A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Abuse, which the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as “to use or treat so as to injure or damage,” is often associated with physical abuse. However, other types of abuse, including emotional and psychological, are also damaging to an individual. Furthermore, all of these types of abuse often overlap, and they can harm an individual’s development immensely. Using the links provided, consider the following questions: What is child maltreatment? What are some of the causes and consequences? How is child abuse determined globally?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will use their reading comprehension skills to identify relevant statistical information. The World Health Organization Fact Sheet is a comprehensive document on the subject, so students will also use their summarization skills to identify only the main points in their responses.

• This definition on different meanings of the term “abuse” is used above.
• This fact sheet from the World Health Organization provides information on global child maltreatment.

2. After World War II, the concept of The Ideal Family was usually based on a nuclear family structure of a stable, two-parent household and children. Popular TV shows like “The Brady Bunch” promoted The Ideal Family in the United States as one without serious problems or significant strife. In reality, violence within families was often underreported and/or not considered abusive. Using the sources below, consider the changing perceptions towards The Ideal Family and domestic violence from the mid-20th century to the present day. How have societal attitudes changed?

Teaching Suggestion: This short answer encourages students to think about the historical context in which Pelzer experienced his abuse as a child. While this question focuses on abuse within the family more generally, use this as an opportunity to discuss how the presence of violence within families during the mid-20th century directly clashed with the persistent stereotype of the idyllic, loving American family. This short answer can be linked with the longer essay question regarding the relationship between Dave’s mother and father.

• This article entitled “Dinner with the Nuclear Family” uses a short video from the 1950s to discuss the portrayal of the family in the post-WWII era. Additionally, the short answer questions at the end of the video are good for discussion.
• This article in Time magazine highlights the change in perception of domestic violence.