An intensely religious family brought their 5th grade daughter to my office to set up a homeschooling program. They had moved to Maine only a few months before and the daughter had attended public school.

 

Why did they want to homeschool?  Since she wore a skirt to school every day, the kids teased her and the boys would get behind her in the hall and pull up her skirt.  This drove the girl to tears almost daily. And the boys got better and better at avoiding detection.

 

The school said, “Boys will be boys.” So the  family went to the elders of the religious order and received permission for the girl to wear slacks.  The second day she wore slacks, one of the boys approached her from the front, another from behind.  While the boy in front distracted her, the boy behind her grabbed her left and right hips and pulled her slacks down around her knees.

 

The family decided they didn’t need that kind of socialization.