Bullying

It is my feeling that almost everyone has dealt with teasing and being made fun of in school at one time or another. I was teased and made fun of at middle school. It hurt. I cried a lot. Many times I didn't want to go back to school. But l was lucky. I had a family at home who loved me and I was a happy healthy child that wasn't so scared that I couldn't make it day to day. The teasing also wasn't malicious. It was mean but it was not heartless. For me, eventually the teasing stopped and I was able to overcome it and realize that I wasn't fat, or ugly. However I am still left with a slight complex. I still keep an eye on the mirror. I also find myself asking Brandon if I am fat every once in a while, and then I hate myself for it.

I know. It doesn't really sound lucky...not if I am still affected by it. But when I read about how so many kids and teens committed suicide over this shit makes me think that things for me could have been a lot worse. I wasn't even teased in High School, homeschooling saved me from that. But if I was, would I be worse off? Would I have felt strong enough to overcome it all? Or would I have wanted to give it all? If I knew then what I know now, I sure I would have over come it easily. I mean come on, its HIGH SCHOOL! Its not like who you are in high school has to shape you for the rest of your life. I mean if it does, that is kind of sad. But whats even more sad is those who feel so desperate to escape high school bullying that they feel they have to KILL themselves! I swear to God it makes me mad even more than it makes me sad! Suicide?! Its a permanent solution to a TEMPORARY problem! Don't people ever talk to these kids?

I am sorry if I come across as hard or insensitive, its just so hard to believe that anyone can think that high school is the highlight of life. I feel that if these kids had ANY idea of what wonderful things in life there is to experience after teen years, they would never even consider killing themselves. They would actually try to hang on longer.

Now is just me or has suicide ratings in teens have gone up? Brandon's dad thinks it is due to modern parenting and us telling our children at an early age that they are "special" and therefore they don't expect the teasing and are so much more sensitive about it. And I'm actually not one to disagree with that. I do believe that the changes in how we raise our children does play a big part in school bullying and teen suicide. But its not just how we raise the children who kill themselves, its how we raise the bullies. But I also think its the changes in school systems. I mean back in the day when our parents and grandparents were in school, teachers were aloud to take more action with children if they misbehaved in school. Children were more afraid of being punished and therefore knew better than to beat up on other kids. So naturally there wasn't as much bullying and therefore no suicides...not over school bullying anyway.

But I guess there really is no real way to tell. But this can't go on. What are we supposed to? What can we do for these kids?

Role Play

So Brandon and I actually tried role playing last night. It was something I always wanted to try and see if it would spice things up a bit. I suggested it almost like a joke, not sure if he would take me seriously or even wanted to try it. He just asked me who we were! Wow.

Suddenly I was very nervous. Now I had to think of a plot and I didn't want it to be too cheesy and I didn't want to us to just be embarrassed and quit half way through the play. But I had a feeling that he would take it completely seriously and therefore I should be able to do it. So I thought we'd start with something simple, something probably every girls thinks about time and again...Scene: The King and his Mistress.

I know, its not exactly original, I probably watch the Tudors too much. But it was my first time trying it and I wanted it to be something familiar to the both of us. Everybody knows how it works. The Queen has a new lady-in-waiting. She is young, vivacious, and has no interest in Catholic prayer. She catches the King's interest and he arranges her to be brought to his royal chambers...the scene continues from there.

I was actually very surprised how smoothly we fell into character. Brandon took the part and just rolled with it! It was amazing! It really wasn't even about the sex. It was just so much fun to just play a part in a scene with him. We actually took more time in the scene leading up to than the actual act itself which was very interesting. And not at all bad! There was no shame, no embarrassment, no pauses or character breaking. It just went straight through till the end. It was a lot of fun.

It's certainly not something I would expect Brandon to do every day, but its definitely something I wouldn't mind throwing in once in a while. I think it'll be fun to think of more plot and character ideas!

You should try it!

~IrishEyes~