Childhood abuse and fear of growing up12/10/2023 ![]() ![]() Hitting a child is a failure of the adult in many ways, Gershoff told me. “If you have to hit somebody, you have lost control,” she said. There are many ways you can deal with the situation that do not require hitting them.” Those are the tools you already have to express that they cannot run into the street, that they could get badly hurt, that you’re scared, and that if they can’t keep their feet on the sidewalk, then they’ll have to go inside. You’re already communicating the seriousness of the behavior by your emotional expression, your words, and your tone. They see your fear on your face and hear it in your voice. “But the child is already scared to death. “I agree we need to get the child out of the street,” she continued. For the past 20 years, along with collaborators at other universities, she has been a leading researcher documenting the harmful effects of hitting children for “discipline.” Gershoff is a professor of Human Development and Families Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. “Now, why would you hit them?” Elizabeth Gershoff said to me when we discussed the effects of physical force on children. For some adults, this intense activation leads them to strike a child. You’re terrified and possibly angry, too. You’ve just saved your child from getting injured, or worse. ![]() You bolt after them, grab them by the arm, and rush both of you to the sidewalk. For example, your child chases a ball into the street, directly into traffic, unaware of the oncoming truck. Almost every caregiver has experienced that emergency that makes them want to impulsively discipline their child.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |