Domestic violence is the violent victimization of women within the boundaries of the family. WHO defines violence as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or group, or community, which results in a high likelihood of resulting in injury.

Different forms of domestic violence includes-:

1. Emotional Abuse
•Talking in a high tone.
•Continuous shouting.
• Insulting.
2. Physical Abuse
•Pushed or shoved.
•Kicked or slapped.
3. Psychological Abuse
•Destruction of objects.
•Threats to take away custody of children.

Domestic violence not only affects the person who is facing this, but it affects mostly the children. Generally, in fights between parents, children suffered the most. They suffer mentally. During the fight, the parents don’t think about their kids because they are already traumatized.

According to my Point of view-

“Domestic violence not only affects the child, but it mostly affects their childhood.”

They somehow start losing connection with their friends, relatives, and neighbors. They feel ashamed to face their own people. They start hiding their feelings and their thoughts. Sometimes even the parents force the child to not discuss the fight with any relatives So that they can preserve their pride.

But these things impact children’s psychology. They start hiding everything, even when they are in trouble or any kind of stress, they tend to not share them with anyone.

The impact of Domestic violence can be felt in early childhood. Domestic violence in early childhood leads to an emotional breakdown. Among school-going children, it can cause anxiety and fear of separation from their parents, especially their mother. They may face difficulties in making friends. If anyone wants to approach them, they may try to maintain distance from the people. Pre-school children react to domestic violence in many ways like having problems in falling asleep, aggressive behavior, difficulties in understanding anything, etc.

Children facing domestic violence at home display unpredictable behavior, and constant feelings of danger.
This violence can affect their skills, and vocabulary at a very young age. In the age of expressing themselves, and taking part in extracurricular activities, they build a shell around themselves which disconnects them from the outer world and this results in affecting their overall development. At Teenage many children get involved in drug consumption, alcohol consumption, smoking, etc. because they think that it is the only way to escape from their problems and that’s how they ruin themselves.

This problem increased especially during Covid-19 due to alcoholism, economic problems, and thought
conflicts between parents. The main problem is that the children facing these problems do not know
how to reach out for help. Their signs of facing violence get unobserved.

Possible Solutions:-

Impact of Domestic violence can be avoided when we can diagnose them at an early age. Having counsellors in every school can reduce these problems, they can communicate with the children and help them to express their feelings and share their problems.

Intervention by NGOs can also help them. We can have Mahila Samities at ground level, like in rural areas. So they can educate villagers because in rural areas many people are involved in alcoholism if we can educate them they can provide a better environment for their children. We can make them aware with the help of NGOs, conducting monthly workshops, and family counselling.

In urban areas also we can arrange counselling sessions for Parents as well as Children. In my opinion, if Government will provide some schemes to reduce alcoholism and some schemes for Child Mental Health, we can eradicate this problem.

According to Youth in India 2022 reports: In India, 27.2% of the population of the country comprises youth. We want to make our country a developed Country and for this, we have to provide a healthy environment to the developing children, so that they can enhance their skill and in the future, contributes to the development of our Country. Our young children and youth have to be mentally stable and healthy, their happiness will contribute to India’s prosperity.

-Ashna Shree

References:-
°Youth in India 2022 Report
°Michele Lloyd- Domestic violence and education: Examining the impact of Domestic violence on young
children, Children, and young people and the potential role of Schools. Published – 13 November 2018.
°Sanjeev Kumar and Kalpana Devi – Domestic Violence against women Indian perspective.
°Arushi Aul – Children are the forgotten victims of domestic violence.
°April 3, 2022/ Arushi Aul in voices, lifestyle TOI.