AW: Child Abuse/Animal Pampering

This is kind of OT, but really sad, and it's bothering me a lot.

Authorities took this child from its home here 2 days ago. He was 4
years old and only weighed 28 lbs. He was chained in a closet. He had a
lot of old injuries from abuse that I won't describe here.

Maybe the most disturbing twist is, they had dogs in the house. Way
pampered, well-fed dogs. There was all kinds of dog vitamins, and good
dog food in the house.

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Sherry

wrote:

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Well, animal-abuse is viewed by psychologists as a PRELUDE
to child-abuse so, to set your mind at rest, there are
probably not many cases like the one you cite. (Although I
agree, only one is too many.)

On 29 Jul 2005 07:12:01 -0700, yodeled:

This is kind of OT, but really sad, and it's bothering me a lot.

Authorities took this child from its home here 2 days ago. He was 4
years old and only weighed 28 lbs. He was chained in a closet. He had a
lot of old injuries from abuse that I won't describe here.

Maybe the most disturbing twist is, they had dogs in the house. Way
pampered, well-fed dogs. There was all kinds of dog vitamins, and good
dog food in the house.

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Sherry

From my own admittedly unscientific observations, Sherry, I think
this is probably something like the cases where one or more child is
seemingly singled out for abuse or neglect, and other children appear
normally cared-for. There was a well-publlicized case in NJ a couple
of years ago where a 19-year-old was discovered in an appaling state
of arrested development through sheer neglect and deprivation-- and
other kids in the house seemed pretty normally cared-for. This is
really not the behavior or people who could be considered in any way
normal.

Within the admittedly broad spectrum of "normal" behavior, my
admittedly unscientific observation is that people who are cruel or
neglectful of animals just tend not to be nice people. People who are
very preoccupied with animals may or may not be nice to other other
people-- but AFAIC, someone who is cruel to, or neglectful of animals
in his/her care is just a right b*stard, full stop.



Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


wrote:

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Well, animal-abuse is viewed by psychologists as a PRELUDE to child-abuse
so, to set your mind at rest, there are probably not many cases like the
one you cite. (Although I agree, only one is too many.)

Animal abuse can indeed be a prelude to child abuse but not often if started
as an adult. Children who torture animals sometimes go on to abuse their
children in later life. Not always.
I work in this field.
I cannot begin to tell you all what has come to my department's attention
over the years I've been working there, nor can I or should I because of
confidentiality.
What you describe, Sherry, is not that unusual, unfortunately. Not very
common, but it happens. It is often very difficult to find out about unless
someone in the know spills the beans to the authorities. Child abuse is
secretive by it's very nature.

Tweed

"Howard C. Berkowitz" wrote in message
...
In article , "Christina Websell"
wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


wrote:

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat
mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any
capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Well, animal-abuse is viewed by psychologists as a PRELUDE to
child-abuse
so, to set your mind at rest, there are probably not many cases like
the
one you cite. (Although I agree, only one is too many.)

Animal abuse can indeed be a prelude to child abuse but not often if
started
as an adult. Children who torture animals sometimes go on to abuse
their
children in later life. Not always.
I work in this field.
I cannot begin to tell you all what has come to my department's
attention
over the years I've been working there, nor can I or should I because of
confidentiality.
What you describe, Sherry, is not that unusual, unfortunately. Not very
common, but it happens. It is often very difficult to find out about
unless
someone in the know spills the beans to the authorities. Child abuse is
secretive by it's very nature.

I've often wondered if there are any studies on children that pamper
their animals (and vice versa), and their later life.

Well, I only have experiential data - my children did and grew up to be very
nurturing parents. ;

Hugs,

CatNipped

In article , "Christina Websell"
wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


wrote:

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any
capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Well, animal-abuse is viewed by psychologists as a PRELUDE to
child-abuse
so, to set your mind at rest, there are probably not many cases like
the
one you cite. (Although I agree, only one is too many.)

Animal abuse can indeed be a prelude to child abuse but not often if
started
as an adult. Children who torture animals sometimes go on to abuse
their
children in later life. Not always.
I work in this field.
I cannot begin to tell you all what has come to my department's attention
over the years I've been working there, nor can I or should I because of
confidentiality.
What you describe, Sherry, is not that unusual, unfortunately. Not very
common, but it happens. It is often very difficult to find out about
unless
someone in the know spills the beans to the authorities. Child abuse is
secretive by it's very nature.

I've often wondered if there are any studies on children that pamper
their animals (and vice versa), and their later life.

