Blog 9

Project Name: Child Neglect

Intended Audience: Parents

Location: Internet

       Being a parent isnt easy at all, and it is getting harder by the year. We used to live in a world when one parent working and the other staying home with the kids was adequste enough to sustain a house hold. Over the years this has changed a great deal. Everything is more expensive, causing both parents to work, and leavng their children in the care of others, or the television. The parents always running around, so busy they forget to be a parent. The child is left alone, getting barely any attention from the one they want it most from. If that wasn’t bad enough, smartphones and or other technological devices are consuming us entirely. With everything being at the touch of our fingers, one would think this would make life easier for us, providing us with more time… but that’s not the case. People will sit on their phones “addicted” to it, playing games, on some sort of “social” media app, or just play old texting. Parents have become so wrapped up in everything else, they forget the most Important thing right in front of them their children. The fact is, children will behave more negative when not given the proper attention and care needed to develop, and many deaths occur every year from child neglect.

On the news, there have been several stories of parents leaving their children in the car while they were doing whatever it is they were doing. This happens more frequently than reported, because only the unfortunate cases get reported on the news. In these stories the kids were left in the car with the wndows up on a hot day, and died from heat exhaustion. In another case the parents left their kids on a cold day in the car, with no hat, gloves, or coat while they went wine tasting. But the parents had a phone connection with the car so they could hear their kids….for 58 minutes. I guess they failed to hear their kids hysterically crying, which was why the police were called. There is also cases you might have heard about with the kids drowning in the tub, water fountain or pool. Infants and toddlers can drown in water only a few inches, mostly these cases happen in the tub. The parents either get distracted or forget something, or really anything that would cause them to leave the room, and it only takes a few seconds. The parents come back to find their kid, unresponsive, cyanotic , and not breathing… and they always say I was only gone for a few seconds. 

In 2013 there were 1520 children that died nationally from abuse or neglect, and it is also believed that 50% of the fatalities in children that arent classified as abuse or neglect, in fact are. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), is used when an infant simply just dies and there is no explanation for it. The numbers are disgusting, 71.4% of those deaths occurs from neglect, and 46.8% are from abuse. Also, 27.7% where when the mother was alone, 12.4% when the father was alone, 24.6% when both parents acted together, and 17% occurred when a next of kin was “caring” for their kid. The saddest part is only 4.2% came from people unknown. The age of children greatly effected by this was neonates to three years of age, 46.5% are one year or younger, and 34.5% are ages one to three. If you don’t have kids, you should know that these are the hardest ages as a parent. Kids are extremely curious and taking your eyes off of them for a second could be dangerous. Of course, this is all the worst that could happen to your kids, but there are other concerns that will arise from lack of attention.

When kids are negelcted, or anybody, they loose that sense of belonging or significance. When toddlers feel like this, they will cry or throw fits because they think this will get them attention. However the attention they get from this isnt positive. But still, the parents are acknowlaging they exsist, which isnt the kids wanted, but its better than nothing. As the kid gets older, they sort of mature, and go from throwing fits to acting out and misbehaving. This doesn’t always happen at home, this will often happen in public, or at school. As they grow older, this way of misbehaving becomes a lifestyle for them. Poor grades in school, getting into fights, substance abuse etc. 

The other ways parents neglect their children is nutritionally. Parents these days would rather let their kids eat whatever they want so they don’t have to hear them throw fits. Childhood obesity is on the rise. In 2012 one out of three kids were either overweight or obese. Not only is Type II diabetes a concern, but other medical problems such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease is also an issue. These kids, don’t know what nutrition is, they just know what tastes good. It is the parents responisiblity to ensure their kids are given a healthy diet. There should be no reason why our children should have to worry about having a heart attack by the age of 30, but sadly they do. 

It seems to me that people are having kids just to say look I have kids and I have a family. These kids didn’t ask to be here, they are here because two people decided to create them. Why should they be thrown in front of the tv all day because its an easier to “entertain” them that way than playing with them…. Then hit them when they misbehave, instead of playing superhero or having a tea party with them.  There are no bad kids out there, just bad parents. It isnt an easy task to raise a child, but if you give just a little bit of attention, it makes a world of difference.