There's Nothing You Can Do That Can't Be Done

My honey, E,  has a very good friend, D, whose had a really tough life. It's a really difficult situation because he's a fantastic guy who is really smart but has made some bad decisions and they've resulted in him really living day to day. He's one of the people you could have expected big things from, but instead he's looking for work at McDonalds and paying for food and cigarettes with change.

A child of divorced parents, D was raised by his pot smoking father with little to no involvement from his mom. They did okay as long as his father was employed but things were difficult when he wasn't. In the beginning of 9th grade he was pulled out of high school after an incident of bullying and was home schooled. Thankfully, he was able to get his GED so at least he "finished" high school. While bullying is difficult to deal with, the prevailing school of thought is to let your kids try to deal with it before pulling them out. Learning how to deal with a bully teaches children really valuable coping skills for dealing with difficult people later in life, a disagreeable coworker or an annoying boss. While you're supposed  help manage the bullying and advocate for your child, you're not supposed to pull them out after one single incident at the beginning of high school. It literally programs avoid and escape conflict into their brains instead of handle and resolve conflict.