Easier way to see the report.

o j

Here is a link that might be useful: kindergartner suspended (for shooting off mouth)

Wow.

This post was edited by Fun2BHere on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 13:29

My favorite recent news story was the one about the Iowa female prison guard who is being subjected to inmate harassment after they are allowed to watch sexually explicit movies depicting violence and torture against women. It's almost too much to comprehend that men that are incarcerated for crimes against women (among many other crimes) are allowed to watch that filth.

There was a story this week about a young child getting reprimanded/suspended for pointing a finger gun style at another child.

Thanks joyfulguy, will you please explain to me how to post a hyper-link like that?

Seems like that would have been a better teaching/talking moment than a punishment moment.

When you compose your message, there's a slot to paste the URL, and another to describe it.

They may not show up until after you've previewed: I don't remember whether they appear at the time of one's original posting.

And ... seems to me that suspension is a rather drastic punishment.

ole joyful

I taught youngsters for many years and agree with alice_sj -- that would be a teachable moment for a kindergarten student and their whole class, with a heads-up to the parents, rather than a suspension.

Years ago I was a young substitute teacher and told the class at the beginning of the day that no pencil sharpening was allowed during quiet work times. Since I was young and looked younger, I held firmly to my rules. Wouldn't you know it, a sweet, shy little girl got up to sharpen her pencil, forgetting what I had said. I felt TERRIBLE making her pay the price of a few minutes in at recess and of course, a tear slid down her cheek. But I didn't want to be seen as playing favorites so I carried out the punishment. I think I would handle that a little differently today, hopefully able to give her a little heads-up as she was heading over to the sharpener.

My rambling point is that sometimes a line must be drawn and there must be no exceptions. If there are, they will likely snowball into other, more serious cases, using precedent to fight the rule.

Speaking of a lack of common sense and reason.. My daughter recently took my 9 yr. old granddaughter shopping for a nice "dressy" dress to wear to a girl scout Father/daughter dance, and she was appalled to find a couple of dresses with built in padded bras. For little girls! Seems like common sense has gone out the window in the world today.

RIP common sense, I miss you so much! :*(

My DDwas suspended for a day when she was in 1st grade for a little pistol on a keychain that came out of a gum machine . It was the size of a 50 cent piece. And that was 15 years ago.

It is too bad that the teacher/principal etc just suspends these kids and not turn it into a learning situation. As a parent I would be extremely upset if it happened to one of my little ones if they did not follow thru with a explanation to him/her and the entire class. They DO NOT NEED to be suspended, just the situation clarified at the time it happens. That should be part of the school curriculum.

Zero tolerance!

moonie, this little girl wasn't even at school, nor did she have a gun in her possession, not even the bubble blower gun.

Zero tolerance for guns in school is acceptable, even commendable, but monitoring a kindergarten's childlike conversation at a school bus stop about her bubble blower is flat-out ridiculous.

Someone has an inferiority complex at that school and has to wield their "power" in order to make themselves look like their in control.

If only they realized how OUT of control it makes them appear to be; not even in control of their own senses!

although it wasn't real gun, nor present, why was the child threatening anything? i'm sure what i'd done was find out WHY first,then instead of suspension, more a simple meeting between teacher and students...work out differences to advert a bullying situation...

Susan, don't jump to conclusions, we haven't heard from the little girl accused of "being a terrorist threat"......

man o' man, my fingers itch even typing that insane label the school slapped on this poor little girl!

But anyway, it's one kid's word against another, who knows what was said in the land of childhood babble? It could have been something perfectly innocent for all we know, and given her age of innocence, it more than likely was.

Tag...you know that game we all played at recess....has been banned from schools.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Tag Banned in Schools across America

Chances are she didn't say "I am going to shoot you with my pink toy gun that blows soapy bubbles" and probably said something more like "I am going to shoot you with my gun" and it was later clarified by the parents that she was referring to a toy. I imagine there was some kind of adult there as most people I know wouldn't let 5 year olds be alone at a bus stop.

