View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

dysfunction of the pedagogic situation.
[98]
(b) . The parents as an aetioloiPcal factor regarding the abused child
According to Van Niekerk (1990) there can be little doubt that parents or guardians
ofneglected children did not really understand their children's physical, emotional and
cognitive needs, and therefore also could not interpret their behaviour, or how to
discourage and to deal with improper acts.
Traditionally the Black mother relinquishes the care of her child to the grandmother
or aunts, or other siblings. In the urban situation this tradition cannot be continued.
In most cases the mother has to work, and she often has to leave her children
unattended at home (Van Niekerk 1990 : 6). The shift of the mother's workplace away
from the house or the fields has had definite implications for child rearing.
When the child feels rejected and unwelcome, he develops a feeling of inferiority.
Kellmer Pringle (1980 : 35) phrases it as follows: "Approval and acceptance by others
are essential for the development of self- approval and self-acceptance. Whether a
child will develop a constructive or destructive attitude, depends in the first place on
his parent's attitude to him."
It seems as though the traditional role of the parent in the Black urban area has in
many ways become contra- productive, due inter alia, to the fact that the values upheld
by the family to the present, are opposed by the children (Van Niekerk, 1987 : 16).
Thus these parents cannot fulfil the basic educational needs of their children, and it
becomes the task of the formal schooling system to help bring about the change.
(c) Errors in the parent-child relationship
Van Niekerk (1987 : 14-20) ascn"bes the dysfunction of the pedagogical situation to
specific errors in relationship to the child. These factors are summarised under the
following headings :
.