Physical abuse is not discipline it's a wound that Guyanese need to abandon

Sep 20, 2026 Features / Columnists, News

(Kaieteur News) – During sessions a nine-year-old who began seeing me for behavioural problems said “Mommy had to get licks because she is not obeying daddy like me”. Many think, they would have turned out bad if it was not for licks. This is not true.

Physical abuse is often judged by the evidence left on the body: the bruise, swollen face, belt mark, fractured bone or wound. Honesty requires us to look beyond the skin. A bruise disappears in days; the psychological meaning of being deliberately hurt by someone responsible for loving, protecting or educating you remain for decades.