When you think of child abuse and neglect, do you imagine an adult harming a minor in some way? Most child abuse stories in the media are about the physical or sexual molestation of a minor at the hands of an adult. Nevertheless, not all child abuse stories involve an adult. Some child abuse stories are about children hurting each other, except then we call it something different. When one child abuses another we call it bullying, yet it is just as dangerous and emotionally shattering for the victim as those child abuse stories that focus on adults harming under eighteens
One of the most recent child abuse stories in the media does not involve an adult. At the Newsweek website I read about an adolescent boy named Brandon McInerney who shot his fifteen year old classmate, Lawrence King, in the back of the head and killed him just for being openly gay. Some would call it bullying. I would describe this tragic event as a hate crime and a story of one child abusing another in the worst possible way.
If you have children, don’t imagine that pedophiles in parks are the only ones who could be abusing your child. Never forget those child abuse stories about children hurting each other and do everything you can to protect your kids from bullies.