Let me tell you about a little girl my wife is treating.

[JDPriestly]

4. During the prenatal period, parents should be strongly encouraged

to attend a couple of sessions on parenting. Nothing obtrusive, just the standard education.

They should learn what is violence. A lot of them do not realize it when they are seriously harming their child. A little discussion about readiness for school, about protecting a child from sexual predators -- especially from sexual predators who are friends of members of the family.

Churches, schools, civic clubs -- would all be good places to offer this. .

We think we know it all and don't need training. But you would be very surprised to learn just whose children suffer from abuse of various kinds.

The dependency courts where they decide to place abused or neglected children in foster homes are full of poor kids from poor or middle-class families. But children everywhere in all kinds of families may be unlucky enough to suffer from abuse and/or neglect.

And when a stranger abuses a child, the parents may not even know or if they find out, may not know what to do or may be afraid to contacts someone.

This is a bigger problem in our country than is generally acknowledged.

Thanks for posting this.