Domestic violence is a grievant problem in our society. One out of three couples has domestic violence issues existing in their married life. It indeed affects the couples directly but more than this, it has a majorly negative impact on the minds of their children.
Maximum numbers of children witness their mother getting abused physically and mentally by their fathers and some even witness a situation vice-versa. Witnessing can be seeing parents abusing each other or hearing noises of fights. Children are exposed to a lot of unwanted feelings during this phase. Some of the most negative effects of domestic violence on children are given below:
- Children become fearful and anxious. When they hear or see their parents fighting and abusing each other physically or mentally, they always fear when the next event of abuse would trigger. They are always worried for themselves and their siblings and also for the parent who is the victim of the abuse.
- Children who witness domestic violence usually receive very less attention from their parents and hence, they feel very weak and ignored. They often lack attention from their parents and go through terrible pain from inside even if they seem to look fine otherwise.
- Children often feel embarrassed and humiliated to talk about their parents in public as they somewhere know that domestic violence is not a good thing.
- Children fear that even they might become the victim of the violence. They understand that their parents do not have a control over their anger and rage and hence, they often tend to get scared thinking that their parents would hit or abuse them as well.
- Children who witness domestic violence often lack sleep due to worrying about everything and can show symptoms like bedwetting, anxiety, disturbed appetite, introvert nature at school, low academic performances and not interacting much at school and other social places.
- Some children try to intervene the violence in a hope that it would stop but in return, even they often get hurt by the parent who is conducting the violence on the other parent.
- When kids witness domestic violence, they lack a healthy family environment because of which their development is hindered.
- In case of male children, they witness the way their father abuses and treats their mother and as a result, even they do not learn the way to respect a woman and there are chances that even they would abuse women in future.
