Is sending messages considered harassment?

Chicken Little is a fuckin' idiot with his jackass ideology. What has an alleged "nanny state" to do with this? Did i miss something here? Has anyone advocated passing laws to protect this boy from his bully stepfather?

Most anyplace he goes will he will be told to call CPS, and in many places it will be done for him regardless of what he wants...full disclosure demands that he be made aware of this now. If he does not want the state to come after his dysfunctional family he needs to be very careful whom he talks to.

Time to introduce Travis to the a2k ignore function. If you don't want to read some people, go to that poster's profile page by clicking on the screen name, look to the upper right of that page, and click on ignore user under the avatar picture.

Re Hawkeye's personal choice, I won't slam him for that in his life. I don't take it as the wisest advice for all. In the long run, words are better than the sword... some of the time. Silence can work, but it's very isolating. I think what people could do is particular to circumstances - but it is good to learn ways to deal.

Travis' mother, who I don't know and would not judge, fits a known pattern, that she probably does not know about at all herself. I think we've talked about that on a2k before, and the pattern has been recounted on the internet endlessly.

One of our key posters, Edgarblythe, not gay, had a major ****** of an upbringing and now is a good writer and poet. He is not the only one here who has lived through tough experience.

Hang in there, Travis.

Like dissolves like, also known as fight fire with fire. It is the truth, whether we like it or not is irrelevant.

Travis, you need to find an adult in your life that you can trust, and discuss this with them.

good luck...

That bears to be repeated, and it's normally correct, regardless of the subject matter.

What kind of messages? If you are just sending a message saying Hi then no. If you are sending a message saying I'm gonna kill you - then yes.

I would never do that, I was scared I might kill myself or something and I needed to talk, I found a teacher who is going to try to help me.

cool.

one of my high school teachers probably saved my life. a long time ago...

please keep us posted on your progress.

and welcome to a2k.

I'm glad you found someone you can talk to and who could put you in touch with other folk who may be able to point you in the direction of some support in your real life.

Do feel free to talk to us here ... please don't live in fear, Travis. We'll be here to listen even if you just want to have a rant and there a lot of folk here who will offer support as best they can. Please try not to feel alone tho I know it does feel that way. The link that JC boy gave you may be very good.

Take care - and if you get scared, you call for help and SHOUT LOUDLY. Tell your teacher, don't be embarrassed. Do take care young fella.

Keep talking here as long as you're comfortable.

Welcome to A2K...

I will come back , I like it here and the people helped me a lot, I'm not going to do anything stupid, thank you for helping me.

Thanks for not getting freaked out. There's a bunch of kind people here who'll be glad to help you out.

Good to hear! Just remember it gets better. You talk anytime you like, we are good listeners.

Hawkeye, I once punched my dad, I was living with them after having lived alone for a while, and was opposed to corporal punishment. He was fighting with my brother and I ran down and told him that if he smacked my brother again I'd sock him in the face. An "Oh yeah!?" and a half-hearted smack later and I had to live up to my threat. Being physically able to was the least of my concerns, it was hard to do even though I had no physical fear of him.

It happened to turn out well, but I did very nearly get kicked out of my home again for it. My dad's reaction was just "get out of my house!" but my mom said if I had to leave again she'd go with me, they decided to talk it over and concluded that they'd abandon corporal punishment and that I could stay.

That, for me, went as well as it could have possibly gone. And it was still very difficult of an ordeal with a lot of potential to not go well. And the physical size had little to do with the challenges. Hell, it's a lot easier actually to attack your dad knowing he's gonna take you. It's harder when you know the opposite, and have to live with the results. I think you are advocating physical conflict, which has many more dangers than just a physical beating, very irresponsibly. And to someone whose situation you know precious little about.

Let us at least say that the "punch your dad" solution should be taken with a grain of salt. It's not often that it actually resolves a situation, even though I was lucky enough to have it work out it can go profoundly wrong. I wish you'd think a bit more about the potential harm your advice may cause in these situations.

If you are going to take on your dad then you have to know that you can take him, and you have to know that it might get you put on the street, which I said so I did forewarn of possible dire results and clearly did think of them. I stand by my advise, this is the correct way to handle a bully, even if this bully is your father.

It worked like a charm in my house..I am glad that you found something that worked for you as well.

Well, for a lot of kids it works out quite poorly. There are a lot of other solutions that are worth trying besides a physical confrontation with an abusive parent and I hope this kid is wise enough to make good choices about this advice.

It would serve everyone best if some people realized that they were not cut out to give advice in the relationship forums.

real people get hurt here...

Perhaps, but that does not apply to me...I have a long record of success in relationships in the family, in the community, and on the job. Who are you referring to?

Hah! That's a myth and aren't you a housefrau staying at home?
Your advice sucks big time and that's the only time where almost the entire forum at a2k agrees upon. If one person says you suck then you've got a chance that it is not true, if 100+ people think you suck then you suck!