Don't Run Away From Home, Please?

Yesterday I was shocked by the realisation that this blog generates hundreds of pageviews per day. What's more amazing is the fact that this reader growth happened while I was on hiatus, and no one, not even me, knew whether I was going to be able to resume blogging. So a big thank you to all the people who found Storypot interesting enough to visit.

Unfortunately, when I looked at popular Google search terms for finding the blog, I found that of the top ten most popular search terms of all time, 4, 6, 8 and 9, deal with running away from home. The search phrases are:
4. How to run away from home at
6. How to successfully run away
8. How to run away from home
9. How to run away from home successfully


March 2013 was no better, with no less than 5 of the top 10 Google search phrases on running away from home. Top of the list was "how to run away successfully," followed by "how to successfully run away from home" at number 3, "how to run away from home at 11 years" at number 6, "how to run away at 11 years old" at number 7" and  and "I ran away from home stories" at number 8.

Really? Of all the random things I've covered in the 1212 posts I've published on this blog, this is what people visit Storypot for? What scared me about this theme is that some of the people searching the site could be children.

I hope it isn't, and that some were adult people looking for nostalgic stories about running away from home. I shared my run away from home story some time back, and that's probably why some people end up on my blog when they search.

But I believe that children who search this site looking for information about how to run away from home successfully need to find something that can dissuade them from leaving; something to make them stay until they are old enough to leave under their own steam. Unfortunately, I don't know what that is, am not qualified to deal with  kids who are a flight risk, and don't have the time or resources to learn. Definitely not wonderful.

We all know that some homes and parents are the stuff of nightmares. And sometimes, parents can be so irritating you think, "I don't have to deal with this! I'll just catch a bus/train and go stay with my uncle/aunt/father/mother (if they are divorced)."

Unfortunately, the streets end up being worse. And so many bad things can happen between when you leave your home and where the person who was supposed to provide you with shelter lives.Or you could get there and they'd send you packing.

So all I can say for now is, don't run away please. If your family life is seriously bad, please ask for help? Phone your other parent (if your parents are divorced), your grandparents, your favourite cousin/uncle/aunt, your local child centres, social workers, your local youth group leader.. call someone who can help you by either removing you from a horrible situation legally, or who can foster you until you are legal. Just don't run away on your own, because no matter how bad your family life is, there are worse things out there in the streets.

P.S. As for Mma and I, we're well, and I had a good morning sub-titling a video interview.  Picked the first Autumn crop of cucumbers and lots of jalapeno chilli, which I gave away to my older brother, as we have waay too much of it (fresh, preserved and in the garden).