Want to Help Fight Child Abuse? Pay Attention

“Pay attention to what happens around you, maybe you can help a child who is broken inside.”

Learning Rest: Dealing with C-PTSD

I may seem bold on here, but believe me when I say that the bold things are written after I’ve had a major breakdown.

Parenting With Fear: Why I Don’t Agree With It

“My dad created the illusion of a well disciplined, well put together family, but under it all was this idea that the kids were only there to be seen not heard, and there was no room for children to just be children. I grew up understanding that children were evil and only capable of disobeying and had to be trained fiercely.”

Then She Stood By the Brave

“I felt like I watched my childhood come full circle. The shame of not being “strong enough” to stand up to my dad was put to rest as I stood there being my siblings’ support. I went through what I had to so that I could be there for my siblings when they needed me. I am stronger now, I have the strength they needed to be able to be brave themselves.”

The Day I Left

“February 6th three years ago marks the day I packed all of my meager belongings and left my family’s house. It was almost exactly two weeks after my dad had kicked me out. He had walked into my room, told me I wasn’t worth his time anymore…”

This Road I’ve Traveled

“I could never do this. I could never put the fake smile on and pretend that I hadn’t watched my dad throw the breakfast dishes in the sink that morning because someone dared to speak back to him. I couldn’t stand by and watch my siblings suffer while no one knew what happened behind the doors of my family’s home.”

Christian Culture and Fake Love

“I don’t want to be a part of a culture where people claim the love of a higher being but who then horrifyingly rip someone apart who is ever so slightly different than them or who is asking questions. Love is accepting someone unconditionally, their minds, their hearts, their very being despite what they think, despite not seeing eye to eye, despite their choices.”

In a Closed and Sometimes Tightly Knit Sphere

“I grew up being told and believing homeschoolers were the better socialized group over public schooled kids. I would scoff and laugh if anyone ever challenged that idea. ‘Of course we’re socialized!’ I would haughtily answer anyone who questioned the socializing of homeschoolers. I knew what I was talking about, I was very well socialized, I could talk for hours with the adults… Little did I know how wrong I was.”

Wrestling with God: By Caleigh Royer

“It’s been almost two full weeks since I last wrote. It’s been almost two weeks since hitting a really bad low. A low where cutting (I didn’t cut) was very appealing, a low where I actually couldn’t see up. I hit a low where I did the only thing I could think to do; called my therapist and said I need help now.”

Have I Forgiven Them?: Katharine’s Story

“My parents have apologized for things that never bothered me — criticizing me too much, fighting too much. I know they love me, but they will never see that their insistence on those rigid Christian values and their insular homeschooling, their need to shelter us, are the things that have harmed. They did not cause my little sister to become suicidal, but like a mushroom grows best in moisture and the dark, the conditions were there.”