My Genius Hour Project

Driving Question: How can your childhood affect your future?

Ways your childhood could have affected you.

-Emotional abuse

-Physical abuse

-Sexual abuse

A lot of things can affect your future. And many of those factors can come from your childhood. You're childhood can not only affect your adulthood but can also affect your whole personality and the way you look at things. The main topic, I've chosen to focus on is different types of abuse. There are at least three main things that can greatly affect your future. And those three things are emotional, physical and sexual abuse. These three factors can play a huge role in how you turn out as a person.

Emotional Abuse.

Emotional abuse is when there is a severe, purposely (and sometimes unintentional) and persistent bad treatment towards a child, which really affects a child's emotional health growth.. Sometimes, it is too easy to tell that a child is emotionally abused, unhappy and uninterested.

But sometimes, emotional abuse is not only actions, but spoken words too. Shouts, insults, yelling and threats can all hurt the feeling of a child and affect them emotionally. Example, yelling out "You are so stupid and a big failure" or "I have told you several times… are you deaf or just brain dead?" These kinds of words should never be said to anyone.

For emotional abuse, this can be a huge factor. Reason one, because a child living in continuous fear and sorrow cannot eat well to grow well. They will be very easily be affected by diseases and health complications.

Emotional abuse can also hold back a child’s mental development. How smart they are and memory development can be affected, and can end in mental problems and disorders.

Emotionally, they won’t be able  to feel and express some emotions well, and to control their emotions. This is because their emotional development has been bad hurt, and cannot feel things like others should.

There is also a better risk of developing one or more behavior problems. These could include learning, social, relationship problems. And could also lead to them being rebellious, aggressive and violent.

Some signs or symptoms of emotional abuse

• -Low self-confidence/poor self-image, withdrawn and detached (difficulty forming relationships).

• -Unable in trust/fearful, low empathy.
• -Anxious and depressed.
• -Uninterested / low perseverance, delayed emotionally, socially and/or academically.
• -Frightened for no obvious reasons, feelings of shame and guilt.
• -You can also find that the child is
• -Always crying.
• -Avoiding eye contact.
• -Suffers from sleep, speech disorders and demonstrates compulsions, obsessions, phobias, hysterical outbursts.
• -Inappropriately aggressive, destructive or cruel to others and often says negative statements about himself/herself.
• -Does not participate in activities or experiences.
• -Older children may begin to use alcohol or abuse drugs. Some may also try to find comfort with strangers and end up illegal sex activities.
• Care giver or parent (adult) Indicators
• -Treat children from the same family differently.
• -Finds nothing good or positive in the child.
• -Blames child for everything, and belittles the child.
• -Is cold and rejecting and not easily approachable.
• -Withholds love.
• -Not bothered much about the child’s problems.

Facts about Emotional Abuse

• Every 6 hours a child dies in the United States due to abuse or neglect in the USA.
• In 2005, 1,460 children died from abuse or neglect, with about 64,000 also psychologically or emotionally abused.
• Children below the age of 4 are usually the most victimized.
• Children who have been abused or neglected are 60% more likely to be arrested as juveniles and /or end up as abusers.

Physical Abuse

What is physical child abuse?

Physical abuse is a factor of child abuse. Physical abuse involves physically harming a child. I mean physical abuse if an adult hurts a child like, causing them physical harm, like bruises, broken bones, cuts or other injuries. It can include hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning and slapping.

Why physical abuse happens?

-As a form of punishment or disciplinary action

Some adults see pain put to kids as an effective learning method, and are quick to cause pain to kids to get them to listen to them.

-Lack of parenting support and skills

Many parents and caregivers do not fully understand that kids are still learning and are going to make mistakes. They are quick to get angry and out abuse to kids instead of working on their parenting skills.  

-History of child abuse.

Some abusive behaviours are a result of what they experienced as kids themselves. This makes them think that it is the right and only way of doing things.

-Domestic violence

Sometimes violence between adults at home can be pushed over to the kids. An angry dad/mom/caregiver may turn their anger to their kids for no reason.

-Substance abuse

Alcohol/drugs can make people lose self-control and can cause abusive behaviour that they would usually not do.

Signs or symptoms

• Unexplained recurrent injuries or burns
• Improbable excuses or refusal to explain injuries
• Wearing clothes to cover injuries, even in hot weather
• Chronic running away
• Fear of medical help or examination
• Self-destructive tendencies
• Aggression towards others
• Fear of physical contact - shrinking back if touched
• Fear of adults
• Admitting that they are punished, but the punishment is excessive (such as a child being beaten every night to 'make him study')
• Fear of suspected abuser being contacted
• Fear of going home

Facts

• Approximately 30,000 children are currently on child protection registers. A child's name is placed on the register when health or social services staff are concerned that the child's at risk of abuse.
• Eight out of ten young people who've experienced physical abuse have also seen violence between their parents and carers.
• For every incident of child abuse or neglect that gets reported, it’s estimated that two others go unreported.
• Neglect is by far the most common form of child abuse, accounting for more than 78% of all cases.
• Physical child abuse accounts for 18% of documented child abuse cases each year in the USA.
• One out of four girls and one out of six boys are sexually abused by an adult before the age of 17.
• Every month, at least 100 babies are born to drug-using mothers.
• Of kids who have a parent who uses drugs, one in 13 is physically abused regularly.
• Abused children are more likely to abuse alcohol and become addicted to drugs, and one third will later abuse their own children.
• 84% of all prison inmates were abused as children.
• It is estimated that a child dies from abuse or neglect in the U.S every 6 hours.

Sexual abuse

What is child sexual abuse?

Sexual abuse of a child is any sexual act between an adult and a child, including penetration, intercourse, incest, rape, oral sex, and sodomy. Other examples include:

• Fondling - Touching or kissing a child's genitals, making a child fondle an adult's genitals.
• Violations of bodily privacy - Forcing a child to undress, spying on a child in the bathroom or bedroom.
• Exposing children to adult sexuality - Performing sexual acts in front of a child, exposing genitals, telling "dirty" stories, showing pornography to a child.
• Commercial exploitation - Sexual exploitation through child prostitution or child pornography.

Symptoms or signs of sexual abuse

• Inappropriate interest in or knowledge of sexual acts.
• Seductiveness.
• Avoidance of things related to sexuality, or rejection of own genitals or body.
• Either over compliance or excessive aggression.
• Fear of a particular person or family member.

Fact

8 out of 10 sexual abusers are someone in the family or someone the child knows.

Sources

-http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/child-abuse-information/types-child-abuse/