I have some worries about the Summer Holidays. I mean yeah, it's great to have a break from school, as I find it really difficult. I have trouble making friends and also trouble with dealing with things like stress, like school brings. So it IS nice to have a break.
But I have some problems at home too. About a month ago, my older (fourteen year old) sister lied and told my secondary school that my Dad physically abuses her at home. (It is a lie by the way.) Both Social Services and Family Solutions have got involved, and lots of meetings have been arranged. It has torn my family apart. My sister isn't exactly the best sister or daughter in the world. She is constantly horrible to me and my little sister. and she steals things all the time. She also causes a lot of trouble at both home and school. She gets her friends to be horrible to mean hurt me.
The only person I scared of in our home is my big sister. She used to beat me up if I did something she wasn't happy with, or didn't do something she wanted me to do. But then swapped with my little sister. So instead of sharing a room with my big sister, i share it with my little sister. This has made the beatings less and less frequent. But i'm still worried for the Summer.
Please Sam, can you help?
Sam
Hi there,
Summer holidays can be either a really exciting time because you are planning to spend time being around friends and family, or it can be a difficult and lonely time if you are unhappy at home or upset because you can’t spend time with friends.
Being around family during the holidays from school can also be quite stressful, especially if relationships with each other are not always as good as they might be and you're spending more time around each other.
It’s not okay for your big sister to beat you up and be mean to you and your younger sister. What your sister is doing is physically abusing you and bullying you. And this is not okay. It’s important to keep yourselves safe and one way of doing that is to remove yourself from the person who is hurting you if you can. Changing bedrooms was a good idea and it seems like it’s worked for you.
Other things people can do to help themselves in this situation is to tell an adult they trust who can help them to get the abuse stopped. This could be a family member, a family friend or teacher, maybe someone at a youth group or social/key worker. If you don’t feel there is anyone you can trust you can always contact a counsellor at Childline who would listen and support you.
Some people find that living in a difficult environment affects the way they feel about themselves and the way they see the world. It’s important to get these feelings out either by talking it through with someone or by writing a diary or journal or using drawing or colouring as a way of expressing it. We have an art box that you could use for this and you can store your pictures privately in your locker or share them on the message boards. You can also share your feelings with other young people on our message boards.
Hope this helps.
Sam
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