Education to Children = Positive Role Models
Virginia releases a public service Ad showing a boy and a man walking together holding hands to encourage people to use their instinct to determine whether it is appropriate. Its purpose is to report possible child abuse.
America’s Most Wanted advocates never hiring a male baby sitter. I disagree strongly with their advice, especially since the most important advice should be regarding how to protect the child from any person who might do him/her harm. So am I to assume this advice means that all children in households run by single females should not let a man into their life? What manner would be appropriate to introduce positive males into the child’s life?
This is just the latest attack on men being loving parents or figures in a child’s life. How many men can raise their hand to state that they are aware of at least one child for whom they were the only positive support for a child with abusive parents?
What a screwed up system where so much money is spent on the abuse by strangers when the majority of abuse is by a parent or relative. We should be teaching what positive relationships are, regardless of whether the person is male or female.
It has been proven over and over that positive life long connections go a long way in the development of a person.
The number of children in state custody across the country due to abuse and neglect by a family parent or family member is in the hundreds of thousands. Where is the advertisement to stop that abuse? There should be an emphasis to all children where they can expect to find safety. There should be an emphasis on what are positive interactions with any adult. For instance, if a five year old is walking across a busy street with their school friend’s parent who is male, it is safe to hold the person’s hand. I certainly think I would be placing a child at risk if I refused to hold their hand crossing a busy intersection. Have you ever seen a car turn into people walking? Let’s get real and focus on the big problem. Stop giving lip service to teaching our children how to be safe. Too many parents and institutions fail to do so and focus only on what to do with those caught. Well, most of those caught that are out of jail have more oversight than those causing the most abuse and neglect. I have to laugh at the lack of safety measures implemented due to the abuse cases that have happened over the past 10 years among the faith-based organizations. That’s right, there were not any accountable to the public.
There is no prerequisite requirement to have a biological child. However, to adopt there are required trainings to better prepare individuals as parents whether one is a parent already or not. Therefore, who is more likely to abuse or neglect a child?
Doctors and teachers are mandated reporters of abuse, so use the same information to educate the public more about the signs of abuse. Educate children about the appropriate interactions adults should have with them.
