„Children must live in a world of beauty”
Publicat in data : 2023-03-10

V. A. Sukhomlinsky said: „Children must live in a world of beauty, games, fairy tales, music, drawing, imagination, creativity.” How beautiful it would be, how happy the children would be, what increased self-esteem they would have, what responsible adults we would have and live in a world without violence! However, according to the Minister of the Family, Gabriela Firea, 4 children and 42 women died last year, as a result of beatings and abuse in the family, approximately 9,000 children and 40,000 women were victims of aggression, more than 11,000 orders were issued protection and over 20,000 temporary protection orders.

It may seem like a small number compared to the population of Romania (19,053,815 at the 2021 census), but the question we should ask ourselves is: „Only 9,000 children were assaulted, only 40,000 women suffered aggression?”. In reality these numbers are much higher, and this happens because these cases are not reported. The victims do not call the authorities, preferring to hide for fear of degenerating the situation even more.

An abused child cannot be empathetic, cannot develop emotional intelligence, and studies have shown that emotional intelligence and its construct - empathy, contribute to rational decision-making. A child who can make rational decisions will be less tempted to aggression. In addition, emotional intelligence and personal stress have been found to influence hypervigilance and procrastination.

The attention od specialists has been drawn to the proliferation of violence and destructiveness, both on a national and global scale. Almost every day we read articles or hear on TV about armed attacks initiated by children, teenagers, young people, etc. Not far from the border of our country we are witnessing a war caused by the passion for destruction („death drive”, Freud). For healthy development, the child must follow a favorable path. When the child is „assaulted by impulses over which he feels he has no control or that he has insufficient control; as a result, he will suffer from acute anxiety about the safety of those he loves, and he will also fear the vengeance which is expected to be visited upon him” (Bowlby: The Making and Breaking of Related Bonds). When attacked, they will respond with aggression, which is the only way they have learned to defend themselves.

Pave your children a path to healthy development and remember: „behavior is the result of an almost continuous conflict between interacting impulses.”
Over 1200 children will benefit from free psychotherapy sessions and we want to grow so that we grow healthy adults.

The project „Step by step, growing with dignity!” benefits from a grant in the amount of €1,926,662 offered by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014-2021, within the „Local development, poverty reduction and increasing Roma inclusion” Program. The objective of the project is to promote the respect for children`s rights at the national level.

For more details about EEA Grants, as well as about the Program Operator, visit www.eeagrants.ro and www.frds.ro.

Material produced with the financial support of EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014-2921. Its content (text, photos, video) does not reflect the official opinion of the Program Operator, the National Contact Point or the Office of Financial Mechanism. The information and opinions expressed are the sole responsibility of the author.

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