Parents need help to keep children safe...

Parents need help

to keep children safe

Another tragedy in the foster care system occurred this month when

two more children were left to die in a car, which we know become

death chambers for children when they are left in the hot sun.

Children die all year long from what must feel like torture when they

are left to die baking in hot cars by parents who are too busy too

hurried and are too impatient and have too few friends to help them

avoid this tragedy. A warning to all parents is that if you hurt

children, they may be placed in more dangerous care. Don’t make these

deadly mistakes.

What can be done about it? Be a good friend, neighbor, or

volunteer to give help to a mom or dad who just wants to go run a few

errands without the kids for a few minutes. Children left

unsupervised leads to numerous pool drownings and to children dying

when left in hot cars. Grief-stricken and jailed parents are left

wishing they had taken the extra time to lock a gate or wake a

sleeping child and drag them along. Errands are so trivial when

compared to endangering a child’s life.

My advice to parents who do not want to lose custody of their

children or go to jail is to get educated. The more aware and

informed we are as parents, caregivers and friends, the better we can

protect our children. Headlines of priests molesting children and the

abduction and murder of Samantha Runnion and Danielle van Dam can

make one forget 65% of the sexual abuse of children takes place in

their own homes. Some 42% of perpetrators are parents, 23% are

friends or family, 30% are older juveniles or siblings. The majority

of sexual-abuse victims are less than 6 years old.

Here are parenting tips to keep your child alive this summer.

Prevention is paramount.

1. Don’t’ drink too much alcohol. The majority of abuse takes

place with parents under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

2. Never leave a child alone or in a car or at any other place,

time or season. As many as 50 children were lost daily at the Orange

County Fair last year.

3. It’s never OK to hit a child. Two thousand children are brain

damaged a year by angry, tired parents. Take a parenting class that

will teach you to be more effective and less dangerous to you and

your children.

4. Refuse to yell at your children. Yelling is not good for

anyone. Take a parent stress management class and lean about giving

children choices and consequences.

5. Praise, hold and hug your child at least once a day. Praise is

powerful.

6. Take time out for yourself. Take time when you just take care

of you and nobody or anything else.

The major causes of the abuse of children and parent burnout are:

parents who were abused as children; parents that abuse alcohol and

drugs; parents who lack education on parenting; financial stress or

financial excess; chronic stress and poverty; marital strife; poor

self-esteem; isolation; and depression.

SALLY KANAREK

Parent Help USA

Costa Mesa