Survivors of Bullying: Should You Send Your Children to the Same School in which You Were Bullied?

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As an activist in the Bullying Awareness Movement, I’ve had many adult survivors of school bullying ask me whether they should send their children to the same school where they were bullied themselves as children and teens. Naturally, my response is an emphatic “NO!” or more appropriately, an emphatic “HELL NO!”

Having been a target of bullying from grade six until I finally escaped through a school transfer, I decided during my pregnancy with my first child, that should we ever have to move back to the town I was bullied in, hell would freeze before my children would grace the halls of the school there. My question at the time was, “What parent worth their own salt would subject their children to that kind of learning environment?”

Here are my reasons for keeping my kids clear of *Oakley Schools:

1. Bullies tend to take jobs which give them authority (Teaching, Law Enforcement, Corrections Officer, Supervisor, etc.). I knew that by the time my babies reached school age, the majority of my former bullies would be teachers in the small town where I had been a victim (teaching is the second highest profession for workplace bullying).

2. In small, redneck Southern towns, such as the town in which I was victimized, the country-hick mentality is this: “If we hate you, we will hate your children even more.”. I knew that because these country hicks had targeted me in the past, it was a safe bet that upon their finding out who my children’s mother was, they would target my babies as well, if not worse. Anytime you are or have been a victim of bullies, anything (or anyone) you love and care about is always fair game to them. If they come for you, they will come for those you love also.

I realize that in this day and age of progress and advanced technology, this may sound a little “Hatfield and McCoy” but things like this do happen and more so than we know.

Every situation is unique and naturally, everyone has had different experiences, which shape their perspectives and I respect all differences of view. So, again I ask you. Should adult survivors send their kids to the same school, in which they were bullied? Feel free to give your own opinion in comments below.

(*not the real name of the school district)

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