The slapping which was continuous and for no good reason would sometimes last all evening. One of our readers, Mark, was continually slapped across his face by his Father. Unfortunately, the law does not define emotional abuse as a result of this physical violence. Physical child abuse is defined as any corporal punishment that either leaves marks or is potentially dangerous to the child. The woolly area between these types of punishment are distinguished by guidelines set out by the law.
Physical Abuse: Slapping a child’s bottom is probably not abuse, stubbing a cigarette out on a child’s bottom is. Adults will always have more power over children and therefore should be prevented from exploiting their power. Thirdly, all forms of abuse are illegal – some groups still maintain that sex with children should be encouraged.Ĭhildren do not have the intellectual, emotional or physical maturity to be able to protect themselves from adults and therefore are protected by the law. All types can be stopped, either the perpetrator or the victim has the ability to stop the abuse and get help (we will discuss this later). All four types of abuse have things in common they are detrimental to the well being of the child involved and can have serious consequences in the child’s development with far reaching problems right into adulthood. For example a child may experience physical violence and also be forced to watch his parent being physically abused, resulting in psychological damage. Although listed as five distinct categories they all over lap. There are four types of child abuse physical, sexual, psychological, physical and emotional neglect. This is true of course, but other types of abuse exist which are as bad as, and can be worse than, physical violence. If you are like most people you may think abuse is physical violence – having force used against you, having bones broken, being attacked, punched or kicked.