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Show Browbeating Kids? Another tactic of young people is name-calling. name-calling. It usually points out some feature of the target child that the kid would just as soon forget. Thus, the little stutterer become known as "Porky Pig;" the nearsighted kid is "Hawkeye;" and the child who wears braces is "Tin Grin." No doubt about it: -Every child will take some cuts in life. But the worst ones can come from those we love, the family. You don't need to let it happen. Deal in positive ways with your children. Look for ways to compliment, not cut. Do it, and your children will feel better about themselves and perform better in school and in life. by Dr. Daryl J. McCarthy Mc-Carthy A lot of child abuse tragedies arise from parents beating their children, but they can be injured just as seriously by words as by fists or whips. Browbeating kids can be as painful as beating them. The dictionary says browbeating means intimidating or domineering. Many adults accomplish ac-complish this with sharp words that cut deeply. Sometimes, its cut words. Particularly painful and destructive to a child's self image are words such as "stupid," dumb, lazy, no-good, ugly, runt, fatso, etc." Besides words, there are sterotyped statements that unthinking un-thinking parents sometimes use, such as: "You'll never amount to anything." "Why can't you be like Ruth? She's always getting a straight A report card?" "You blockhead, you're never going to hold a job more than a week." It isn't just parents and other adults who browbeat kids. Children get this rough treatment treat-ment from each other, too. Breathes there a person who hasn't seen some unlucky kid crying in the schoolyard while classmates hoot some sing song line over and over about the kids dress, race, physical defect, economic condition or manner of speech? That kind of treatment treat-ment can put abrasions on a youngster's ego that hurt as much as a blow to the head with a two-by-four. And the damage is just as permanent. |