An amazing story of a child abuse survivor

I’ve been neglecting my readers lately:  Summer, kids, you know, nothing personal:)

I admit – this summer has pushed me back into my comfort zone.

I sent my third / smallest child – 6 already (when did that happen), to first grade today.

Had to remind myself repeatedly that eventually it will all be ok. That she’ll be fine, my baby.

Not a baby anymore, is she.

Why is my heart-broken?

Anyway, that’s not what I planned to write about:

I planned to write about child abuse, and about a very special person.

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I Won! I Won! I Won!

Hey all,

I’m not posting a lot lately, am I?

I’m soooooo into my new site http://www.parents-space.com, which you helped me create.

Really, you did!

Teens Cutting – part 2

In my first post about this subject,  I wrote how I found out that, while I was sleeping, a new teens “trend” has started, cutting the body. ( To read my last post click here)

While I was doubtful at first, I soon discovered that the web is full of various “How to stop cutting” advises.

I will reffer to these later, but first I need to admit that the question troubling me the most is: What is the reason for this issue to become so popular lately?

The only thing I could think about is that Facebook is giving the cutting a real boost. While before, girls (and boys also, as I learned) who “cut”, maybe discussed this with close friends, today they discuss it with hundreds. The other side of this is that they get a lot of attention and feedback in Facebook, as I saw in all these “Don’t hurt yourselves” groups. Is it possible that the new attention is helping to spread this out? Can it also be that teens that before would not even think about cutting are getting new ideas? Maybe they like the attention as well?

For sure, for most of the “cutters” this is a pain killer affect.

A very good article that summarizes this penomenon is  here

They confirm that the “cutters” age is getting younger and younger, and mention 11 – 12 years old.

So much for me doubting my daughter’s story.

At the next post I will share several “How to stop cutting” advises that I could find.

And most important: Parental awareness – please be aware to various signs that your kids are in trouble.

See if they are wearing long sleeves when they shouldn’t.

Don’t panic if you learn that your kid cuts, it not a suicidal attempt.

And go get help!

The Scary World of Tweens – Cutting

It was an evening last week when I learned that my Tween, a very sensitive and empathic girl, is chatting with a friend who is, at the same time over the phone with another friend escorting the local police searching for another (fourth) friend suspected of trying to commit suicide, per her FB.

In case you’ve lost me, this is the situation: My kid is sitting on her bed trembling and crying, while I am staring at her I-pad unbelievably, chat lines running extremely fast saying:  “Diane is not at the living room… wait, looking for her at the kitchen…not there! Perhaps she already did it! Wait, the police is entering the bathroom… Here she is! She is alive! She tried to kill herself!” Etc.

Once I was sure that Diane (which my daughter is not familiar with) is ok, and that her parents are aware of what’s happening in their house, I was available to take care of my Tween.

It was only then that I started to understand what my daughter’s world is made of:

She told me about girls trying to take their lives (as far as I understood she is daily exposed to that through FB), and about many girls around “cutting”.

Cutting?

I mean, most of us have heard about certain situations in which girls are engaged in self harm, but hey, am I the only one around who didn’t know that this has lately become a trend?

Quote – “Mom, do you expect me to believe that you’ve never seen all these girls whose arms are covered in the summer???”

Sorry, no…never!

I insisted, and learned that many of her FB friends, including some she personally knows (at least one is a good friend) “cut”.

Then she showed me theses endless FB groups called  “Don’t hurt yourself” etc., where many girls are discussing this (As, “yesterday I cut a lot”!)

I was a Tween before (long ago, I admit). I don’t recall that my world was full of suicidal attempts and of girls cutting. How did it become so frightening and so violent for children?

I was asking around, and non of my mom – friends heard about it, so I called the school staff, none heard about it as well. Just when I started to think that it’s all a dream (a nightmare, you might call it), I watched ” The Good Wife” season 4 episode 8:

Grace telling Alicia about girls cutting. At least I am not the only shocked mom around, thank god. http://teenshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/resisting_cutting.html