‘Early Childhood Panorama’ Survey reveals that 17% of caregivers believe that acts are effective in education, while 12% assault even knowing that this is not an efficient way to educate
Despite physical punishments such as spanking, pinches to squeezes are prohibited by law, 29% of people caregivers of Up to 6 years old admit that they use these methods as a discipline strategy. Thirteen percent recognize that they always do. The finding is in the panorama survey of early childhood: what Brazil knows, lives and thinks about the first six years of life, launched this Monday (1st) by the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation. The study shows that 17% of caregivers consider these acts an effective form of strategy for discipline. That is, 12% assault even knowing that this is not an efficient way to educate. The survey was conducted in partnership with the Datafolha Institute and interviewed 2,206 people across the country, with 822 caregivers of children up to 6 years. The launch marks August Green, a mobilization period on the importance of early childhood.
Law prohibits
Here in Brazil, the Boy Bernardo Law has been known as prohibits these types of physical punishments applied to children and adolescents, with the perpetrators of aggression and may be warned and referred to guidance courses and programs. The law was baptized in this way to remember the death of 11-year-old Bernardo Boldrini, victim of assaults and killed by his stepmother and father in Três Passos (RS), in April 2014. The Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation’s executive director, Mariana Luz, regrets the percentage identified by the survey and considers that there is a repetition of a cultural pattern that does not work as a disciplinary. “We are the country of ‘I caught, yes, and I am here, I survived.’ We are the country that says ‘who gave birth to Matthew that packs’. We are the country that finds the inferior child,” criticizes the director, in an interview with Agência Brasil. “It doesn’t help and doesn’t solve,” he concludes, about physical punishment.
Consequences
The Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, a civil society organization, stresses that no form of violence against children is harmless and cites negative effects, such as development of aggressiveness, anxiety, depression, and physical marks. The survey also identified that 14% of caregivers admit to screaming and fighting with children. Despite these answers associated with repressive behavior, the most cited disciplinary methods were: talk and explain the error (96% of respondents) and calm the child and remove it from the place/situation (93%). Among people who admit aggressive behaviors against children, most of them (40%) believes that a consequence is “greater respect for authority and teaching the child to obey.”
One third of those who hit children (33%) recognize that one of the impacts is aggressive behavior; And one in five (21%) admits that the child develops low self -esteem and lack of confidence. “Violence, spanking, aggressions, violations of rights, abuse, negligence is directly detractors of development,” emphasizes Mariana Luz. She also finds that there is still in society the perception that people think they should not intervene in the education of others’ children. “A dog you do not assault in the public square, because someone will take the phone and will report. A child does not, a child receives a slap, a scream, a pinch within a public equipment and no one says anything,” he says.
Early childhood
For Mariana Luz, another fact of the survey that drew attention is the fact that 84% of the researched universe does not know that early childhood is the most important phase of human personal development. Also, only 2% could say exactly when early childhood happens. The definition of early childhood as the phase that goes until the age of 6 follows the Brazilian law. Although this interval is also adopted in other countries, there may be variations. “All peaks of physical, motor, cognitive, socio -emotional development happen in the first six years of life,” says Luz.
She mentions that the brain of children at this age performs 1 million synapses (communication between neurons, nervous system cells) per second and 90% of brain connections are established. “Study after study, repeatedly, brings the evidence that it is in the first six years of life that the physical, cognitive and emotional bases are established,” he bases the director. Despite scientific evidence, the survey identified that 41% of respondents think it is in adulthood the phase that the human being develops the most. For 25% is between 12 and 17 years.
Mariana believes that we need awareness work so that the population knows how to recognize and give importance to this fundamental period of human development. “The old age [idosos] Today is super consolidated, but there was a time when we didn’t have this clear understanding either, ”he compares. Mariana Luz quotes studies by American economist James Heckman, winner of the Nobel Economics Award (2000) on early childhood investment.“ Heckman says that for each dollar invested, you have seven of return, ”he recalls. public security and income generation in income ”.
Free to play
The research also sought to know which practices respondents consider most important for child development. The most cited (96%) was to teach you to respect the elders, “surpassing other actions that science proves as essential for child development”, such as talking to the child (88%), attending daycare, preschool (81%) and letting it play (63%). For the executive director of the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, the fact that respect for the elders emerges at the top of the answers shows low valorization of early childhood education and play. “Play is the main axis of what the common national curriculum base brings as a guiding thread of early childhood.
Screen time
Datafolha survey identified that children in early childhood spend an average of two hours watching television, mobile, tablet or computer. In the case of 40% of children, time ranges from two to three hours. The Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) recommends that children up to 2 years have no contact with screens. Between 2 and 5 years, a maximum of one hour a day, always accompanied by an adult, “for the interaction to happen,” adds Luz.
Mariana acknowledges that often the need is imposed, “the person has no one to leave.” She suggests that a way to reduce exposure to screens is including the child in the routine of the house. “Include in the routine of washing the dishes together, to put the clothes on the clothesline,” he exemplifies. The director also points out that it is the responsibility of the State to offer day care centers, which must be charged by society. “The responsibility of this child, for the constitution, is mine, yours, is from the family, is from the state,” he says. In 2022, the Federal Supreme Court (STF), maximum instance of the judiciary in Brazil, decided that it is the state’s duty to guarantee vacancies in day care and preschool for children up to 5 years of age.
*With information from Agência Brasil
