Custom essays on Violence among Children: Journal 1

Violence among Children
While working in a Runaway Youth Shelter in Dallas, I have witnessed cases of violence among children, when the children’s aggression was directed against their peers. The violent behavior was apparently the effect of the domestic violence and the impact of social environment in which the aggressive and violent children lived. In this respect, the necessity to develop special educational programs for such children became obvious to me because I witnessed bursts of aggression and violence which were not determined by any objective factor. In such a situation, the assistance of professional educators and psychologists is needed but interns can help children, if they have at least basic, elementary knowledge of psychology and education.
In actuality, many children I worked with at the Runaway Youth Shelter in Dallas Tx were inclined to aggressive and violent behavior. They could not always control their emotions and behavior. So they needed the assistance of a psychologist or educator, who could help them to cope with their internal problems, which they apparently extrapolated on their social environment. To put it more precisely, in the course of observation of children in the Runaway Youth Shelter, I arrived to the conclusion that their aggression is provoked by their internal problem. When I witnessed or heard of cases of violence, I studied records of the children, who proved to be violent and aggressive. I found out that practically all of them suffered from severe domestic violence, while many of them lived in families with parents suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction. Moreover, many of them missed the school or just did not attend classes on the regular basis. Therefore, it was obvious to me that they did not have any basic education and their parents were negligent in relation to their raising up and education.
In addition, when I talked to these children I found that they could not explain logically why they started a fight or why they were so aggressive in relation to their peers. In addition, I learned that they did not really know any other means of coping with their aggression than fight. What is meant here is the fact that the children believed that through the violent behavior they can tackle with their problems and get rid of their aggression and dissatisfaction (Murphy, 2009).

Remarkably, they did not always understand why they grow aggressive in relation to their peers.
Therefore, I arrived to the conclusion that the development of special educational programs or, at least, training courses was essential for aggressive and violent children to cope with their anger (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). In fact, I used some elements of anger management practices to help children to cope with their anger and aggression. For this purpose, I attempted to teach children to divert their aggression from their peers and use the energy they use for violent attacks on other things. To put it more precisely, I started practicing active sports with violent and aggressive children but, first, I established strict rule that could not be violated by the children. So they could not fight nor shout at each other in the course of the play. They played soccer and steadily they learned how to play in a team and the level of their aggression decreased.
Hence, I believe the further work and education of aggressive and violent children is needed.

 
References
Malinosky-Rummell, R. & Hansen, D.J. (1993). “Long term consequences of childhood physical abuse,” Psychological Bulletin, 114, 68-69.
Murphy, S.C. (Spring 2009). “Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds.” Cinema Journal, 48(3), pp. 142-144.