A family recently moved into a house next to mine. They have several children, two who appear to be four or five years old, a daughter who is about fifteen and a son who is about twenty years old. They leave all their windows open most of the time. The mother constantly speaks in a very loud voice. I can hear the children running and playing and often crying. They attend church every Sunday. At first, I heard them talking about the services and God. I have not heard them speak much about religion for a while.
The mother screams and yells at the children every day. I hear the children crying and instead of soothing them and trying to teach them the proper respect for the wrong they do, she just yells more. I have not heard anything that sounds like physical abuse, yet I grieve for the young children.
I was severely abused for many years by my father. If you want to know the whole story, you can read my article called Plunder. I know that I am more sensitive than most people about the way children are treated. But it seems to me, if they are attending church, they must be somewhat religious and that confuses me because they obviously do not act that way.
I was also raised in the church and became a Christian at an early age. Eventually, I turned against organized religion and became a spiritual person who is very close to God. If you want to know more about this reasoning, you can read my article Organized Religion vs. Spirituality.
I find it hard to believe they truly accept the teachings of their pastor. They show no signs of that belief in their day to day living. Don't get me wrong, they are not always yelling and screaming, but it does occur about seventy-five percent of the time. It makes me want to go over to their house and ask them why they act this way. However, I realize this is none of my business. I have, however, made up my mind that if I see or hear a child being physically abused, I will call the proper authorities.
I realize, having had children that young ones can be quite a handful, for they are at the age where they do not understand the mental adjustments that a parent can provide. Personally, I never raised a hand to my children or screamed at them, although there were times I felt like doing so. Instead, I reasoned with them and tried to make them understand how proper behavior would make them a better person and they slowly began to comprehend the ways of the world in relation to respect for others. They grew into wonderful adults whom I am very proud.
I write this because I know there are many households in the world where children are treated much more abusively and this very often results in mental frustration and problems later in life. I cannot help but share this with you. It is coming from my heart. I just cannot stand to listen to them be treated that way. The twenty year old guy is very nice and often appears to be the peace-keeper. He takes the children outside to play and is very nice to them. I have never heard him yell at them. Perhaps he was treated the same way and feels what they feel and tries to compensate. There is not much more to say other than I often am very sad for these children and pray for their family. I guess I am just confused about the situation and wanted someone with which to share my experience.
