I am incensed by taxpayers money being spent on wrong messages!
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS A REAL ISSUE IN AUSTRALIA.
The government’s latest adverting states:
“On average, one woman is killed every week at the hands of a current or former partner .One in three women has been a victim of physical or sexual violence, since the age of 15, from someone known to them. One in four young people are prepared to excuse violence from a partner.”
And thanks to the efforts of many people, including the courageous Rosie Batty, Domestic Violence is an issue that communities and government are addressing.
So how can the government justify an advertising campaign (must be a massive one at that) that will make the problem worse and use my hard earned tax dollars to do so?
The photo above is a copy on one of these ads.
“If you think violence against women is a big problem, tackle it when it is a little one. The cycle of violence against women starts with disrespectful behaviour. When we excuse these behaviours in our kids, we let it grow.”
To me, this sentence seems to suggest that we need to punish our children if they show disrespect.
I could not agree more with the sentiment of respect. Respect is the essential ingredient. Children learn about respect in their families. They learn about respect by modelling their parents.
So is it any wonder that we have an epidemic of domestic violence when we treat our children with so little respect? When we punish and humiliate them if they exhibit behaviours we don’t like – even if their developmental stage means that they don’t even understand what we want? Few of us have the skills to really listen to the child and appreciate their world. We just impose on them what we think and justify it as ‘good parenting – they will thank me later’. Is it respectful to take away our child’s favourite toy if they do something we don’t like? Is it respectful when we send them to their rooms and put them in time out? When we ground them, prevent them from seeing their friends and refuse to share the wifi password?
It is no wonder that our children grow up to perpetuate Domestic Violence. We teach them from their very early days that if we want to get someone to do what we want then we use our power over them. We ‘make them’ do what we want them to do.
When these gorgeous little boys who are full of joyful energy and a zest for life have experienced parents and teachers punishing them for it then grow up to be 6′ 2″ and weigh 100 kgs, why are we surprised when they don’t treat others with respect?
As parents, if we want our children to grow up to treat others with respect and reduce domestic violence in our community, then we need to treat our own children with respect. We need to stop punishing and shaming them and learn more effective ways of parenting.
