A Child Called It Essay

As a young child, David had a loving family, his Mommy, his father and his two brothers. By the time he was seven, he was being starved and abused by his mother. In his life, David had to face many challenges. One of which is having to play his mother’s “games” that left him half dead. He would also get punished for being a “bad boy” when he never did anything. Later, he had enough courage to tell someone, his 4th grade teachers at Thomas Edison Elementary School.

The Book A Child Called “It” written by Dave Pelzer who survived one of the most severe child abuse cases in history. He wrote about his life from the beginning when family life was good, and throughout the abusive years, until he was finally rescued. Before kindergarten Dave remembers his life being happy. He stated in the book that, “"My family was the 'Brady Bunch ' of the 1960s. My two brothers and I were blessed with the perfect parents. Our every whim was fulfilled with love and care." But in the years after that he faced unimaginable pain and abuse mentally and physically.

A Child Called “It” brings our attention to mental abuse that adults may inflict on a human being and in this particular case, a child. David’s mother respects the family’s dogs more than she respects her own son. The dogs are fed every day, yet she attempts to starve David. Although David has two other brothers,

By utilizing theories from Urie Bronfenbrenner, Jean Piaget, and Lawrence Kohlberg, one can effectively draw insightful conclusions about how abuse affected Dave Pelzer’s childhood.

Dave Pelzer is the survivor of the third worst case of child abuse in California 's history. Dave grew up with his two brothers and two parents. Catherine, Dave 's mother, loved to cook exotic meals for her family and decorate their home in creative and imaginative ways each holiday season. She was full of energy, often taking her kids on tours of downtown San Francisco while her husband was at work as a fire fighter, exposing them to Golden Gate Park and Chinatown. Once, while on a family camping trip, young Dave was watching the sunset when he felt his mother embrace him from behind and watch the sunset with him over his shoulder. "I never felt as safe and warm as at that moment in time," he recalls.

A Child Called “It” was a heart breaking true story about a young child that found will to survive one of the worst child abuse cases that have ever been reported in California history (Pelzer 3). Pelzer who was the young boy in the story that lived in a devastating world of torture, starvation, and cruelty from the age of four until he was rescued by school officials at the age of twelve. This book will inspire all who

A Child Called It, is an astonishingly horrific true story of “one child’s courage to survive”. Once said “Such a story cannot fail to move.” this is exactly how I felt about this book. Dave Pelzer the author and protagonist of A Child Called It tells the story of his life as one of the worst seen cases of child abuse in the state of California. Dave’s mental strength and resilience is what truly drives the theme of the story and the physical and mental abuse that he had to endure.

     A Child Called ‘It’ is the story of a young boy who, in order to survive, must triumph over the physical, emotional, and medical abuse created by his mother. The exploitation of alcohol plays an important role in the abuse by the mother and the neglect to see and the courage to intervene the problems by Dave’s father. Dave considered the abuse he endured by his mother, ‘games’. But he always tried to be one small step ahead of her.

Unfortunately, there are children everywhere who endure a form of abuse. Some experience emotional abuse while others experience physical abuse. Other children, like Dave Pelzer, are faced with both. Dave had to grow up in a family of two alcoholic parents. He was severely beaten and tortured by his mother and was neglected by his father. Dave had to spend his childhood in fear of his life. Although sad, his story gives others hope that they too can experience an abusive childhood and live to tell about it.

In our American Society we face multiple problems which plague our nation. Child abuse is a problem that needs to be brought into attention by the population; it can often be overlooked due to the fact that everyone line between discipline and child abuse is different. The International Child Abuse Network (ICAN) uses four basic categories to document the child abuse cases. They are: emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. In the biography is Dave Pelzer titled A Child Called “It” shows examples of the four out of five basic categories of child abuse Dave encountered during his childhood and how he persevered and be quick on his feet in order to survive his ordeal.

In the book A Child Called “it”, by Dave Pelzer, is about a boy who was violently abused by his mother. Dave's abuse lasted for years, his mother would starve, beat, stab,smash and intoxicate him. No one except a teacher from the school was able to save him. Dave the boy being abused by his mother, Catherine is also the author of the book. If I had the chance to talk to the author, Dave Pelzer I would ask questions about his abuse and how he got through it.

After reading the book, “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer, I will say this a melancholic book that depicts the true child abuse that Pelzer suffered in the hands of his mother. This book describes his horrifying experiences in child abuse and I would greatly recommend reading it. The book is fabulous and once you start reading it you will not want to put it down. Pelzer touches on the cruel abused faced by his mother and his deep willingness to survive and try to get ahead in life. This book is a step toward understanding the many different types of abuse and how to recognize the various forms of maltreatment. I will state three incidences of abuse from “A Child Called It.,” label each incident of abuse, and

A Child Called it was a heart breaking true story about a young child that found will to survive one of the worst child abuse cases that have ever been reported in California history. Dave Pelzer who was the young boy lived in a devastating world of torture, starvation, and cruelty from the age of four until he was rescued by school officials at the age of twelve. This book will inspire who all read it but at the same time it will horrify them. This

What did I learn from this book? The only thing that comes to mind when I'm asked that question is pain. I didn't know what real pain was until I tried to understand what this child went through. Everything that meant anything to him, his family, those who should be the closest, was drowned out. He didn't know what to think and so often in the world today, we are naive. We don't have a clue of how life could be, and of how lucky we truly are to have the kinds of backgrounds that we were blessed with.

In Timothy’s case, he did not have a secure attachment to his parents or the caregiver at his daycare. His parents’ violent behavior toward each other, and the spanking done to him, caused him to internalize his feelings. His basic needs were not met at the daycare he attended 10 hours a day. The caregiver had too many young children to care for so he got little affection or attention, poor