“Are Our Kids Happy?” is the fourth episode of the online training which the Egyptian Center for Women Rights (ECWR) has launched.
This episode discussed the rates of domestic violence against children and stated that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,000,000,000 children suffer from domestic violence with its different forms; psychological, physical, and sexual. Moreover, UNICEF conducted studies that showed that out of every 10 children, 8 of them are exposed to violence within their household. While, in Egypt, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) stated that, only in the past year, 650,000 children were exposed to domestic violence.
Therefore, Mrs. Nehad Abolkomsan, Chairwoman of ECWR and the presenter of this course, advised families to raise their children based on concepts such as: love, mercy, compassion, and positive-words-affirmation. We should teach our children how to express their love and how to communicate in a healthy way. This is crucial since children grow up imitating everything they hear or see. Therefore, resorting to violence against children is always an indicator of failed parenting because it scars their psychological and physical well-being and their overall upbringing. Studies confirm that 76% of abused children show signs of mental issues and 29% practice the same violence they were exposed to on other children. Also, 19% of abused children lose their will to play with other kids in general. Almost 113,000 families force their children to skip school because of the violence they were exposed to.
Abolkomsan emphasized that violence against children is a cycle of domestic violence that is initiated by the husband on the wife and, in continuation; the wife practices it on children. These children usually end up taking it out on other children and so on. Therefore, in order to break this cycle, there is a must to be a balance of power among all family members to eliminate domestic violence against women and children.
