CHILD PHYSICAL ABUSE

3. Child's Behaviour
Notes:

 

A child's behaviour can indicate physical abuse - including:

  • overly submissive or anxious, or
  • has a frozen watchfulness – nobody moves, nobody gets hurt, assessing situations carefully
  • flinches and cowers when approached by adults or when they think they are in trouble, or
  • craves attention, or fears going home
  • appears overly concerned about a Parent or Caregiver’s mood at pick up time
  • aggressive or violent with others

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Information:

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A child who is physically abused regularly at home will often develop certain characteristics that will indicate to others that they are being abused. These are behaviours you will notice over time – such as anxiousness and submissiveness - sometimes it can be one single behaviour that will jump out at you on one single occasion – such as a child flinching fearfully as you approach to pick up a toy they’ve just broken. 

Some children who are victims of abuse and exposure to violence in the home tend to develop a kind of frozen watchfulness or alertness – like they are freezing and hoping that no action means nobody gets hurt – or like they are scanning the scene anxiously to see whether or not it’s safe. Sometimes children can become so accustomed to the violence and the loud environment at home that they are uncomfortable with peace and quiet and friendly behaviour – almost as though they suspect a trap. 

They may fear going home, or they might over react, cringe or cower when they accidentally drop, spill or break something. They may be overly submissive or flinch when you raise an arm or when you come over to manage their playground behaviour, and at other times they may crave attention and try too hard to please adults.

You may notice a child trying too hard to “please” their Parents, to not say anything to upset or annoy them, and trying to check and ask questions to make sure they’re in a good mood. This will usually happen at pick up time – an abused child will try and check out what the ‘home mood’ is like when the Parent or Caregiver arrives to pick them up.

Children who are aggressive or violent with others may be using the only language they know to deal with anger or frustration, because that’s what their parents do. Or they may be acting out in order to regain some power due to being physically dominated at home.