Parents are the biggest influence in their children’s lives.
Therefore, the way they parent affects their children significantly.
Parents who are constantly fighting, for example, are toxic to their children.
Toxic parenting refers to parents being abusive, neglecting, or generally, putting their children’s well-being at risk.
Emily Chebet, a social worker from Uasin Gishu says that the effects on children in the present and future can be very adverse.
She says that they may grow up with trust issues and often feel dissatisfied with themselves and the course of their lives.
“They constantly fixate on their flaws, incompetence and inadequacies they perceive in themselves making it hard for them to have meaningful relationships,” she said.
They also continue having problems with family, friends, and co-workers, feeling like they are misunderstood by them and overwhelmed by their expectations of them.
“This makes them feel isolated and disconnected from people around them,” she added.
A UN Women study in 2020 also found that boys exposed to abuse were more likely to perpetrate violence against women and children in the future.
The Kenya Violence Against Children Survey Report (2019) also found that males who had experienced violence growing up were more likely to become abusive in the future.
“38 per cent of males had experienced childhood violence while 29 per cent of females reported similar violence,” the report said.
Most perpetrators of this violence, the 2019 report said, were parents, caregivers, and adult relatives.
The likelihood of children who were exposed to violence being trapped in cycles of violence is also high as they tend to justify violence happening in their homes.
According to a past study by the World Health Organisation, adolescent boys and girls were more likely to justify gender-based violence than adult men and women, if they grew up in abusive homes.
The more children are exposed to abuse within the family setup, the more gender-based violence may continue to plague communities.
