No More Bullying

My girls were 8 and 10 years old when they had their first experience with being bullied. A new school year had begun, and with it came new students that had moved in over the summer.

I picked them up from school everyday, so they waited for me, along with other children waiting for rides, in front of the main entrance to the school. This particular day, as I drove up, I saw that my younger daughter was crying uncontrollably. I immediately hurried to get out to see why.

My older daughter relayed how they had just come from the girl's bathroom. While in there an older girl, a new student, had blocked their exit when they were done. My older daughter stood up against her, telling her to leave them alone, but it scared my younger girl.  

I went directly into the principal's office, who was sitting behind her desk. My daughters told her what happened. When she asked where the girl was now, they said she was still in the bathroom. She had us wait in the lobby while she went into the girl's bathroom. Seconds later, she and the girl passed by us, and was made to wait for her mother in the principal's office.

A while later, the girl came out crying harder than my daughter had been earlier, and apologized for her behavior. The mother reassured me that nothing like that would ever happen again. It didn't.

Children who are bullies are usually the children of bullies. It is a learned trait, and is a cover for the insecurity they feel inside. They fall into the categories mentioned in Romans 1:29-32, particularly verse 30. They are, among the other things, inventors of evil things and disobedient to parents.

We find that in Genesis that Ishmael mocked Isaac, who was 14 years younger than him. For that, he and his mother was cast out, because Sarah saw that the bullying would continue if they stayed. We find this pattern all down through history...the bullies always pick on the younger and/or weaker. The only way for bullying to stop is for adults, parents, and peer groups to get involved in children's lives.

Resources for help:

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/bullies.html

http://www.nobully.org.nz/advicek.htm
https://www.wizcase.com/blog/a-comprehensive-cyberbullying-guide-for-parents/ 

Sui-cide

                                   

Sui-cide: The act of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind.  
 

Is there anyone out there who has a dark cloud hanging over them? Is that dark cloud in the form of lonely life, being bullied, or any negative situation or circumstance going on right now? I know how you feel.....I went through the same feelings, both as a teenager and as an adult.

 

I was a very lonely teenager....had a large family; lots of cousins, but no real friends. I grew up ina very small mountain community, and that did not help. Seven times in my early teenage years my sister took a butcher knife out of my hands. To me, a stab in the heart would do the job. She never told my parents, and of course, neither did I.

 

I made it through high school, then married soon after. Leaving the little mountain community was a temporary solution to the depression. I went on with my life~had children, divorced, worked two jobs, and entered into another abusive relationship. In March, 2004, I decided I'd had enough of the abuse, and 144 pills-2 days in ICU-7 days in the psych ward later, I felt much better. The doctors said I should have died, but God had a bigger purpose.

 

Ultimately, all I was looking for was love and acceptance, none of which I got growing up except from my paternal grandparents. All this time~since I was 14 years old~I knew who my Savior was....but I was searching for 'my purpose' in the wrong places. After this attempt, my life changed drastically....and has continued to improve in leaps and bounds. All I had to do was put Him first.

 

My challenge to any who are thinking about or considering this permanent solution to a temporary problem to seek help. Not just the help that will put you on medicines that will 'regulate' you. Seek the Great Physician that can repair ALL the damage, no matter where it comes from. Whether it is from child molestation (which I suffered) unloving parents (me again) no positive role models in my peer group (ditto), a change will come if you sincerely seek it from Him. You can be alive again, in a way that you never thought or imagined.

 

Before you consider taking your own life, give Him a chance.