ha·rass
(ha·rassed, ha·rass·ing, ha·rass·es)

1. To irritate or torment persistently.
2. To wear out; exhaust.
3. To impede and exhaust (an enemy) by repeated attacks or raids.

My family has been living as virtual prisoners in our own home. I can’t allow my children outside for fear that the local pre-teens, and teenagers will harass and bully them. I can not say anything to the children that are doing this to my children. In fact, according to the police, my only recourse is stay in my home, with the windows closed and the shades drawn…or, I can let my children go out and “experience” the local juvenile delinquents.

It got so bad on the school bus that I and my neighbor chose to take our kids off the bus and drive them to school ourselves. My son has never taken the bus to school, and he definitely will not anytime soon. The school system is still ‘dealing’ with the issue, but after 3 months, but has not been able to resolve the issue.

Today’s events are not really important in this whole ordeal. What is important is that the parents of these children have no control over their children and the children have learned that they can do what they want and are not required to take responsibility for their actions or words. I however, have no choice but to sequester my children and myself inside my home or take my children to a park or friends home in order to let them outside.

I would move if I could…but I can’t. I wish I knew what to do.

Tags: family, apartment living, neighbors, children

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 1:55 am and is filed under Just Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.