Child Neglect

I grew up as an only daughter with both of my parents. My older brothers came from Dominican Republic when I was a teen. I am very attached to my mother, we do everything together, we cannot be apart from one another. I also hold a close relationship with my brothers kids. I have a seven year old niece, a five year old nephew and a seven month old nephew. “ Children become attached to whoever functions as their primary caregiver.” When my niece Angelis was born my family and I spent a lot of time with her. I would pick her up every weekend and take her over my house for sleepovers. When her brother Angel was born the treatment wasn’t equal. I preferred spending time with my niece over him. Girls are more fun to shop for, hair bows, and dress up. I would always leave my nephew home with my sister in law and my brother. I remember he will stay behind crying ( although he was a just months).
Reading A Boy Thats Was Raised As A Dog changed the lives of my family. I know that if by any means me not spending enough time with my nephew traumatized him , one of the only ways to fix our relationship was by building a better one. I started doing extra activities with just him. I got him to draw and I got him to come out his shell. Now, I see that he is more social around the family , and he is sharing ideas of what he likes to do for fun and he is also demonstrating love towards me. I don’t know if he was traumatized, but what I do know is that it is very easy to neglect a child without malice. I do have a favorite, but I learned to treat them all the same way. I make sure to spend a lot of time with my newborn nephew and we share a lot of skin to skin contact. Chapter 7, taught me that secure attachment as I related the definition to how my niece feels towards me. She confides in me and tells me everything that goes on at home and in school. I am the first person she goes to for adult like decisions. I feel that although I do not live with them, I give them the feeling of being met and understood. I feel that we crave for each others connection. During this course I learned to become a better caregiver. I want my niece, nephew and future kids to be physically and emotionally healthy all throughout. I want them to know what feels good, what feels bad, and how strong a situation can make them without hitting rock bottom. I want to help them never feel neglected and limit any abuse they can undergone as they grow up.

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