Glad that neighbours are reporting child abuse

May 16, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am so pleased to learn that at last neighbours are playing a part in trying to protect children from parental abuse, by reporting incidents to the appropriate agencies. Years ago, the thinking was that it was difficult to come between a child and its parents, particularly the mother. In this way, children suffered grave injustices and abuse, while neighbours whispered among themselves but kept their distance. Sometimes, spiteful neighbours tried to ‘frighten’ children into doing their bidding by threatening to “tell your mother”, knowing what may happen.
I personally saw a happy, normal pre-school age boy change to become a stuttering, nervous wreck when his mother started beating him practically every day for reasons, as a younger child, I could not understand. He was my playmate, and we eventually drifted apart. No neighbour thought it his/her ‘place to interfere’. He never overcame his stammering, and grew into an angry violent man, presumably partly through “speech frustration”. One hopes that witnesses to frequent child abuse would report such to the relevant agencies, and so try to help all defenceless children. About the reading of books, I agree this is a very desirable practice and habit to cultivate. As schoolchildren, we often chanted that “books are lighthouses erected in the sea of time”. I never knew where that quote originated. No doubt some readers do.
Geralda Dennison

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