I was bullied when my family moved from Oklahoma to Texas in the fifth grade. I didn’t get bullied by the traditional big kid like you see in the movies. Maybe it was because I was taller than most of the kids in my class, but my bullies always showed up in groups of at least two. The harassment got so bad at one point, my parents gave me permission to take alternate routes home from school to avoid them. Did I mention one of the bullies was my next door neighbor? Yeah, that was special. I knew that if I fought Beavis at home, I would just get jumped by him and his bully buddy at school the next day. (Beavis wasn’t his real name, but it hints at what I thought about his buddy.)
When I got to sixth grade, my dad told me a way I could handle my situation. The next time Beavis confronted me at home, I stood my ground. Pushing lead to shoving, and we ended on the ground with me on top. Beavis was able to get out from under me and went running into his house crying. I only told my parents about the fight. Sure enough, the next day, Beavis’ bully buddy got in my face demanding, “I hear you’ve been going around telling everybody you beat up Beavis!”
I calmly looked him straight in the eye and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t beat up Beavis?”
“No.”
“You haven’t been telling people you beat him up?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I better not find out that you are.”
“Okay.” I replied.
The bully buddies slowly turned around and walked away. They never bothered me again.
If this had taken place in 2017, my family and I would have probably ended up in Guantanamo Bay by the end of the week. The fight is not the point of the story. The significance is that my parents listened to me, gave me options on how to resolve my issue, and allowed me to try to handle it by myself without involving them. They encouraged me to take ownership of the challenges in my life. They taught me how to make decisions so I could learn to live independently of them someday. Shouldn’t that be the goal of all parents?
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me parents who loved me so much they were willing to Adding that hour to my trip was the right decision.allow me to face the challenges of my childhood, so I could become a confident adult.
Have you ever been bullied? What did you do about it? How did it affect you? How would you handle the situation if your child was being bullied? Share your thoughts in the comment area.
