Bullying…Is it Only for the Schools?

Is bullying limited to the public schools only?  It doesn’t take me long to answer that question.  Of course, the answer is no.  Bullying does seem to be on the rise and it seems meaner than ever.  The video below proves it.  If you haven’t seen it, watch it.  Just know the original version of the video was over 10 minutes long and contains language so bad that none of the news can show it to you. 

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What next for school bus bullies?

There is no doubt that bullying is on the rise.  You see it everyday and it’s a horrible reminder as a Christian as to the state of how the world is going.  But are we immune to it?  As homeschoolers?  As Christians?

I can tell you for a fact, no.  I would have never thought that our family would be bullied to extent that we have been bullied and not because we homeschool.  That I almost expected.  But not from the places where it came from.

My oldest daughter was bullied by girls at church so badly that she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and slight depression.  These girls didn’t hit her, they just taunted her and isolated her from friends.  Praise the Lord after over a year of prayer and working with our daughter, she was able to resume her normal church life and she was even able to become friends with these girls again and have an amazing friendship that she was able to use as a ministry to other kids who have been bullied.

That was a good story, but not all of our stories have turned out so great.  A neighbor kid tried to choke my son when he was little.  All turned out fine with my son, luckily he was young enough that he really doesn’t remember it.  But that kid as a young adult, years later, has been in and out of jail.  So sad.

One of my kids was bullied by a Christian coach.  (I will go no further with that story.)  But it was heart breaking for her and has left a scar on her heart.  My girls have been bullied by a youth pastor’s wife that has been bad enough to make my oldest leave our church, and my youngest will not go to any youth event.  Matter of fact, she is not allowed to be near her (my choice).  My son won’t even go to our youth anymore.  They have lost friends and lost a lot of trust and I’m afraid this pain may remain with them forever.  This is a very long and complicated story that I won’t even go into at this point.  We are dealing with it daily and it’s very painful for all of us.  There have been more things, but I don’t need to go into all of it for you to see the picture.  Please know that God has given me a lot of grace to deal with these things.  So this is not angry rant, I’m just stating what I see and hear myself and from my friends that are also dealing with these same things at their churches or Christian events.

I guess my point is, that unfortunately, we are dealing with bullying everywhere and it has bled into the church and into Christians.  It seems like Christians don’t even recognize it when it happens at church or when it happens to them.  We make excuses for it, we don’t want to deal with it.  Some people even use their Christianity to hide behind when they behave the way they do.  I’ve seem so many adult Christians bullying other adult Christians or kids at church it’s ridiculous.  I will stand up for my kids and I will call it what it is, bullying.  The bullying from Christians must stop.   It needs to stop from everyone.  Will it stop?  Or is this just a sign of the times? 

P.S.  For those sweet people who donated to this lady, you are amazing!