The many ways Jehovah's Witnesses harm children

by under_believer 15 Replies latest jw friends

  • jaguarbass
    jaguarbass

    How about being dissapointed and disillusioned when armegedon didnt come in 75?

  • parakeet
    parakeet

    The sheer volume of time a JW child must spend to meet their "spiritual" obligations constitutes child abuse, IMO. The child is required to attend 5 hours of meetings every week, participate in Saturday morning field service, attend circuit and district assemblies, study the Society's literature at home, and prepare for MS talks.

    And adding to this burden is the time a child must spend in secular school (with homework assigned every night). The result is that there is almost no time for a child to have any fun and indulge in the enjoyments of childhood. The oppressive demands and stress placed on a JW child is cruel and abusive (at least it was for me).

    I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I needed therapy in my late 20s (after I left the JWs) to try to come to terms with my experience as a JW child.

  • Frank75
    Frank75

    Making parents bring their children to at least 2 meetings a week to be bored out of their tree, long past the time they should be in bed. That has caused most of us who were raised in that cult untold problems.

    We put our son to bed at 6:30 to 7:30 and he sleeps all night. First I do not understand how parents did it, including mine, second I am glad my son will never have to live through that BS.

    Likewise he will be enrolled in every "extra curricular" activity that his heart desires, and we will both be there for every game, chess match or school play/dance!

    Frank75

  • zack
    zack

    Being raised in the truth I appreciate and can identify with every comment. But when it was said that you always feel like you are teetering on the edge of something,

    well, that really hit home. As a child i was ALWAYS waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now I know it was this religion. The leaders are truly hateful.

  • carla
    carla

    For children who have a parent who converts the children feel a total sense of abandonment. If a parent on occasion has to work late and not see the child that night (being a school night) that is one or two nights gone, then comes Tues & Thurs, Sat & Sun meetings as well as the time hiding away studying the wt crap. Then if the elders are on a rampage there are extra hours of fs needed. After awhile the kids get used to it and actually dread them being home instead of the other way around. Sad thing is that the jw has no clue their own kids don't give a damn anymore. The part time parent has lost all respect and has become nothing more than a sperm/egg donor.

    Loss of familly tradition that once existed. Even if you continue on there is still loss as the jw may be absent or trying hard to be there but the ever famous 'seperate from the world'.

    Embarrassment, what if dad/mom knocks on one of my friends doors???!!!! My kids don't even want anyone to know about their jw. Embarrassment at a school functions(if he goes) and the pledge is said or National Anthem, there he is silently protesting. I don't even like sitting next to him in those instances! Never fails either, I will notice a Vet close by and feel like crawling under the bleachers! Or carrying a sign, 'I'm not really with him".

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass

    In primary school, teachers would tell my parents that I was mature; this is because I was well-behaved and controllable. They stopped using that word by late high school, by which time I was years behind my peers. They were learning about relationships, making plans for their future, doing things for the community, working out sex, doing part-time jobs, acting their age through sports or activities they were interested in and growing up... I was getting off the bus and going home to watch cartoons.

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