"Howard C. Berkowitz" wrote in message
...
In article , "Christina Websell"
wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


wrote:

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any
capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

Well, animal-abuse is viewed by psychologists as a PRELUDE to
child-abuse
so, to set your mind at rest, there are probably not many cases like
the
one you cite. (Although I agree, only one is too many.)

Animal abuse can indeed be a prelude to child abuse but not often if
started
as an adult. Children who torture animals sometimes go on to abuse
their
children in later life. Not always.
I work in this field.
I cannot begin to tell you all what has come to my department's attention
over the years I've been working there, nor can I or should I because of
confidentiality.
What you describe, Sherry, is not that unusual, unfortunately. Not very
common, but it happens. It is often very difficult to find out about
unless
someone in the know spills the beans to the authorities. Child abuse is
secretive by it's very nature.

I've often wondered if there are any studies on children that pamper
their animals (and vice versa), and their later life.


Well I was one of those children that pampered animals ;-)

Tweed

wrote in message
oups.com...
This is kind of OT, but really sad, and it's bothering me a lot.

Authorities took this child from its home here 2 days ago. He was 4
years old and only weighed 28 lbs. He was chained in a closet. He had a
lot of old injuries from abuse that I won't describe here.

Maybe the most disturbing twist is, they had dogs in the house. Way
pampered, well-fed dogs. There was all kinds of dog vitamins, and good
dog food in the house.

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

I think the clue is *dogs*. You can train a dog to *obey* you absolutely.
Dogs never talk back, never do anything "naughty", never have a tantrum,
whinge or cry through the night. Dogs won't bug you incessently to go to
McDonalds, create incredible mess inside, don't wet their bed on occasion
etc etc. You can board a dog at a kennel when you go away, and if you decide
you don't like a dog, you can give it to the RSPCA and/or have it put down
and no-one bats an eye-lid.

Kids, whilst utterly wonderful and adorable can be exceptionally
frustratiiong creatures to share your life with, and its *you* who have to
change your attitude to cope with them (much like having a cat) as you can
only "train" them so far.

A certain "baby-dog walock" over in the other groups insists on *absolute
control* over his dogs, they must obey perfectly his every whim and desire.
And the dogs will indeed do it, but kids just won't. I'm not in any way
saying or implying that "baby-dog warlock" is a child abuser, rather that,
if you took his mind set of absolute control of his dogs to the extreme, it
wouldn't be much of a jump to postulate why the dogs (who were 100%
obedient) were well kept, but the child (who couldn't be) wasn't.

I am not a psychologist.

Yowie

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 09:38:12 +1000, "Yowie"
yodeled:

wrote in message
roups.com...
This is kind of OT, but really sad, and it's bothering me a lot.

Authorities took this child from its home here 2 days ago. He was 4
years old and only weighed 28 lbs. He was chained in a closet. He had a
lot of old injuries from abuse that I won't describe here.

Maybe the most disturbing twist is, they had dogs in the house. Way
pampered, well-fed dogs. There was all kinds of dog vitamins, and good
dog food in the house.

I understand people treating cats like children, or dogs. I treat mine
probably better than a lot of children get treated. But I cannot
*imagine*, ever, putting my pets above my own children in any capacity.
I guess we can explain it away as mental illness on the part of the
parents but golly gee I wonder how many many more kids are out there
like that.

I think the clue is *dogs*. You can train a dog to *obey* you absolutely.
Dogs never talk back, never do anything "naughty", never have a tantrum,
whinge or cry through the night. Dogs won't bug you incessently to go to
McDonalds, create incredible mess inside, don't wet their bed on occasion
etc etc. You can board a dog at a kennel when you go away, and if you decide
you don't like a dog, you can give it to the RSPCA and/or have it put down
and no-one bats an eye-lid.

Kids, whilst utterly wonderful and adorable can be exceptionally
frustratiiong creatures to share your life with, and its *you* who have to
change your attitude to cope with them (much like having a cat) as you can
only "train" them so far.

A certain "baby-dog walock" over in the other groups insists on *absolute
control* over his dogs, they must obey perfectly his every whim and desire.
And the dogs will indeed do it, but kids just won't. I'm not in any way
saying or implying that "baby-dog warlock" is a child abuse
(snip)

Just an @$$hole (I'm hoping, anyway :P).


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

In article , "Yowie"
wrote:

I am not a psychologist.

If it's any consolation, a friend of mine just quit her job as a
government research psychologist. The office politics of three levels
of PhD psychologists trying to drive one another crazy is not pretty.