OK so this one might be a bit controversial. I have, as I often do, been musing on what makes people tick.  Today’s musings took me to a dark place and I started to question, what it is that makes a person abuse their own child.  Recent events that have been all over the news have brought this to my mind.  The actions of Joseph Fritzl, while extreme and unimaginably horrible to say the very least, serve to remind me of how many children there are out there who are suffering in silence at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect them.

It is widely believed that most people who abuse children have already been abused as children themselves. After all, we learn how to handle children from our own parents without even realising it.  For others, it is revenge. The abusive parent is no longer a helpless, frightened victim.  They have power. It seems to turn into a nasty black cycle of abuse. What ever the reasons for a person becoming an abuser, there is never an excuse.

I want to get something straight at this point though, as I think I might get a certain amount of kickback for saying that abusers tend to have been abused. I am NOT saying that if you have been a victim at the hands of a child abuser, that you will automatically abuse your own children. It is my firm belief that there are many, many more environmental factors that have to effect a person before they abuse.

If you have been abused or are being abused, please don’t stay silent. Break the cycle and get some help. The NSPCC and Childline are great places to start. You don’t have to suffer in silence any more.

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