I know that if I homeschool my kids, this monster will not be non-existent. But, speaking from my own personal experience, I was far better equipped to deal with bullying, but also, I didn’t have to deal with a lot of it.
Bullying these days is a rampant evil that runs amuck through our school systems and in our children’s lives. It is something that we should not be turning a blind eye to. Most things that go on under the guise of “bullying” could technically be classified as harassment and even abuse. Children are feeling pressured into not telling their parents or anyone else in authority for multiple reasons, whether it be because they feel endangered by doing so, or if they are just plain too embarrassed to tell.
I could get on my soapbox about this all day long, but the purpose of this post is to make a point that I could eliminate most of that heartache and struggle from my child’s life, merely by not putting them in a public school environment. I don’t want them to have to go through that. No mother would. And not only do I not want them to, but I also feel that by teaching them from a young age what’s okay and what is not, that even if they did run across these issues in their lives, they would be better equipped in how to handle such situations than most children today.
There are so many pressures and situations where bullying could be prevalent in a public school environment, that I feel much safer teaching my kids myself.
This post does spark something in me. I want to do more research on this topic and how we can affect change in our culture.
What are your thoughts about bullying? Should I do another post on it?
By God’s Grace,
Victoria
When my oldest three kids were in public school, each one of them were bullied, and two had truly heartbreaking experiences as the victims of bullying. In one case, one of my son’s teachers was the only one at his school to stand up for him after his bully turned the entire grade away from him (he had one friend who was in another grade and that was it), and in my daughter’s case, the problem ended up at the vice principal’s feet and he made my daughter apologize to her bully and completely excused the bully’s behavior. I ended up homeschooling that daughter and my two youngest children and we were so glad to get out of the bully scene of public school. Except for a few kind teachers, I have never felt public school was nurturing for my children. Not only that, but I often felt bullied by the staff of my children’s public schools in one way or another. I was never respected as my child’s parent. There was always the implication that school staff were superior to me.
Amen to that sister!
I feel like there are two kinds of bullying : the kind you referenced here and the kind that you see in the old movies (ex. Hey you have big ears/talk funny/a different skin tone) While I’ll be the first to admit this is harmful and cruel (I’ve been treated like this by a public schooler) I also think we do children an injustice by not teaching them how to deal with it. Of course, tell an adult so it can be handled, but don’t go through life with a chip on your shoulder. God made you the way He made you for a reason. You can’t stop people from saying mean things to you in life, but you can control the way you respond.
Like I said, I’m not referring to the more violent side bullying, strictly the verbal. Words can hurt, but we can hurt our kids by giving them a “How dare you speak to me like that” attitude. Jesus was verbally attacked and He didn’t wallow in self pity.
Bullying needs to stop, but a good way to stop it is helping the bullied not become a bully.
I would love to hear more on this topic! This is definitely a great reason to Homeschool!
Victoria thank You for talking about this bullying problem. Unfortunately, many schools turn a deaf ear to reports of bullying. It can lead to tragedy. The schools have to be more responsive to this problem. I would not send my children to public school. I did attend public school,but it is not a good thing for most children today. Keep these posts coming concerning public schools and their problems. God Bless.
Marilyn
I’m not going to say a whole lot about this, but I do want to say something, so here it is: someone I knew passed away from suicide a few months back, and bullying in the public education system was a large factor in why it happened. I won’t go into detail, and if I didn’t think that was something you should take into account, I wouldn’t even said anything.