What is the underlining reason for parents to mentally or physically abuse their child?
Define “abuse.” I had an English teacher in high school who said that he didn’t believe in spanking his kids. But, he said, that didn’t stop him from occasionally giving them a love pat where it did the most good. I knew a lady with three kids. She’d ask them to clean their rooms. If they didn’t do it, she’d simply go into their rooms and throw everything that was out of place off the back porch. Their back porch was at the top of a steep hill and clothing, toys, books, whatever, would be scattered down a steep slope for maybe a hundred yards. I know another lady who told her son to clean his room. He replied, “Why? It’s just going to get dirty again.” His mom said, “You’re right. I’m not fixing you dinner either. You’re just going to get hungry again.’ I think the most abusive moron in history was Benjamin Spock who removed “discipline” and “responsibility” from the lexicon of several generations. Sadly we have equally abusive morons in CPS, in sociology, psychology, and psychiatry, a
There is no single answer to this question. The causes of child abuse are multidimensional. However, there are a number of factors that are often associated with child abuse. One is a lack of empathy for or understanding of children; another is a lack of modelling for what is appropriate parenting. These are reasons why abusive parents are often victims of abuse themselves. The abuse they received interfered with their development of empathy and gave them a bad model for what a parent should be like. Individuals who abuse children often have their own mental health problems. Sometimes they have problems with impulse control or maintaining control of their feelings. They often lack social supports. A combination of these factors may lead them toward abusive behaviour. Rarely does it have much to do with the child, however children who have problems of some kind are more prone to abuse.
