I have lived through many years of abuse. Physical, mental, emotional, and sexual. No child should have to live with these secrets. This abuse stays with a person forever, and it can make one afraid of the simplest things. Me, I am afraid of the night. I still fear that I will be attacked in my sleep at night so I don¿t sleep very well at night. The affects of abuse are very long lasting and the fears that one gets because of abuse is very real. Counseling can help to an extent if you can ever trust your counselor. Abuse keeps one from trusting easily and sometimes not at all. If you do not break the cycle then you become the abuser. I know that I have always been afraid of that too. I don¿t want to be an abuser. Abusers ruin peoples lives and that just isn¿t cool. I guess in a way I have broken the cycle in being determined to never hurt a child, instead to help and protect children. I can¿t stand seeing a child being hurt in any way and wish that there were stronger laws in place protecting children from predators¿ and keeping predators¿ away from our children. Parents also need to step up and listen to their children, when your child says that someone is messing with them, listen and protect them. Get the police involved even if it is your own family member doing the deed. A predator never stops, they just get worse and start killing the children. Lets get these predators off of the streets and demand stricter laws for them. Our children are the future. What kind of future are they going to have if they are victims of abuse? The statistics on child abuse are wrong. They are only for reported cases. Times that number by two or three or more and you will have a more accurate count. Most cases of child abuse don¿t get reported, some are because the child is too afraid to tell. Most are because the child is not believed. If your own parents won¿t believe you who will is how they feel. I know because it happened to me. My parents didn¿t believe me and my dad went to his grave believing me a liar, all because of Mother.