Greetings one and all!
Thanks for stopping by, I am truly thankful!
If you are reading this then you are a human being and know of children. My cause here is speaking on behalf of the children.
The What?
Abuse
The what for me is simple; EMOTIONAL ABUSE!
Emotional abuse, as detailed, is in the emotions which cannot be seen but can definitely be felt, a bit like air. (Ask someone you know that as a child was bullied and called hurtful names, I guarantee two things; when it was happening it felt to them like a gut-punch and they remember the FIRST time like it happened yesterday).
Emotional abuse is a grey area, in the sense that it is not tangible but to those that experience it, it is as real as a slap in the face and definitely real in the lives they live!
There are three other types of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. With these there are always tell-tale and tangible signs. Whilst all types of abuse damage and traumatise the victims, I refer to emotional abuse as a silent disease. This is because E.A. rots the mind, more specifically it rots the way in which a person (in this case children) thinks and/or responds to what they hear. It is purely and exclusively in the mind and as we all know, it is impossible to see what goes on in someone's mind!
Emotional abuse and the child
Emotional abuse, particularly involving children, is a complex issue due to its often subtle and insidious nature! It can and does negatively impact their development as well as their whole world. The great Maya Angelou has a saying, "to a child, all logic is concrete". This basically means because of their child-like brain, children will hear something negative and NOT be able to reason or rationalise, meaning find a logical reason for why A was said or why B has happened.
Example
If a parent tells a young child they are "stupid", the concrete logic tells them it is 100% true. A child's logic cannot comprehend or understand the fact that the adult was wrong for telling them.
If as an adult, you tell me I am stupid, I know you either don't like me, are a horrible person and/or that at the time it was said you were highly stressed/angry and let your own adult emotions get the best of you. In short, it's a you problem!
The child brain cannot fathom this. This lack of understanding means that child will GENUINELY believe they are "stupid" and wear that incorrect label around like an unwanted badge of honour! Like it's a them problem.
As a result, the general everyday mishaps that happen like spilling a drink, the child now believes it happened purposefully because they are "stupid" and NOT because accidents actually happen. This is CRIPPLING in child development because it now creates a distorted belief that pollutes their innocent mind. The crippling part is the knock-on effect!
This child now grows through childhood really believing they are "stupid". Now they have reached adolescence and have internalised this. They don't try in school because they believe they are stupid and it is impossible to be clever.
Now the adolescent is an adult and instead of fulfilling their dreams or trying to be the person they wished when they were young, they have low motivation or NEVER try to do anything positive in life! They are now deep into bad habits (which to the victim are coping mechanisms) such as drinking, recreational drug use and/or anti-social behaviour, to name only a FEW, because that's the only thing "stupid" people are good for. This doesn't include the negative communication, personality and character traits they have developed in most of their personal relationships because of their low confidence and self-esteem!
The abuse part comes in when a parent intentionally tells a child these hurtful, unkind things AND does not care to apologise or be human enough to admit they were in the wrong.
The 'not apologising' can be termed as EMOTIONAL NEGLECT, which is intentionally (or unintentionally) ignoring the child's emotional needs. For example, the parent that called their child stupid should apologise because they know it was wrong but chooses not to speak about it and ignores how that child is feeling.
The example above is regarding bad parenting which was to provide context. However, the specific scenario I am doing this fundraiser for is when the two parents are separated and the toxicity and high-intensity of their adult emotions has the child in the passenger seat! With NOTHING the child can do they simply observe, digest and feel the wrath of their parents' actions. The child becomes collateral damage (and in some cases comes under attack by one of the parents).
The Why?
The whole point of this fundraiser is to highlight that there is likely (at least) one child that you know that is SUFFERING from emotional abuse and emotional neglect..in SILENCE! The WORST part is because they are children they do not or cannot speak up for themselves. ESPECIALLY if this is coming from their parent, the one that is SUPPOSED to PROTECT the child from this happening! Raising awareness can change lives for the better!
The How?
The three-day silence will take part live with a microphone, to pick up if any words are spoken of course, a 'live' on social media on one of the days.
The Where?
The conclusion of the third day will be live at a venue, where a countdown will be followed by a Q&A
The Who?
The funds raised will be donated to TWO registered organisations.
1) Place2Be - a children and young people's mental health charity with over 30 years' experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools. Their purpose: provide mental health support in schools through one-to-one and group counselling
2) Forever the Fathers - an organisation that works to promote a healthy and creative understanding of fatherhood, parenting and child development
The When?
Save the best part until last. The when will be starting on midday WEDNESDAY 9th of October until midday SATURDAY 12th of October! SAVE THE DATE!!!
Of course between now and then there will be content dropping, all relevant to the cause of course! So keep a look out