Mysore child begging: ‘Such acts will only traumatise the child’

In the light of the recent case where a young girl was made to beg on the streets by her father for not studying, counsellors suggest effective methods to deal with such situations.

Such punishment would leave the young victims traumatised.
“Besides shaming the girl and leaving her traumatised, the punishment was not relevant to what needed to be achieved. For instance, if a child is watching too much television, he or she can be denied that,” said a city-based counsellor.

There is no need to resort to such extreme measures, said the counsellor. In such instances, children may challenge the parents to punish them.

“Parents should put themselves in their child’s position and think how they would have reacted had they been in a similar situation,” she said.

Anuja Mudur, a school counsellor, said parents should zero in on the cause of the problem.

“They should identify the problems their adolescent child is going through. It could be emotional or something to do with learning. Rather than resorting to severe punishments of this kind, parents should check with a counsellor or a reliable doctor to pinpoint the cause of the problem,” Mudur said.

Sometimes, it is better for parents to allow their children to face the consequences.

“If a child goes for an exam unprepared, he or she will have to bear the consequences of not performing up to the mark, which will manifest itself as regret, guilt, grief. It will be a
learning experience. However, if such mistakes are repeated, parents should sit with their child and set the limits. They should get their children to think for themselves,” said

Ellen Shinde, clinical head with an online counselling service.