March Blog Post

March Blog Post

For this month's blog post, I was easily able to choose what reading to reflect on. The "Family Bullies" article stood out to me because even though we all have different constructs of a family, we all know what it's like to be a part of one. The family is at the core of many people's entire lives, which makes this article so intriguing and such a conversation started. 

One quote that particularly stood out to me was "Understanding, dialogue, and forgiveness in family situations of bullying like these are complicated issues. Being able to better understand someone’s actions does not mean dialogue or forgiveness will or should happen." This stood out to me because I can relate to how complicated this can be. Growing up, my brother has always shown the signs of bullying to me, my sister and my mom. I see this through the things he did and the way he manipulated me to take what he said to heart because if I told on him to my mom, he would tell everyone what a "snitch" I was. At a young age I would let him be mean to me simply because this was such an insult to me. This also coupled with the fact that if I did tell on him he was the best at telling lies and could turn it into somehow being provoked by me. Now I understand the quote because even if I could understand why he did it, or what he was feeling, or the fact that I do believe he loves me, I still wasn't able to create a dialogue where I could get him to really understand how his actions and words hurt me. 

I found an article that sums up my feelings very well, the article is titled "Bullying Within the Family: How it Effects and How it can be Prevented". The quote that jumped out to me said, "Bullying within the family may be disappointing for the victim because they’re generally getting bullied by someone whom they love and trust the most. It can be heart-rendering for them when they find their own parents and siblings bullying them at home." I feel this sums up my feelings really well because it more made me hurt and sad than angry because I have been close to my brother for so many years and he is someone I love a lot, so when he said or did things that were bullying to me I couldn't help but be hurt. 

Keith Berry & Tony E. Adams (2016) Family Bullies, Journal of Family Communication, 16:1, 51-63, DOI: 10.1080/15267431.2015.1111217

https://www.secureteen.com/bullying-prevention/bullying-within-the-family-how-it-effects-and-how-it-can-be-prevented/