Editorial

It comes as something of a shock to realise that children can also be perpetrators, and not just victims, of domestic violence.

The Times gave prominence to this reversal of roles in a report on a seminar about domestic violence. A senior social worker at Agenzija Appogg, the government's social work agency, said they were dealing with an increasing number of cases of parents being abused by their own children, who presumably would be mainly older teenagers.

Some mothers had been badly beaten up to the extent of having to seek protection in a shelter. Others had fallen victim to emotional and psychological violence and sometimes both parents, at a loss for what to do, were at the receiving end of their child's uncontrolled aggression. This would likely be a child well on the way to delinquency and criminality, if not already immersed in it.

It is difficult to say for sure whether this disturbing phenomenon is becoming more widespread. No doubt, it has always been around but it could be that more cases are being referred to social workers than in the past. However, coupled with the recent highlighting, by the Malta Union of Teachers, of what it says is the growing incidence of unacceptable, even violent, behaviour by students towards teachers, it makes for a very worrying trend.

Many factors can be seen to contribute towards such behaviour. The social worker addressing the seminar mentioned earlier hinted at one possibility: in some cases the child imitates the husband's behaviour towards his wife. Other causes, sometimes in combination, may range from the child itself being the victim of violent abuse.

There appears to be a declining culture of respect in society, a weakening of discipline in both homes and schools, an increasing number of family breakdowns, a glorification of violence in film and video games and all this can only contribute to the phenomenon of rising aggressive behaviour by children.

In terms of dealing with overly violent conduct when it arises, the social workers, child psychologists and psychiatrists doubtlessly bring all their skills to bear on the cases that get referred to them. What one needs to question is whether Malta has enough of these professionals and whether the referral system is adequate: Are violent tendencies taken note of by teachers and are such children referred at an early enough age?

Early intervention is the key and the earlier the better. Which is where the parents come in. The way they bring up their children could make the difference between an aggressive child becoming violent or learning self-control.

Although the crucial role of parents is widely acknowledged, and parenting skills courses are becoming more common in schools and parishes, not enough is being done in this area.

The Church, for example, could include a strong parenting component in its compulsory marriage preparation courses. Parenting skills experts could teach engaged couples tried and tested methods of discipline that would serve a lifetime because they are applied early in a child's life. The government could consider providing a special subsidy to schools to enable them to offer regular parenting skills courses to parents of children of all age groups.

Such intervention would render a huge service to society and its benefits, not just in terms of reducing violence, would be felt across generations.