Bhubaneswar: A recent study conducted by United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra has hinted at deeper psychological impact of domestic violence on children.
According to the study, when the kids in the age group of 8-10 years are exposed to violence, many of them feel agitated and want to stop fights while there are also some especially the girls who blame themselves for the violence and isolate themselves from their parents out of fear.
The study also claimed that most children feel scared and do not wish to be exposed to any violent and abusive acts in the family.
The study claimed that while boys are mainly disciplined for refusing to work and disrespecting parents, girls are disciplined for several reasons. Some of these include interfering in their parent’s fights, poor score, leaving their hair open, making frequent and unnecessary demands, losing money and not finishing their household chores.
The Unicef study also highlighted that the kids are trained on their gender-based roles starting from as low as three years. “Mothers impose time restrictions on 3-6 years female children, ask them to be mindful of what they wear, polite to people, obey their elders and sit properly. Grandparents advise 4-6 years old female kids to walk slowly in front of elders and keep their eyes down.”
It also said that fathers instruct female kids to engage in household chores. The report also said that in the 0-3 years age group girls and boys play with the same toys except for dolls, which only girls play with. In the 3-6 years age group, male children ride bicycles, play board games like ludo, carom, marbles and ‘gilli danda’.
The report also highlighted the greater participatory role of grandmothers and grandfathers in earlier stimulation period of kids in the early ages of development from 0-3 years.
According to the report, grandparents play significant role in storytelling, massage, bathe, waking up, feeding, putting to sleep, taking them outdoors, supervising them when they are engaged among themselves.