Page 58 - May-June-July Life In Naples Magazine

THE BRIGHTLY COLORED PINWHEEL IS THE NATIONAL SYMBOL FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE. IT REPRESENTS THE
Seven HabitsDREAM OFA JOYFUL CHILDHOOD,FREE FROMTHE FEARAND PAIN OF PHYSICALAND SEXUALABUSE.
of Highly Effective Parents
Dby Karen T. Bartlett
uring National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we asked
the professional staff at the Children’s Advocacy Center of
Collier County what parenting skills top their wish list to
help prevent and eradicate child abuse. The list is short, surprisingly
simple, and costs absolutely nothing. Here’s what they said.
1. SAY “EYE” LOVE YOU
From the first few months of life, babies seek to establish a bond
(called attachment) by looking into their caregivers’ eyes. Smiling into
your baby’s eyes costs nothing, yet its impact is more powerful than
the most expensive toy you could buy.
The takeaway: Loving eye contact in infancy and beyond creates a
cellular memory that will have lifetime benefits.
2. WATCH THE VOICE
In the TV show, The Voice, judges predict future singing stars with
their backs turned to the contestants. Regardless of physical attributes
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or costume, the singer’s voice is the sole criterion. It’s been long known
that hearing kind, gentle tones is a major contributor to a child’s sense
of well-being and love – but here’s the shocker: long-term research
data released in 2014 in a New England Journal of Medicine’s article
entitled “Silent Victims: An Epidemic of Childhood Exposure to
Domestic Violence,” shows that a child exposed to domestic violence
and a climate of tension and fear has the same effect as direct abuse
of the child himself, at worst causing permanent brain damage, and at
least, impacting his/her mental and physical health, learning capacity
and lifetime behavior.
The takeaway: get out of a domestic violence situation for the sake
of your life and the life of your child. And remember that constant
loud fights in a normally loving family take a terrible toll on all.
3. STOP SAYING “NO” TO YOUR CHILD
Now that we have your attention, we’re just kidding. Partly,
anyway. It’s just as annoying to the parent as stressful to the child to be
Life in Naples | May • June • July 2015