Articles

By Michael Goforth( Contact )

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Child Abuse Prevention – Why It Needs To Be a Community Issue

By Doug Borrie, Ph.D.

When a child is born with a disability, the workload of parents grows to unimaginable proportions. If being an involved parent under normal circumstances requires just about every ounce of energy, being an involved parent of a disabled child requires that much more. Nowhere is this truer than when the disability is autism.

By Doug Borrie, PhD

I was jogging at the beach last weekend when I passed a family walking single file in the opposite direction. Dad was first, then mom, followed by youngest daughter, oldest son and middle son. The few words I heard them speak sounded German, so I surmised that they were here on vacation, and, it seemed, suffering from a bit of togetherness overload. The girl’s head lolled lazily about, focused on nothing in particular. The older boy had more pressing business. His mouth was snarled, and angry words were spewing forth in a diatribe directed at his brother who trailed behind just close enough to make sure he heard every word. The younger boy’s face barely contained his building outrage as he waited for his tongue lashing to cease so that he could respond in kind. He did this in his native tongue, but then, to add a dramatic flourish, ended in English with “So! You mind Your Business!!!”

By Doug Borrie, PhD

One cat, two cats, three cats, four….No, I’m not trying to be the next Dr. Seuss. I’m counting the number of times we’ve adopted the cutest cat in the world; the one that would never be adopted if we didn’t do the adopting. I’m counting the number of times my wife and I, like rubes at the carnival, have fallen for same old pitch, “knock over the milk bottles, and win a prize, it’ll only cost ya 50 cents.” And, just as the carnival barker convinces the rubes that they really do need another stuffed animal or alligator ashtray, our daughter convinces us that one more cat has been saved from its certain demise.

By Doug Borrie, PhD

Movies know how to handle bullies. In “Christmas Story,” Farkas is famously beaten up by a raging Ralphie. In “Karate Kid,” Daniel defeats his tormentor at the karate tournament by giving him a taste of his own medicine. In real life, however, such clear cut results are rare.

By Doug Borrie, PhD

Florida has the highest drowning rate in the nation for children ages one to four years old, and the number of children who drown in Florida each year keeps increasing. Backyard swimming pools are the most common location for drowning deaths to occur, and sliding doors are the most common way children get to the pool. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “most young children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time.”

By Doug Borrie, PhD

Children know. They hear, they see, they remember, and, they have an “over the cliff” type thinking when they see parents stressed. When adults complain about gas prices, kids start to watch the gas gauge with trepidation. When adults worry about the economy, jobs, or food shortages, children worry too.