Chita is a girl. She is 8 years old. She lives in a small village in Northern Chiang Mai.
She lives with her grandparents, father, and younger brother. Her mother broke up with her father when she was young and her brother was just a newborn.
Chita’s family has a small grocery store. The head of the family is her grandmother.
Her father is unemployed. He is a good-for-nothing person and he is explosive.
Her grandparents took care of her when she was born.
At first everything seemed good, but after her brother was born, her parents broke up and the baby boy needed someone to take care of him. Because the father was always drunk, Chita had to become like a nanny when she was 6 years old. She didn’t have time to play and have fun like her friends.
The grandparents are too old to have to look after members of the family.
Her father always gets mad when the baby boy cries but he doesn’t take care of his baby. He just scolds Chita, even for just small problems. It seems like he doesn’t love her anymore. Even though she is his daughter too.
Once, when Chita's baby brother was running around, he fell. He got a little cut on his forehead. The father got very angry with Chita and kicked her out of the house. Her grandparents didn’t do much to help because they didn’t want the father to get angrier with them (the grandmother makes too many allowances for him). Chita’s older step-sister took her in. However, after a few weeks, her father needed her to go back home because no-one was taking care of the baby brother. So, the father lied and told the oldest daughter that Chita needed to go back to school. She came back to the nightmare family.
The school opened for only 3 days and closed again because of an outbreak of COVID-19.
She would be happy if the school opened. She would like time to spend as a young girl like other children do. That would be much better than staying with a useless father all day and night.
How many children like Chita are subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of their parents or guardians? Do you frequently see children like Chita in your community? Children selling food or items while caring for their younger sisters/brothers, children who are being beaten, children who are forced to drop out of school to help earn income for their families, children who have been traumatized by their parents' quarrels and violence, and so on… Children like Chita who have experienced domestic violence may experience different trauma throughout their life which may cause them to become scared and distrustful of others. Since parents are also human beings, they have their own emotions and trauma. However, it is critical that they seek out healthy ways of living and coping with stress. Otherwise, parents risk causing traumatic experiences in their children’s lives. There are many mental health counseling services available nowadays with social workers, both paid and volunteer-based, where you can seek professional assistance. If you are unable to access professional assistance, you can also try healthy coping methods such as mediation, yoga, self-care, doing things you enjoy, and so on. It is valid for everyone to have their own emotions. However, it is not valid to hurt other people mentally or physically due to their own emotions.