Your parents, or the adults in your life loves you and look after you and they do not want you to get hurt, they want to help you to become a good adult that can deal with life....
...or that is the way that it mostly work and is suppose to be like, but unfortunately their are adults that do not care about kids and just like the bullies at school, these adults are out to hurt children.
If an adult does not treat a child in the correct way, it is called 'child abuse'.
The first very important thing that you need to remember is that NOBODY may hurt you in any way, no matter if it is with their hands or with their words.
If anybody (even if it is an adult) do something to you that makes you feel uncomfortable, you need to speak up.
DO NOT KEEP QUIET. It will just make things worse.
It is not true that only a certain 'type' of kid will be abused - you can be any color, any age and come from a rich or a poor house and it can be done by family or friends, it is not always strangers. That is what makes it so sad and why a lot of children do not speak about it, because they are ashamed or scared that their family will be broken up.
Sometimes they just want to protect their mom or dad from getting hurt and finding out the truth, but the truth is it is not your job to protect others, especially adults, they need to protect you and can only do that if they know the truth.
You also do not need to feel ashamed - the abuse IS NOT YOUR FAULT. You have the right to be loved and live a life without being hurt in any way.
Find an adult that you can confide in, no matter if it is your mom or your teacher. You need to speak to someone and let them help you get away from that vicious cycle of getting hurt.
If this is something you know is happening to a friend and you know they are scared or do not want to tell anybody about it, you as a friend can still tell someone who can help them. It is not as if you make up stories or tell all your friends, it is because some 'secrets' are bad to keep and they need help.
There are different types of abuse. It can be either physical where a child is been hit, or emotional, where a child is been screamed at and called nasty words, or it can be sexual.
Your body belongs to you and nobody may touch you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable . If they tell you it is a secret or you will get in trouble and it makes you uncomfortable, then you need to know that it is not right. No matter if they are adults, you must tell on them.
An adult can also 'neglect' a child, which mean they do not make sure that they have enough food to eat, a warm place to sleep or give them any attention. That is also a form of abuse.
These are all very difficult topics to talk about and telling on somebody that you know and maybe even love will make you sad or even scared.
This is a normal feeling, but you need to realize that you deserve better.
It will take a lot of courage to tell a trusted adult, but in the end you are doing it because you deserve a better life. If you cannot talk about it to somebody, you can even write a letter, but get it out there that you can get help.
Do not give your power of being a happy and loved child away to an adult that wants to hurt you.
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