African parents are physically abusing children in the guise of discipline

BY STANLEY ALIEKE

Every day we see on social media and read on the news blogs the stories of kids and house-helps crying out for help and complaining about their parents and guardians physically assaulting them in the name of discipline. Some folks always try to justify these actions of the parents and guardians by saying that the child must have done something grievous to have warranted that kind of beating from the parent or guardian.

But truth be told, no matter what the offense of a child is, s/he should never be violently assaulted or treated like a hardened criminal. There are other numerous ways of disciplining a child other than beating and physical assault which childcare professionals have proven to be more effective in correcting and reinforcing good behaviour in children than beating and physical assault.

The way some parents and guardians beat up and physically assault their children and house-helps in the name of discipline should be considered domestic violence too. So when we talk about domestic violence, we should not only concentrate on partners physically assaulting each other, especially the man beating up the woman at the slightest provocation, we should also take into consideration the reality that the way some parents deal with the children and those under them can no longer be said to be discipline, rather it will pass for domestic violence and child abuse.

The Nigerian society really needs to start having this conversation that there is a wide gap between discipline and physical assault and what some parents and guardians engage in while handling their folks is nothing other than domestic violence and child abuse.

Parents and guardians physically assault and violently abuse their kids in the name of discipline but it seems we are not ready to talk about it due to the Nigerian society’s cultural foundation. People see this as a normal thing; Violently beating up a kid by a father is a normal thing in the Nigerian society.

Some parents and guardians beat their children to the extent of hospitalisation. This kind of iron-fist discipline is nothing but domestic violence which the government ought to start looking into and make necessary legislation to criminalise it.

You don’t have to beat up a child till he is in a coma or on the verge of giving up the ghost before you will be satisfied that you have disciplined that child. Many kids have lost their lives, some have been disfigured by their parents and their guardians and some have been inflicted with perpetual pains, while some have gotten lifetime trauma from their parents and guardians in the name of discipline.

Other developed countries like the USA and the UK have strict legislation that criminalises this kind of act. If you physically assault a child in those countries you will be arrested and prosecuted for child abuse and the kid will be taken away from you by the government.

Violence is not discipline. We need to do away with those cultures that promote such notions. You are inflicting pains and injuries that the child will live with for the rest of his/her life and that won’t score as discipline, rather, such acts amount to domestic violence which is a crime.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based on Abuja. He can be reached via [email protected]