Lynnie, the work you do is amazing. I'm do grateful their are women like you in the world.

My husband's sister stayed with an abusive husband for years. He also physically abused her daughters (his step-daughters). She threw this man out of her house many times, but he always managed to charm his way back. And she dealt with his abuse of the girl with denial and rejection of her own children. This man died last year, and Chuck and I had to bite our tongues not to say we were relieved, since the rest of his family was as deep in denial as his sister.

I taught my kids from an early age that abusive behavior of any kind was never acceptable. When my daughter was in high school when one of her male classmates decided he had a right to put his hands anywhere he wanted on any girl who was passing. Laura told him that if he touched her or her friends inappropriately again, she would first break his fingers and then report his behavior to the administration. He never touched another girl like that -- at least in front of her. The fact that many of her classmates regraded this guy's behavior as funny was a sad commentary on our society.