We live in a world where nearly everyone wants to sugar coat their lives and perpetrate as if they live in homes with no personal problems. No one wants to appear weak or vulnerable or even admit they have a problem with themselves, their children, and or a spouse. They’d rather suffer in silence than divulge “the family secrets.” After all some things you just don’t talk about publically.
Yet too many times children who grow up in dysfunctional households spiral down a path that leads many of them to become dysfunctional adults.
Fed up with the constant beatings and physical abuse from my mother I often ran away from home. Because I ran away from home so much, when a police officer offered to bring me back home my mother told him to “put her away.” She did not want me back home.
Running away is a serious problem. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, an organization that takes calls and helps kids who have run away or are thinking of running away, 1 in 7 kids between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away at some point. And there are 1 million to 3 million runaway and homeless kids living on the streets in the United States.
According to the Kidshealth.org other reasons kids run away include:
· abuse (violence in the family)
· parents separating or divorcing or the arrival of a new stepparent
· death in the family
· birth of a new baby in the family
· family financial worries
· kids or parents drinking alcohol or taking drugs
· problems at school
· failing or dropping out of school
According to the article When Parents Don’t Pick Up Kids From Juvenile Detention Many youth become homeless when they get out of detention centers and their parents refuse or fail to pick them up.
In my case was transferred to another facility until I aged out of the system.
You Can’t Depend on Anyone But Yourself
After suffering years of abuse from my mother and hearing her tell me how she tried to abort me, I realized when she had me put away she finally did get rid of me.
I was now forced to survive in a world I didn’t comprehend before I was mature enough to appropriately deal with it. I had to survive on my own and during an era that was becoming increasingly decadent and threatening for kids.
One of the first lessons I learned early on was that I couldn’t depend on anyone for my survival but myself. All of my experiences up to that point caused me to become resourceful and heighten my physical senses. I noticed smells by sniffing the air for a scent that was different, pleasant or had a foul order. A lot of times I had to feel my way through dark spaces. I always listened to sounds in the darkness footsteps, doors opening and closing; listening to voices to determine if someone was approaching an area I was hiding. Noises kept me alert to possible signs of danger. I learned quickly to read people’s energy field and observed their mannerisms when they approached me. Living like that caused me to become discerning and to always stay vigilant of my surroundings.
Pg. 42, from Chapter 3 of the book, “Conversations with the Little
Girl Within”, available in Fall 2017. Preorder your copy now and receive FREE download of my Pearls of Wisdom CD.
Shirley Harris
Author | Speaker | Professional Life Coach
The coach for those ready to step up their game!
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