Yes

by Barbara Stanley

Created on: May 31, 2010

New parents should be required to take parenting classes no later than the woman's fifth month of gestation. Although many people would feel this to be intrusive into their personal lives, the cold, hard facts are such that abusing children or neglecting them cost the American tax-payer $104 billion dollars a year as of 2007.

Newly married couples cannot depend upon using the same parenting styles their own parents used to raise them. Every parent makes mistakes while raising their children. This article is not about the rare instance when a parent is overly stressed and says something hateful to his child or uses too much force when spanking.This article is about the need for every parent to receive proper training on how to raise a self-confident, loved child, that becomes a productive member of society.

Concerning child abuse or neglect, a report is made every ten seconds in America. About five of these children die every day. More than three out of four children who die are under the age of four.

Approximately 1,825 children die at the hands of their parents, step-parents, parent's boyfriend/ girlfriend, or grandparents, every year in this country. Millions of children suffer some form of abuse their entire lives until they are old enough to escape. Many of those who manage to get away will fall into a life of crime just to survive. Of the women in prison today, 31 percent were abused as a child.

Of the hundreds of thousands of people in drug rehabilitation today, 60 percent reported abuse as a child. Thirty percent of those abused will go on to abuse their own children. Sixty-eight percent of children who were sexually abused, reported the abuse by a family member.

There are a great many people who will disagree that all parents-to-be should receive counseling. However, if there is no tendency in themselves to be abusers or neglecting, what can it hurt to learn a few valuable parenting tips from a professional?  Those who would balk at the idea of counseling are the type people to feel that their children are their "property" to do with as they please.

How a child is raised has a direct impact on our society. Will the child become a government leader, doctor, scientist, or new business owner or will he become a drug addict who steals from neighbors, mugs people on the streets, and lands in prison for the tax-payers to support? Many people who become parents have no idea how to build self-esteem in a child. They do not realize the importance of keeping their word or making empty promises. A child who is disappointed his entire life will grow up to become bitter, unable to believe in anyone.

Child abuse is more than just beating a child-as if that were not enough-, but it encompasses the derogatory words used concerning him, sexual content he is allowed to see, a father beating their mother and using filthy language. Neglect includes failing to pick up your child on time after sports, etc. Neglect is dropping your children off at church while you go home for a Sunday nap.

Every new parent should know how to speak to her child before spanking her properly. If you have ever watched the Andy Griffith Show, and noted the way Andy disciplined his son Opie, then you know the correct way to discipline. Spanking only makes a child angry and aggressive. What he learns is that bigger people get to hit smaller people.

Does this mean that a child should never receive a spanking? No, it doesn't. A small child about to hurt himself or others, should receive a spat on his bottom and told a firm, "No!" Once he is old enough to understand actions and negative consequences, a parent should be able to reason with the child. If she understands the house rules and the consequences, and you, as a parent, follows through with the consequences, the child will learn the correct way and will grow up to raise her children the correct way.

Getting pregnant does not make you a parent. Getting someone pregnant does not make you a parent. There are many people who find themselves in this situation that would never be good parents without help. Unless we start at the beginning, everything else is just throwing money away.

No one wants more government control in their lives. This is the one case that I would agree is necessary. What could it hurt for two people who know how to be good parents, to sit in two or three counseling sessions for the sake of the next three couples who desperately need this counseling?

In order for our society to function in a more productive way, save the lives of many precious children, and to raise mentally, and emotionally sound children, I believe counseling would be a benefit far greater than people could imagine. With such sad statistics on abused and neglected children and so few tools to use against this tragedy against of human nature, what could it hurt for people to hear that screaming, yelling, cursing, beating, and torturing children will not be tolerated in our society anymore?

Learn more about this author, Barbara Stanley.
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