 Children are adorable little angels, aren't they? Most times we think they are always happy and carefree. According to WHO, nearly 3 in 4 children or 300 million children aged 2-4 years regularly suffer physical or psychological abuse from parents and caregivers. Wow, that's a lot. Most children who suffer abuse end up as broken adults who go on to inflict pain on others. So how can you tell when a child is being abused? What kind of abuse is going on? How do you stop it? Have you ever asked yourself if you've suffered any form of abuse in your childhood or what effect that may be having on your current relationships? The key to quality relationships and happiness in life is the wholeness of individuals. Watch this video and understand the 6 types of childhood abuse. 1. Were you abused as a child? Some of you may not think so. So many parents, teachers and coaches think they are yelling at children in an effective way or putting them on the right path but on the contrary, it amounts to verbal abuse and can leave a child with low self-esteem than ever. According to Health Day, verbal abuse can undermine your child's self-esteem, damage his ability to trust and form relationships, and cheap away an academic and social scale. Did you know that verbal abuse produces the same result as sexual abuse and other forms of abuse? Health Day gives us a clue according to them. Current research shows that verbal abuse of children can be just as destructive emotionally as fiscal and sexual abuse and puts them in a small risk for depression and anxiety. What then will you do as a parent who loves their kid but does not want to yell at them because it will hurt them? This question will come up frequently but there is one right answer. You should talk to your kids more. Recommend good books to them. The more they feel loved and cared for, the more they will try not to do things that hurt you. You need to be able to get through to them. If you try any forceful means, they might grow up resenting you. No parents want that from their children. 2. Physical Abuse Do not under any circumstance hit the child. It is true that if you were abused as a child, you are more likely to repeat the cycle as an adult. On the other hand, many adult survivors of child abuse have a strong motivation to protect their children against what they went through and become excellent parents. Children are rather delicate and may not withstand physical abuse the way an adult might. Adults are older and can think deeply about issues. Many times, adults also choose to remain in abusive relationships. Children don't have that choice. Physical abuse is quite different than other forms of abuse because it contains both emotional and physical factors. A person who is hit by a loved one can feel psychologically unsafe as well as have the bruises and blood to show for it. No one deserves to be abused by anyone at all. This is why social service works very hard to pry children away from abusive and irresponsible parents. Simply because you got your girlfriend pregnant does not in any way qualify you as a parent. Parenting is a commitment to help your child grow to become the best version of themselves. If you are not ready to make that commitment, don't waste anyone's time by getting married to them. Emotional Abuse This is a very pervasive form of abuse that children face daily. According to a very well-mined, emotional abuse is a way to control another person by using emotions to criticize, embarrass, shame, blame or otherwise manipulate another person. Sexual abuse can also be a form of physical and emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is actually a pretty difficult form of abuse to identify because it is subtle. You can't really tell it's there. An example is a father who threatens his daughter he will kill her mother if she doesn't do exactly as he says. Some of you may be puzzled and wonder whether these things actually happen. If you didn't experience similar things, you probably had a blessed childhood. Some people live all their lives hiding under the shadows because of these types of childhood. Their abusive parents continue to control their lives even after they have died. No one deserves to live this way. But how can you help? One of the ways you can help is by focusing on being a great parent when you eventually have a kid to reduce the world's population of abused children. Another way you can help is to volunteer at NGOs targeted at rehabilitating abused children. This will go a long way in the process of healing. If you were abused yourself, allow yourself to heal. It is okay to be afraid of making mistakes. It is okay to feel small. It is even okay to stutter and run away from responsibility. But it is never okay to let go of yourself in resignation to life. You have the power to become whoever you choose to be. Don't choose to be the object of pity for the rest of your life. 4. Child Labor and Exploitation Child labor may seem like a term forgotten in history. Some of us may even think it is a myth. However, according to UNICEF, in the world's poorest countries, slightly more than one in four children are engaged in child labor. This means that over 200 million children globally are child laborers. Now, what do you make of that? According to the world counts, 73 million out of the 200 million children who are engaged in paid and unpaid employment are less than 10 years. Now, how old were you when you got your first job? Did you think it was hard? Now put yourself in the shoes of children who have to fend for themselves. In these developing countries where child labor is so prevalent, the challenges are numerous. Even the ones old enough to work face huge unemployment. While many of them are underemployed, some of them have employment with mega-renumerations that can barely feed their families. In the end, government institutions in these countries have a large role to play in stemming global child labor statistics. Children are at a critical stage of development where they need to focus on learning and feeding well. Children require time and patience to get there because a lot of them are different. The trouble is that unscrupulous entrepreneurs prefer hiring child laborers because they are more desperate than other workers. They work mainly for food or enumeration that can buy food. Children deserve to be taken better care of. A very effective way of addressing this problem is by not getting married unless one is fully ready for the responsibilities that come with raising children. Irresponsible parents are one of the major causes of child labor. Other causes are death and absent mothers or fathers. 5. Child Neglect You may think that because you don't yell at your child or hit them that you deserve the father of the year award. You are wrong. Children actually need attention more than you think. Many children grew up resenting their parents even when their parents worked so hard and left them a huge fortune. They still hate them for not being there, for thinking that money could take their place. Sadly, a lot of parents make this mistake. Money can't make someone love you is a principle as old as time itself. Even money has its limits. You can't buy your child to your side. Maybe you may win custody and court after a divorce because the judge believes you have better finances to take care of the child. The child, however, will resent you nonetheless. It just doesn't work. However, attention neglect is just one of the types of neglect abuse. Many parents don't take good care of their children. Their reason for this may vary. Sometimes, it is the inability to play properly. Some parents are drug addicts and prioritize their drugs over groceries which can negatively affect their children. Therefore, the children may also look dirty, be left alone or in the care of other young children. Eat more than usual at a meal or save food for later. Such children seldom have medical, dental or mental health care. They may also miss a lot at school. It will be almost as though the parents are bad for the child. It is often the case. One way to prevent this type of abuse is not to get pregnant when you are not ready for a child. You can always give the child social service who will take better care of them than raise them yourself. 6. Bullying People generally think bullying and its trauma goes away after one has left high school. They are wrong. Bullying can actually affect all the parties involved. Bullied and the One Bullying According to StopBully.gov, bullying is considered an adverse childhood experience, ACE. ACEs are potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effect on a person's development, the way they interact with others and how they perform in school. There are very few bullies who are actually confident in themselves. No confident person thinks putting others down will make them feel powerful. It is the incompleteness they feel by themselves that makes them act the way they do. People bullied are scared out of their weeds for years. Bullying doesn't just happen in school. It happens everywhere. On the bus and the park, even on the streets when no parents are watching, it can be a nightmare for those bullied. People bullied when they were younger can try to repress their memories in order to carry on with life. This may make them generally indifferent. StopBully.gov On bullying and post-traumatic stress, some children may repress their thoughts or feelings about what took place. This can lead to numbness or loss of interest in activities. People who leave this way have no actual goals or interests even. Help end bullying today. No one deserves to either bully or be bullied.