Yesterday I called my son Allen to greet him who went to live in Chile 6 months ago for the economic and social situation in Venezuela. Between one thing and another about Chile, he expressed his concern about a very common custom of Chileans to dope their children to reassure them. He told me that most of his coworkers dope their children to sleep early. And others drug them to keep them under control.
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But, the most critical thing was when she told me that some of them allowed the teachers to calm the children so that they could stay calm during the hours they spent at school.
I told him that this is not only delicate, but abusive and criminal against children.
If it is not a medicine properly directed by a doctor for a disease or clinical condition of the child, it is a crime that could cause temporary and permanent physical and psychological harm to children and even death.
Giving non-prescription medications to children, such as cough syrup, in order to reassure them, is a form of abuse.
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One mother said she does not condemn mothers who medicate children: "That's not going to kill him." "It's certainly better than hitting, screaming, throwing doors or losing control."
But giving children commonly used medicines or prescription drugs can lead to unintended consequences, said the author of an investigation, which links this practice with child abuse. The research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, found an average of 160 cases per year in which pharmaceutical drugs were used maliciously with minors.
"We believe that the malicious use of drugs can be an unrecognized form - or a component - of child abuse," wrote pediatrician Shan Yin. Using information from the US Poison Data System, Yin found that children commonly received painkillers, stimulants or street drugs, sedatives, hypnotics, neuroleptics or cough or flu medications.
Yin found 1,439 cases from the year 2000 to 2008. Of those, 14% resulted in injuries, and 18% of the children died. In more than half of the cases there was at least one sedative drug; 17 of the 18 deaths were with sedatives. Yin said that the poisoning information is likely to underestimate the actual number of cases.
It is also unclear why children were given antidepressants, stimulants and neuroleptics. The reasons, says Yin, can vary widely, as parents overwhelmed with the burden of children, and seek rest, fun or punishment.
"Every time you give a medication for any other purpose than is explicitly prescribed, you run the risk of harming the child," he said.
This year, a Massachusetts woman was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the death of her 4-year-old daughter, whose blood had a lethal level of a hypertension drug used to sedate children with deficit disorder. attention with hyperactivity.
Her husband, who was tried separately, was convicted of murder in the first degree, according to NECN, a CNN affiliate. Prosecutors argued that the father had given the child pills to silence her, or ordered his wife to do so.
But in more common circumstances, from day to day, the ethical limits are diffuse.
Although there are ambiguous situations where the line is between helping the child legitimately - in the vast majority of cases - and situations in which the intention to sedate the child is a form of abuse. However, even if the intention is good, if it results in damage or death to your children, you will suffer a repentance that will last you a lifetime.
Parents can give some medication to relax them and think they are not affecting them. This happens in families where they feel "overwhelmed or desperate." Even so, it is still a form of child abuse.
Each case has different elements and motives, so it is difficult to generalize whether deliberately medicating a child is abuse, said James Hmurovich, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America.
"If it's for a medical reason, that's one thing," said Hmurovich. "If because mothers are on the verge of collapse and stress accumulates and they are tired, there is no good use of common medications."
Stop child abuse against children. It is not fair that the parents themselves give drugs to their children to control them.
What happened to discipline with love?
Where was the education of our parents?
Why did not the parents of the past need to give drugs to their children to obey them?
My parents just needed to give us an accurate look to tell us what we should do.