TW: Graphic and sustained description of physical violence and abuse against a child, and brief reference to sexual abuse.
Reproduction of a harrowing Facebook account of a Nepali classmate's childhood experiences of abuse suffered in his father's hands.
As much as we are products of our culture, education, society, and people, and as much as a closed and inward-looking society and people might fail us, as individuals we are also influencers and shapers of our culture and society!
When it comes to verbal, emotional, and physical violence against children is concerned, for example, we Nepalis have a choice. We don't have to follow the dictates of our culture and society. We can instead teach about empathy and compassion and even display them towards our children to end the vicious cycle of childhood violence, a hallmark of child-rearing and educational practices.
In Nepal, respect for teachers and administrators is instilled in student through the threat of violence, i.e. fear! That, of course, is despicable, just as Albert Camus says. Getting students to respect teachers is easy: just show them respect by listening to them.
Raise a child by beating her, the sense of unfairness and the mental agony accompanying it will not only inflict trauma in the child, she'll lose respect for you. Raise a child by showing her respect, by listening to her, she'll grow up learning what respect means and will, in turn, respect you.
A comparison of child discipline methods employed by adults in Nepal. According to the results of surveys, children in Nepal suffer considerably from violence in homes.
Violence against children in Nepal, in homes and schools, was routine in the seventies and eighties when I was growing up. Results of surveys show it to be so even now, more than two decades later.
Instead of raising children, who have to recover from their childhoods, we should and we can raise them to be kind and compassionate human beings!
