[tips] student question about abuse

[Dr. Tasha Howe]

The data show that about 1/3 of people who are abused or neglected by their parents end up abusing or neglecting their own children. The majority of people who harm their children were harmed themselves as children but looking at it the other way, most children who are harmed do NOT grow up to harm. So there's a lot of resilience. However, just because you don't abuse or neglect your child doesn't mean you have optimal parenting skills. Some parents may still not develop secure attachments with their children, stimulate them enough for adequate brain development, understand normal developmental stages, etc. That's where violence prevention programs come in handy.

If your students are interested in resources of this nature for parents and teachers, see APA's violence prevention program, ACT (Adults and Children Together) Against Violence. I've recently conducted parenting classes with court-mandated parents in my county using the ACT curriculum and they really appreciated learning how to be better parents as none of them had good role models as children and most of them were abused or neglected. Many of the ACT resources are available in Spanish as well: www.actagainstviolence.org.

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Tasha R. Howe, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Psychology
Humboldt State University
1 Harpst Street
Arcata, CA  95521
Phone: (707) 826-3759
FAX: (707) 826-4993
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Webpage: http://www.humboldt.edu/~psych/fs/howe/howe.htm

"The time to be happy is now.  The place to be happy is here.  The way to be happy is to make others so."
                                                                                         Shaker proverb
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