PUT THE CHILD FIRST!

Child abuse and neglect is an ongoing problem in the world. Child abuse is “abusing” a child, physically, sexually, or mentally (The Kinds of Behavior that are Considered Child Abuse, 2011). Neglect to a child is also a form of child abuse and is defined as this “Neglect is characterized by failure to provide for the child’s basic needs. Neglect can involve physical, education, or emotional deprivation”(The Kinds of Behavior that are Considered Child Abuse, 2011). So the question of this week is if we believe that, mothers smoking, drinking, and doing cocaine is considered child abuse., or if it’s considered the same thing. As well as if a mother does not wear a seat belt while driving. It also asked even over feeding your child is considered abuse along with taking a child with Cancer to therapy then quitting, because the mother feels that the effects of the treatment or doing more harm then the illness itself. In my opinion not all of these examples are considered child abuse. However many of these do prove to be just that.

Parents (in my opinion) should have their children as their number one priority, however that is not the case. For example mother who is addicted to cocaine, and keeps doing it while pregnant, does not have their child on the top of the importance list. The effects of cocaine on a fetus are deadly. According to an article about the effects of crack/cocaine on a fetus “The fetus gains all of his nutrition from the mother, meaning what she consumes, the baby does as well. Cocaine passes through the placenta. It restricts the flow of oxygen and nutrition to the baby, meaning he isn’t able to grow properly. Low birth weight babies are most likely to die during their first month” (Ireland, 2011). The job as the mother is to allow their child to develop in a health manner, drinking, smoking, and doing any form of drug is not allowing that said child to develop. That is child abuse, because it is putting one’s own child in physical harm. When mothers do not wear a seatbelt they take risk of loosing their child. That to me is even child abuse because it is not having the well being of children in mind.

The thing that I don’t think is child abuse is the instance when the parent does not want to give a child Cancer therapy because of the negative effects are worse then positive ones. I mean if they are seeing that this treatment is physically harming their child, and then they are putting their child first. Maybe when they figure this out, they can find a new treatment that is less harmful for their child. Then we come to obesity, there are a lot of contributing factors that can make a child obese like…school lunch, lack of breast feeding (breast feeding can help children not become obese), healthy food is more expensive the junk food, and metabolism (A growing problem, 2012). I would consider obesity child abuse, because the parent (once again) is not taking the child’s health into consideration, however metabolism is a big contributor. I mean its not any different then a child being underfed; it’s not putting the child first. That is child abuse to me…. Parents not putting their children first!

Resources:
Unknown:The kinds of behavior that are considered child abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.4therapy.com/life-topics/parenting/kinds-behavior-are-considered-child-abuse-2456

Ireland, J. (2011, May 12). The effects of crack cocaine on unborn fetus. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/28659-effects-crack-cocaine-unborn-fetus/

Unknown: A growing problem. (2012, April 27). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/problem.html

Clairice, for many of your views, you had great supporting details! You provided a great example of the effects of cocaine, drug, and alcohol abuse of the mother that is passed to the child. One other harmful affect of the use of alcohol during pregnancy if fetal alcohol sydrome. Much cocaine, alcohol passes through the placenta to the fetus, restricting and hindering development of the child. One thing you may want to consider is obesity as a form of child abuse. In certain situations, the circumstances that lead to obesity can't be controlled by the parents, for example metabolism. Also, the age and stage of development of the child may alson conrtibute to the supposed obesity. For example, a young child of approximately 10 months old may be overweight in the percential. However, as the child continues to grow as a toddler and begins walking and increasing physical activity, that may not be the case in the future.

Great post! I definitely agree with your points of view. If a adult is planning to have a family, that child or children should be their first priority.

Clairice i agree with you on your points about the smoking and drugs. They are an incredibly bad thing to do and often times it is a complete disregard of the baby's well being. It is wrong and should never be done, but when it comes to obesity the lines are a little more vague. Parents who choose what their kids eat down to the cracker could still technically have obese kids. it is hard to control everything that your kids do and eat, and food is not as healthy as it once was. With the issue of a mother driving without a seatbelt i feel that you have a slightly misguided view. Crashes, which i assume is the true issue here, can present problems even with the seatbelt. "The more serious types can include: pre-term labor, miscarriage, internal bleeding, hemorrhaging, birth defects, and creating a high-risk pregnancy that did not exist before the crash" (Keller). It is dangerous for everyone pregnant or not so i would not consider it "abuse".





Keller, J. (n.d.). Pregnant women, car accidents, and the unborn baby. Retrieved from http://www.2keller.com/library/pregnant-women-car-accidents-and-the-unborn-baby.cfm