Families in Education

Learning can not take place until all survival needs are met first, learning is an add-on, it is not essential for physical survival.

Schools and the educational authorities can no longer be seen to be ignoring young people burdened with bullies and who need to be allowed to return to their lessons in peace✌️

They are human too, and the world must be willing to recognize their strengths, courage and dignity in being able to hold on to life in the face of overwhelming and ongoing adversity.

Treat them well, and let them lead the way...

😅
Courtesy of Pinterest.

Parents, Schools & Education ✨F️amilies in Education✨️

What advice would you offer to the new parents and students of the new school year of 2023/2024.💥

It could be anything, e.g starting up a parent's WhatsApp group, healthy lunches or how to maintain good mental health.

Tips and tricks of the trade that you have learned from being a parent of a family in education.
May this knowledge have been learned the easy way or the hard way.
💖

Parents, Schools & Education ✨F️amilies in Education✨️

Two sides to every story.✍

Students who are loved at home, go to school (with a bag full of dreams💖) to learn, but students who are bullied, stop learning, start surviving and leave school (with a bag full of shattered dreams💔)

Honestly. 💕
That's the seriousness of being bullied.

It's the untold story.
The story that moves on.
Moves away from its source.
The real story of young people.
The true story of families in education.

"I will always wait

with my ready-made bag,

in which are packed

my young dreams;

even though

they are old with waiting;

even if

you will never arrive,

to depart

on our journey of love:

I shall still treasure them,

as souvenirs

of vintage rarity

from an imaginary journey..."

- Mihaela Pirjol.

Parents, Schools & Education ✨F️amilies in Education✨️

An example of my work on LinkedIn, school year 2022/2023, which is copied and pasted below

I dedicated this post to all the amazing families in education doing their best in extremely difficult circumstances.

I salute you, you're amazing.

Know this today - that someone is thinking about you.

Do we ever stop to think that our reasons may not be good enough, or that they may be perceived by others as being an excuse?
Believed as being an excuse especially by the young people who are suffering.

Reasons why parents would ignore issues of bullying.

Parents do not care.

Schools are ignoring the bullying, ignoring the young people’s suffering, ignoring their parents. (Who and where are parents supposed to turn to?)

Parents are counting the days, the weeks, the months, even years until the day their young are free from attending the schools in question. (No doubt, with lesser exam results)

Parents are convinced by the saying that parents often make the situation worse. (So, parents ignore their young people’s suffering - huh!)

Parents start to see the tables being turned by schools onto their young people when they pursue these issues, asking that their young people are allowed to return to their lessons in peace.

Their young people who are still suffering can no longer do right for doing wrong.
Punished by schools for trivial issues.
Parents back off, scared for the safety and reputation of their young.

Parents start to feel overwhelmed when the bullying continues unabated.

This is when the saddest, most unbelievable thing happens.

Parents turn on their own child.

In parent's own confusion about the situation and in their own inability to help their young, parents suggest to their young that it must be you; it must be something you are doing, toughen up, ignore the bullies, put your head down and get on with it.

Parents have now also become overwhelmed by issues of bullying their young are experiencing.



Reasons why schools would ignore issues of bullying.

Schools have ignored bullying for so long now, they know not what to do.

Schools show favouritism towards certain students and are willing to look the other way when the bullying is being carried out by their preferred students.

Schools do not stop bullying because the bullying is being carried out by teachers, staff, other parents or by the people in charge themselves, the people who are supposed to stop bullying, the head.

Schools are not made answerable by anyone, group or organisation for ignoring bullying.
Schools can easily ignore young people who drop out of school because they are overwhelmed and have stopped learning because of unresolved and untreated issues of being bullied in school.


The bottom line.

Children and young people are suffering.

Families in education are torn apart, stretched to their limits, emotionally and physically, exhausted, overwhelmed, and heartbroken.

But there is always a reason.
Or.
Is it really an excuse.

The answer, my dear Watson, is 100% up to you.

'The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened.
But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.'
- Rudyard Kipling

Parents, Schools & Education ✨F️amilies in Education✨️

Hello, to all the beautiful people who have made my journey on Facebook while writing about - all things - that is families in education and about one subject in particular that sends a whole manner of people running for the hills - bullying in schools.

While I tackled this subject as honestly and head-on as i could motivate myself to do, (without pay :))) I thank you once again Facebook friends for making my journey bearable, rewarding and believe it or not, at times fun, i hope that someone, somewhere benefited and was helped by my thoughts, reflections and offerings that I shared.

