Langston Hughes: Child Abuse And Neglect

Langston Hughes created a story that filled our minds with thoughts of the typical child and their home life. Roger lived alone and was neglected by his family, as readers I'm sure most of us found this sad. What’s even more upsetting is that child abuse and neglect doesn't just happen in the books, in happens in everyday real life. Many children across the US are abused and neglected, in 1991 2,694,000 children were reported as abused yearly and that number continues to grow about 10% each year(De Koster). With each and every newly abused child comes issues such as cardiovascular disease, drug addictions or low self esteem. Although parents may think they have a reason to treat their child the way they do there is no excuse for child abuse …show more content…
The answer is not so simple. There are many preliminary causes leading to the abusive parent or guardian. I’ll discuss just the leading reason for child abuse first, alcoholism. In 1976 there were about 357,533 cases of child abuse and neglect, 14% of abuse cases had alcohol involved while 18.5% cases of neglect involved alcohol. Some parents may be alcoholics or some may only drink from time to time but both include any adult who becomes abusive while drunk. The alcoholics tend to be the more dangerous type because they are always drunk or always a threat to the child. Not only do the children suffer physical abuse but also emotional abuse and neglect. In many studies children feel rejected and unwanted when their parents forget about them while drinking. The issues don't only come up when the parents are drunk, while they're becoming sober the eldest child may have to become the parent to younger siblings, take care of the house, or even baby their parents by feeding them and cleaning up after them. The drinking not only affects the current state of the child but the child's future self. Risk of the child drinking heavily in adult life is high due to the parents bad decisions to drink in front of them and be a bad influence. The stress put on the child may also cause them to drink …show more content…
The signs of an abusive parent or one who could become an abusive parent are someone who depressed and unable to handle their stress, has experienced violence firsthand, is emotionally isolated, was abused as a child, has money problems, uses drugs and alcohol, or expects much and criticizes their child or someone who is very firm with discipline. If you can stop an abusive person from making bad decisions and convince them to get professional help you can be saving a child's life. This is nothing to mess with and is a serious matter. Do your part and save an innocent