I think suspension and a terrorist label is a little ridiculous but I can understand why the parents of the other kid might be upset, especially with kids the same age as those killed a month ago by a gun. I think a lot of parents here would be concerned if a classmate said that to their child, regardless of how old they were. But I do not think punishment should have been involved.

I still think there is more to this story. It seems strange that the family would hire a lawyer to fight a 10 day kindergarten suspension.

I should have checked the link before responding huh? :-)

But yes, it should have been a teaching moment. One should never threaten to shoot anyone, with anything.

chi said, "It seems strange that the family would hire a lawyer to fight a 10 day kindergarten suspension."

No, it doesn't seem strange at all.

When people stop standing up for what's right and just in this country, the tyrants will continue to have all the power.

WE pay for the school district, WE employ them, therefore, we have every right to disagree with them and stand up for our innocent kindergarten babies who have ridiculously been labeled a "terrorist threat".

BTW - nice "story" you typed out there of your version of what happened, but you certainly don't know that to be the true version.

You'll notice my very first sentence begins with "chances are" while the rest of the comment uses phrases such as "probably," "imagine" and "I think." All phrases which are, last time I checked, indicative that I am speculating based on my personal logic and reasoning. I never once claimed to know the true story or that I was there, but thank you for being so quick to try to tear apart any opinions that differ from your own.

To "have an opinion" on what conversation transpired between these children would merely be making up a story - which is why I haven't voiced an opinion on what transpired.

We weren't there, so to create a make-believe scenario is rather fruitless.

Has it actually dawned on anyone that we are talking about a 5 year old? Does anyone understand what 5 years old means anymore? I swear to god, it's like trying to reason with a wall here! FIVE YEARS OLD PEOPLE!!!!!! GET IT!? *SMH*

To label a 5-year-old girl as a "terrorist threat" is beyond ridiculous, in my opinion. If I were her mother, I would definitely hire an attorney. Suspensions certainly become part of a child's permanent school record--and no decent parent would allow his/her child to be branded a terrorist and suspended without putting up a legal fight. If there is not compelling evidence that this little girl is indeed a terrorist, legal action should be taken against the real culprits in this case--the school officials.

Disclaimer: My comments are based on the "facts" as presented in the media, and without knowledge of her prior criminal history.

5 years old is basically still a baby. I swear it's like they are trying to turn little babies into adults...they are probably having "career day" in Kindergarten these days. Yes we live in a world/Country that has totally lost it's ever loving minds! 5 year olds still believes in the tooth fairy...do not have the mental capability to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

Let me just add that because of adults total lack of common sense these day we have stolen our children's childhood and innocence away from them...WAY TO GO PEOPLE!

Let me also add that I'm am so grateful that I had the luck of growing up in the 60s/70s and did not have to be a child in this complete insanity. I look around at the kids these days that are the parents and just gasp in horror to the fact that these kids are the now parents of the next generation! UGH! It's only going to get worse as our nation dumbs down!

This post was edited by arkansas_girl on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 9:06

I agree Arkansas Girl. Insane.

I guess my daughter and her friends are going to be suspended soon, because every time they have an outdoor party they play flashlight tag and hide & seek. You know they're shooting each other with those flashlights and pretending to shoot each other when they tag someone in hide & seek. Oh, and why isn't laser tag outlawed? I see little kids really getting into that game...where you carry a big assault type gun around and actually shoot each other for 20 minutes. Paint balls' another one.

I know, with this sort of insanity, they will have to ban every single form of a toy gun and it will be a crime to point a toy water gun at someone. What are children supposed to do with these toy guns, tuck them into bed and give them a bottle? If I were rich enough, I would go buy a cabin way out in the woods and become a recluse just to get away from this insanity! But I suppose there is no cabin far enough away to get away from insanity because I suppose it's taken over every square inch of this country.

In my opinion (of course no one cares) kindergarten is just a way to get kids together, teach them to get along and socialize a little. Examining and analyzing their every conversation and "punishing" them for talking is just too much!

Sanity ...

... is getting to be one of those endangered species, it seems.

o j