A good childhood filled with emotions and love secures a good adulthood for the child. Nowadays, with the emancipation of women, both parents are working people. The work and stress load are on the rise with the increasing responsibility to shoulder, especially for women who have to look both after the children and their career. After all, parents are normal human beings and are bound to get tired after work. On reaching home, they are no longer in a state of being able to spend much time with the children- they have to do house chores, complete pending office tasks…this results in the children not being given proper care and attention and gradually they are going to be psychologically affected. Many parents, devoid of love, humane feelings, attempt at ‘bribing’ the children with money when they fail to provide the latter with emotional protection. In short, they try to compensate for the lack of love and affection by fulfilling all the material desires of the children, i.e. giving them toys and other high-tech gadgets. With time, all these fake acts of ‘love’ will prove harmful for the children’s growth and will remain as mere illusions or mirages of happiness to them.
Child labour remains a serious problem in many parts of the world. Many of these children live in underdeveloped countries like Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Their living conditions are crude and their chances of education minimal. The meager income they bring home is necessary for the survival of their families. In other cases, children are bonded, working to pay off a debt taken by a member of the family. They workplace is often structured such that the escalating interest on the debt makes the children slaves to the employer. The international labour organization has estimated that 250 million of children between the ages of 5 and 14 work in developing countries – 61% of those in Asia, 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America. Most working children in rural areas are found in agriculture while those in urban areas, work in trade and services, with fewer in manufacturing, construction and domestic service. Denied an education and normal childhood, some are even confined to dark rooms and beaten while others working long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions are exposed to lasting physical and psychological harm. Working at looms, for example, has left children disabled with eye damage, lung disease, stunted growth and a susceptibility in arthritis as they grew older.
The sexual abuse of innocent children is taking its toll in developed countries. Many reported cases of sexual abuse, ranging from molestation to incest and ritual abuse – allegedly involving satanic or other religious significance- primarily involve male perpetrators and school-aged or adolescents female victims. Most recently, a growing number of pre-school male victims have also been identified. In the United States, which tops the list of countries where sexual abuse is most prevalent, 300 children are annually kidnapped. The naivety and ignorance of the children facilitate the task of abductors – they are easily deceived with sweets and chocolates. Both boys and girls are coerced into sexual acts - they are made to masturbate, boys are sodomised and girls are raped. The effects of sexual abuse can e multi-fold and affect many areas of the survivor’s psychological functioning. Victims of sexual abuse, due to lack of sexual maturity as they are still in course of sexual development, often require long-term psychotherapy to enable them to cope with the psychological and emotional damage caused by the offending behaviour of the abusers. The latter should be given capital punishment for such despicable acts.
In the light of the above mentioned arguments, it can be concluded that it is high time for countries to review their laws and see to it that tour children grow according to their pace and are not mistreated by others. They are not the property of anybody- not even that of their parents. Thus, they should be given room for their personality to bloom.