I can still be found giving families in education a voice on my Twitter account and my LinkedIn account, feel free to join me on both these spaces.

We live in a developed world and to have opportunities and a choice of platforms to make my voice and that of other families in education heard loud and clearly by the powers that be is a gift, and one to use wisely.

I have projects coming up, centered around the issues families in education face daily, I have people to meet and things to do, to try to work three or four social media platforms at the same time would be burning the candle at both ends and would be unfair to myself, my family and the reader.

I dedicate this post to my dad who passed from this world to the next back in 2021, he was the man who taught me when one has no choice but to get out from the car one is sitting comfortably in, there are two ways one can do this, in a splutter and with fear or take one's time and see if one can change the world for the better while doing so.

A beautiful lady who works in my local coffee shop told me that my son & daughter are my father's legacy.
If one ever needs motivating to continue with the moving of families from generation to generation, fighting the good fight for human rights, especially children and young people's rights to a full, proper, and meaningful education, standing up to bullying in schools, I believe one need look no further for a nicer or better motivation than this, to look into the eyes of our own sons and daughters, love really does make the world go around.

The page will remain open and I will post again sometime, see how everyone is doing, maybe around this time next year.
New likes, comments and shares on posts will still be very much appreciated and given recognition. As I already mentioned, for anyone with a keen interest in my writtings and supporting families in education, I will be delighted to meet you all on Twitter and LinkedIn.

One last thing, I have always said this and I will continue to say it, thanks to my son and daughter for withstanding the storm and allowing me to write, hahah and for not disowning your mother, I will be eternally proud and grateful to both of you.

From the heart, thanks again.

Lots of love &
warmest wishes,
Emma Xx

Ho Ho Ho🎅

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Thank you for your on-going support.

Stay warm, and stay well.

With many festive wishes,
Emma x

This is my second last post of 2022 ;)))
I am going to dedicate it to all the children and young people in schools across Ireland and in the world who face bullying in schools on a daily basis, suffering from ongoing issues; unresolved and untreated issues.

Bullying doesn't disappear once outside the school gates.
Bullying comes home at Christmas, like unwanted heavy baggage in the form of worries, and unnoticed, undiagnosed trauma. It also follows into family homes - which should be a safe haven - by the use of mobile phones and social media, thoughts of what the future will hold, there is pain, there is fear, there is hurt, there is embarrassment and there is a disbelief and numbness in the knowledge that nobody is stopping what is happening, nobody is stopping the bullying?
These young people are fighting back hard to keep their education, to keep their hopes and dreams alive, their futures are hanging in the balance and they know it.
Still, they hold on with every fibre in their body, every cell in their body, using every ounce of strength, courage, patience, dignity and trust in grown-ups that they can find in their mind and in their heart.
I take my hat off, to all of them.
They are the peacemakers of our future, the ambassadors of equality, the leaders and not the followers, they are kind, funny, happy-go-lucky, they are the bright future the world needs right now.

On behalf of them, I ask the educational authorities in Ireland, the following 3 questions.

1, why, years ago, did you tell children and young people to stand up and speak out about bullying in schools only to ignore these young people when they decided to fight back and stand their ground. Why did you allow bullying to become commonplace and grow into an epidemic in schools?
It was a double slap!

2, why when referring to bullying in schools, is young people only referred to as the problem with little or no mention of teachers, principals, school staff and other parents who very often part and parcel of issues of bullying in schools?

3, what is the point to a Board Of Management in schools in relation to bullying if principals refuse to deal with issues of bullying or indeed, try to turn the tables, the BOM is the principal, and issues will more than likely remain, where do parents go then?

Suggestions to better and happier outcomes;
Clear routes to answers, timeframes in place to deal with issues, allowing students to return to their lessons in peace and if schools become an unsafe, unfriendly or/and unhelpful place for families in education, an alternative needs to be offered, like a new school or people who will get on board to bring about answers and equality.

In a developed world, it's the very least that should be available to young people and that is an opportunity to gain an education in safe and welcoming environments.

I hope i have done justice to this issue and to the families in education who experience these issues or who support my endeavours to stop unnecessary and what should be, easily spotted and easily resolved issues in schools.

Realistically, we cannot keep expecting children and young people to suffer needlessly and endlessly.

Its time for change.

Roll on 2023!