestion… so effective, and yet so difficult to get across. Is it a bumper sticker yet?
Recently my brother was so proud for “sticking up for a kid being samcked around in a store.” He says he “got in the mother’s face and told her off.”
I explained that was not such a good idea! Also suggested other alternatives but got the sense he didn’t really see the point. So…we keep on, right. Thanks again for all your efforts!
A Child is Waiting,
Take care…be aware,
Nancy Lee
ChildPersonFromTheSouth
Hi there Nancy Lee
yes, I get what you mean about it being difficult to get the simple across. I think people have become mistaken with child protection issues equaling child abuse. The child abuse issues people see are so huge that they wrongly think there is nothing they can do that will positively impact upon child protection.
I’m hosting the Carnival against Child Abuse here on Dec 14th so hope to see one of your excellent child protection articles included.
You take care.
Hi Megan,
Great post. I live in a small community and many of my direct neighbours are elderly, and then a few doors away we have young families. Some of the elderly people will insist on picking on the children for any reason they can think of, usually because they are kicking abball, skateboarding, roller skates and all the things that most children get up to. On one particular day a few weeks ago, there was a group of children on skates and skateboards who were enjoying the weekend. These children were only 7 to 8 years old and the elderly neighbors were right out the door shouting abuse at them.
Bear in mind that these neighbors sit in the back of their houses where their lounge is, with their radio/television on extremely loud as they are hard of hearing, and they specifically came to the front to complain.
I intervened and told them to leave it with me.
I have never had any problems with children here, I see many on their way to and from school with their parents and always say hello so over time I have got to know many of them. I called the group over and ushered them around and told them that I was also a child once and that they should carry on and have fun and even got my old skateboard out, but hey….I’m too old for that so I ended up giving it to one youngster who didn’t have one.
The parents know that their children can play safely here and that if they have a problem they will call on me, so community has to be at the heart of child protection locally, and it works.
Hey there Colin – I linked to you today about search engines – was funny to then see a comment from you…lol. I LOVE how the blogosphere works.
Love the way you handled this. Our kids sure need advocates between themselves and the cranky old sometimes. How great that you passed your skateboard on too.
Community is the heart of child protection – love it. That will from now on become one of my indicators of healthy communities.