Sunday, August 23, 2009

Back To School - Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse Is Posted

Hi everyone. The August "Back to School - Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse" has been posted by Enola on her blog and found at the following link:

http://enola-survivor.blogspot.com/2009/08/back-to-school-blog-carnival-against.html

Twenty-five articles, all written by survivors of some form of child abuse, are included in this month's blog carnival. One of my articles is included in this month's carnival. If you haven't read it already it is called "Why Some People Are Blind To Abuse." You can find my article at the following link:

http://patriciasingleton.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-some-people-are-blind-to-abuse.html

This month of August is when school starts for most of the school aged children in the United States. For some childhood abuse survivors, this time of children starting back to school brings up abuse issues.

I was the opposite in that going back to school meant freedom from the loneliness of the summer away from my books and teachers that I loved. I was a lonely child and I felt it more in the summer months when I was away from my friends and teachers.

School meant freedom from being in the home where the incest took place. School and books meant freedom to me. I was a B student with a few A's thrown in. Teachers were among the few people that encouraged me to grow, to do better than average. I was blessed with some wonderful teachers.

School was a world where I could pretend that the abuse wasn't happening. School was a place where I could be someone's favorite (teacher's pet) without it being about sex. I loved studying and learning. I was good at learning the teacher's style of doing things and imitating it when it came to writing school papers.

I was adaptable. To a degree, I was also invisible. I dressed in neutral, drab colors and didn't talk much. I spent a lot of time in the library rather than alone out on the school yard as a teenager. I wanted attention and friends and yet was afraid of those same people and attention. I was extremely shy.

I hope that you will join me this week in visiting Enola's blog and reading the articles on the "Back to School - Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse."
Patricia

13 comments:

Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher said...

Hi.

Thank you for your compliment on my article on Archangel Jeremiel. I do my best to make my blog just one of the best blogs on healing around.

It ain;t easy...as when I visit blogs like yours, I realize there is a lot of healing to do, and a lot of issues to address.

It is interesting to me how you had stopped defining yourself as 'your wound' i.e. the incest. It means that you HAVE healed from the past (to a very great degree).

See my article on 'Healing Myths'... if you havent already done so. You will find it of interest.

Again, thank you for stopping by 'We Are One World Healing'.

Patricia Singleton said...

Astrid, I really enjoy reading your articles. I learn so much from them. Thanks for your words of encouragement and for visiting my blog.

Evelyn Lim said...

Thumbs up to the idea of a carnival against child abuse. I was also very shy when I was young. I still have my shy moments every now and then.

Patricia Singleton said...

Evelyn, it is a great idea. I have been blessed to be able to participate in the blog carnival. Thanks for the visit.

Marj aka Thriver said...

Thanks for promoting the Back-to-School blog carnival, Patricia. And I like how you gave us a little update/additional back-to-school perspective of your own.

Patricia Singleton said...

Marj, you are very welcome. I read about 4 of the articles last night and plan on reading the rest over the next few days as time presents itself.

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Thanks for the link. I think it is a great idea for survivors to find each other and ban together to help each other. The only reason my 7 siblings and I survived, we are all convinced, is that we had the 8-pack, i.e. each other.

Patricia Singleton said...

Elizabeth, you are very welcome. Having a support group of any kind certainly helps.

Vicki Johnson said...

Little Pattie,
Hey, I just wanted you to know that I finally got a clue and followed your great example and I am now leaving follow up comments on my blog. I look so forward to others comments I decided it was about time that I started doing this also.
You mean a whole bunch to me.

Patricia Singleton said...

Vicki, the respect and love are mutual between us. Glad you are now adding your comments here and on your own blog. Comments add a wonderful dimension to our articles.

Little Vicki as well as adult Vicki well deserve the respect and love from yourself and others. That is a valuable lesson for an abuse survivor to learn.

Wanda's Wings said...

It is interesting how school made you feel special and took you away from the abuse. Enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Patricia Singleton said...

Wanda, Thanks for visiting and commenting. I loved school. There I could excel rather than be overly criticized.

Patricia Singleton said...

Colleen, your book, your journey, is such an inspiration to me. I didn't know just how much we had in common until I read your book. I haven't read a book on abuse that I could feel that someone really knew my story before.

Thank you for having the courage to write "The Third Floor Window". Someone, several someones, have again brought up the topic of me writing a book about the incest. After reading your book and an article about writing memoirs, I am seriously considering it this time.

Thanks for sharing your story. For anyone who is interested in reading Colleen's blog, click on her name above. She also has more information about ordering her book which is called "The Third Floor Window, A True Story of Secrets, Survival And Hope". Look for my review of Colleen's book coming up in one of my next blog articles.