---
title: neighborhood boys ~ Our Wave Community
description: I can't remember how old I am in most of my memories. It all blurs together into specific traumatic events starting around 2nd grade and continuing into my...
url: https://community.ourwave.org/en/story/neighborhood-boys-1896.md
---

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##### Survivor story

# neighborhood boys

Original story

I can't remember how old I am in most of my memories. It all blurs together into specific traumatic events starting around 2nd grade and continuing into my adulthood. One of the earliest memories I have of something sexual happening that I didn't understand was around 1st or 2nd grade I think. I would play with the neighborhood boys. A couple of them were around the same age as me, maybe a couple years older. One of them had a much older brother who was in high school at the time. We'd run around in the yard and play football. I remember once I hit my finger the wrong way and dislocated it, so the older brother showed me how to fix it by pulling it out and reseating it. It hurt, but I was tough. One afternoon, they showed me a game they wanted to play. I don't remember what they called it, and I don't remember the rules. My job was to bend over an overturned, plastic lawn chair. They'd circle around me, each taking turns humping me with some kind of wooden rake handle between us, as a barrier, I guess? Eventually, that got tossed aside and they were much more brazen about it. It didn't seem all that fun to me, but I was being included and getting to play with my friends, so what did it matter? Later, I went inside and changed into one of my skirts. A denim thing with a pink ruffle around the bottom, and maybe an embroidered butterfly or two on the front. I think I did that because they'd give me more attention when I wore it. There was an instance where one of my girl friends from across the street was playing with me beside the apartment. The oldest of the boys was riding around on his bike, and asked us to come into the backyard. I can't remember where my girl friend was at this time, but I remember him sitting back on his bike, unzipping his pants, and pulling out his penis. I had never seen one of them before, I had no idea what I was looking at. I think at one point he had lifted my shirt up. He wanted me to touch him, and I think I did. The memory gets fuzzy around there. At one point, he got off his bike, put the kick stand up, and asked me to sit on the back wheel, facing the seat. So, I did. He comes up behind me, situating himself against my butt/between my legs, and just sort of humps me for a couple minutes. It isn't very long until we hear my Dad shouting from the front yard. The boy starts panicking, but before he can move, my Dad comes out and sees what's happening. The boy shoves me off his bike, and rides off. My Dad is so angry, he's shouting and screaming. So me and my girl friend run to the other end of the apartments, and hide behind the cars in the parking area by the street. I just knew we were in trouble. When I finally got the courage to go back home, my mom walked with me over to this boy's apartment. His mother answers the door. I think my mom was trying to explain what happened and trying to get answers, but his mother refused to believe what happened and claimed we were lying because he was black and we were white. I never got to play with him again after that, but I think I still got to play with his younger brother and the other boy in the neighborhood. I blame myself for playing into it. These occurrences set me up to be a "willing" victim to two different boys in my class during the entire next school year.

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[\[Image: Argentina\]Argentina](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ar)[\[Image: Australia\]Australia](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=au)[\[Image: Bolivia\]Bolivia](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=bo)[\[Image: Canada\]Canada](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ca)[\[Image: Chile\]Chile](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=cl)[\[Image: Colombia\]Colombia](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=co)[\[Image: Costa Rica\]Costa Rica](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=cr)[\[Image: Cuba\]Cuba](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=cu)[\[Image: Dominican Republic\]Dominican Republic](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=do)[\[Image: Ecuador\]Ecuador](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ec)[\[Image: El Salvador\]El Salvador](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=sv)[\[Image: Equatorial Guinea\]Equatorial Guinea](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=gq)[\[Image: Guatemala\]Guatemala](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=gt)[\[Image: Honduras\]Honduras](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=hn)[\[Image: Ireland\]Ireland](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ie)[\[Image: Japan\]Japan](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=jp)[\[Image: Mexico\]Mexico](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=mx)[\[Image: Nicaragua\]Nicaragua](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ni)[\[Image: New Zealand\]New Zealand](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=nz)[\[Image: Panama\]Panama](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=pa)[\[Image: Paraguay\]Paraguay](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=py)[\[Image: Peru\]Peru](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=pe)[\[Image: Puerto Rico\]Puerto Rico](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=pr)[\[Image: Spain\]Spain](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=es)[\[Image: United Kingdom\]United Kingdom](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=gb)[\[Image: Uruguay\]Uruguay](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=uy)[\[Image: Venezuela\]Venezuela](/story/neighborhood-boys-1896?country=ve)

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Grounding activity

Find a comfortable place to sit. Gently close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths - in through your nose (count to 3), out through your mouth (count of 3). Now open your eyes and look around you. Name the following out loud:

5 – things you can see (you can look within the room and out of the window)

4 – things you can feel (what is in front of you that you can touch?)

3 – things you can hear

2 – things you can smell

1 – thing you like about yourself.

Take a deep breath to end.

From where you are sitting, look around for things that have a texture or are nice or interesting to look at.

Hold an object in your hand and bring your full focus to it. Look at where shadows fall on parts of it or maybe where there are shapes that form within the object. Feel how heavy or light it is in your hand and what the surface texture feels like under your fingers (This can also be done with a pet if you have one).

Take a deep breath to end.

Ask yourself the following questions and answer them out loud:

1\. Where am I?

2\. What day of the week is today?

3\. What is today’s date?

4\. What is the current month?

5\. What is the current year?

6\. How old am I?

7\. What season is it?

Take a deep breath to end.

Put your right hand palm down on your left shoulder. Put your left hand palm down on your right shoulder. Choose a sentence that will strengthen you. For example: “I am powerful.” Say the sentence out loud first and pat your right hand on your left shoulder, then your left hand on your right shoulder.

Alternate the patting. Do ten pats altogether, five on each side, each time repeating your sentences aloud.

Take a deep breath to end.

Cross your arms in front of you and draw them towards your chest. With your right hand, hold your left upper arm. With your left hand, hold your right upper arm. Squeeze gently, and pull your arms inwards. Hold the squeeze for a little while, finding the right amount of squeeze for you in this moment. Hold the tension and release. Then squeeze for a little while again and release. Stay like that for a moment.

Take a deep breath to end.

Try another grounding activity

I feel grounded and ready