I would like to thank Kate for interviewing me and including me in her “hall of fame” on her blog “Meet The Bloggers. It’s been a few weeks since Kate posted this but as usual with my fibro/fatigue, I’m regularly playing catch up…but I’ve come to accept that as ‘ok’ too… Thanks for reading and do take a few minutes to check out some really interesting blogs.
Sorry for neglecting this blog, I have many excuses but none of them good enough!
Would like to introduce Marie from Ireland who I had read before but it was her interest in posting a series on Bullying that really attracted my attention. She writes well and now I understand as an educator she knows how to keep her posts relevant and short.
Her’s is a most interesting story, so read on …. shame we can’t hear her Irish lilt.
Please share your background, hobbies/interests?
Fàilte! (Welcome!), I’m Marie, a wife, mother, adult further education tutor and blogger from Ireland.
I had an idyllic rural childhood surrounded by extended family. My parents had a strong social conscience and I’ve followed their lead with an interest in social justice. I’ve collected and filled shoeboxes with gifts, for children all over the world for more than twenty years. I was thrilled to…
if you like my quote show some love and share the post , and here some more …. Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. Stephen King If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Bruce…
For a few minutes more, at least. Saturday errands call, but right now the view into the garden has my willpower paralyzed. Soothed by the peaceful nothingness happening out there, I stare blissfully through the glass a little longer.
Oh well. I need to start those errands. Yawn, stretch, and one last glance outside before I begin. I stand up.
Wait… I sit back down.
There’s a bird. A little yellow bird. He flits and darts to the top of a frost-covered evergreen. Stops, hops, poses, and drops to another branch to repeat his mesmerizing moves. He struts and prances along several branches then flies away in a blur. Gone. How lucky I was to have shared that moment!
It doesn’t matter.
I have to get the car inspected. It’s too important not to. I stand up.
February is a big month! All of my books will be free for a few days at some point. This week, it’s Watching Glass Shatter, my debut 2017 novel about a family drama imploding from a bounty of secrets. Download here for FREE from 2/4 thru 2/8. Book Overview After 40 years of marriage, Olivia Glass […]
Time and the right conditions not only preserve but bring about something of beauty – Marie Clancy.
Today I would like to share T.S’s very emotive, true story from his blog “Crazywriterof6.” As I read T.S’s distressing reality, I felt my body became anxious. I felt his apprehension and fear. His sense of loneliness and isolation is palpable. He says… “Maybe some of you can relate and see that even then, you weren’t alone”. No child should be in dread every day, isolated and living with the fear of bullying!
In my last post I wrote about the difficulty I had in supporting my children, both victims of bullying, because of the pressure on victims to remain silent. You might like to read it… Big Boys…Don’t Cry!
We now hear in T.S’s own words, his deeply ingrained and debilitating belief as to why he was bullied… “The torture continued. Many moments before this event, many after. I have written some of them out, just to get them out. All this because I was different than the “normal people”, different from what society says I should be. Different because I was overweight”. I believe he was not different… everybody is different and everybody has the right to be respected for who and how they are.
Please enhance your understanding by reading his story…
At a funeral yesterday, one sentence struck me, that sentence was “We could all be better people,” meaning we could all do more to be there for others.
Let’s break down the silence and begin a cross cultural, worldwide conversation about bullying. Let’s educate ourselves and our children about bullying and let’s tear down out-dated social norms.
My daughter accomplished this amazing Gingerbread House for Christmas. If I was to compare my creativity to her’s I’d find myself sadly lacking! So I just don’t!
So the message is… Stop waisting your energy.
Stop comparing what you do or don’t accomplish with what somebody else accomplishes.
Time and the right conditions not only preserve but bring about something of beauty – Marie Clancy.
This post has been updated with a therapist’s viewpoint…
Your son or daughter arrives home from school, you know by their mood and verbal and non-verbal behaviour that they are upset. Maybe you notice they are avoiding you, they resist talking to you about their day or they might even tell you lies, pretending there is nothing wrong.
You might witness their mood deteriorating further and that might include them turning their frustration on you by shouting, blaming and generally behaving disrespectfully.
You are likely at this point to notice your temper rising and your patience being tested. This is the crucial moment…try to avoid the hook, try to resist being sucked into the argument. Getting caught up in a two way shouting match serves no purpose!
Try to be mindful that this behaviour is your son or daughter’s way of coping with the upset they are feeling as a result of being bullied.
They are trying to cope by literally tossing some of their upset off themselves and onto you. The very best thing that you can do is avoid becoming emotional.
Instead, calmly and patiently see if you can get to the root of the problem. What is the underlying issue? If the emotional outburst continues, again, calmly but firmly inform your child that you refuse to deal with them and set a time to talk later, when they have calmed down. Then walk away, leave the environment.
Importantly, now is a good time to think of self-care (you might like to read my previous post Here)
Once you have practiced some self-care you will be feeling much calmer and in a better place to help your child.
It is vitally important that at the appointed time or when your child has calmed down that you follow up with them and try to ascertain the difficulty they are having. If you do, you are showing them that their issue is of concern to you. You are also building trust.
UPDATE…
I would like to thank Jennifer @ Tea With Jennifer for this insight which she kindly gave me permission to share with you.
“From a therapist’s viewpoint the behavior of the child is a form of communication, communicating that they are in crisis & can’t verbalize it correctly.
So they start acting out subconsciously, thus bringing attention to the crisis within them. Fear often manifests itself as anger in many especially males.
Have you ever experienced a situation similar to the above? What happened during it? How did you handle it? Please share, I’d love to hear your experience.
