Don't Point that Coat at me!!
Today, my six year old son, a kindergartner mind you, was sent to the principal's office again. He got one of those lovely behavioral modification sheets sent home with him. His father and I are still trying to process the reason why. Apparently, he was "pretending his coat was a gun". And when his teacher asked him about it, he lied. But he admitted it to the it to the classroom assistant.
Ok...I understand the fears around guns in schools and maybe redirecting him immediately in the classroom when this happens. I would understand it more maybe if he was say in 4th or 5th grade and he was pretending something was a gun and he was pointing it at someone else. But my understanding from the behavioral modification sheet and from talking with the our son,is that he was not even pointing his dangerous "weapon" at anyone else. I also understand the concern about him lying to his teacher...but shit, I imagine that I would have denied it too had I been in his shoes because I can only imagine the horrified look on his petite, proper little teacher's face when she saw my son standing there, probably pretending to defend our galaxy from attacking aliens with a weapon of minimal destruction.
Well...as parents, we took the situation very seriously. After all, we dont want to become the parents of the next Columbine-like psycho. Sheesh, whats next--you never know--he could use his shoe for a machine gun or his back pack as a machete. We sat him down and explained to him that he cannot pretend anything is a gun at school. And as his punishment/discipline for the situation, he was not allowed to play video games for the evening. Which actually turned out to be a pretty damn productive evening for him. We cleaned his room. He is now actually able to use the desk in his room and he set up his own little craft/art area at his desk and he spent probably around an hour making things by himself--a major miracle.
Current event--this is probably one of my new favorite stories. The lady that sat on her toilet seat for two years. The toilet seat had to be removed from her body at the hospital. I have so many questions that will probably never get answered. Did she clean her body? Was there another toilet in the house that her boyfriend could use? Did she have any other family members or friends who wondered what she was up to lately? Did she have a lot of reading material in there? My ass gets sore sitting on the toilet for half an hour...how sore was her ass?? Did anyone get any pictures?
posted by Cass @ 7:09 PM
5 Comments:
You know, it is reassuring to me to read that my kid isn't the only one. Thanks! Don't you just get a major headache as soon as you find out about these kinds of situations?
I find it a little hard to believe that they couldn't handle this one in the classroom. In this kind of circumstance I almost wonder if the "zero tolerance" policies that are in place now don't make things worse sometimes, because something that would normally be resolved and forgotten is turned into a huge deal. Then, if a kid decides he really wants to get some attention, he knows just what to do.
I'm sure the D-man was probably just standing there, bored, and was horsing around. I think you handled it very well. Good job! I can't wait to see his room!
I also have many of the same questions you had about the lady on the toilet seat. I wonder why it took 2 years for her boyfriend to call someone? I mean, he would have had to bring her food and water for TWO YEARS. If J. sat down on the toilet and didn't move for 24 hours I'd probably call in the authorities! I was amazed she didn't have a blood clot or something from being immobile for so long. Did she get her period and everything right there in the toilet? She must have not ever wiped or anything because if she did her skin wouldn't have grown around the seat...was it all crusty down there? Didn't she ever get sick enough to have to see a doctor in the last TWO YEARS??? What the hell did she think about? I just can't even wrap my mind around this one. I'm still reeling.
Yes the toliet seat was hot topic the last two days. No family or friends and when people call " she is in the bathroom". I cant even imagine..Hey sorry about the "loaded Coat" those buttons sting when shot with one.... Mary Ann I wonder if she has tried the saliva? I know someone who has. Hello planet mars!! Pioneer girl
I love the toilet story. It's golden.
Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog the other day. The toilet story has me perplexed too...did the boyfriend spend time in the bathroom with her, or did he just talk to her from outside the door? How can he say that besides this, it was a "normal" relationship? Strange! And...fascinating!!
Another brilliantly written post!
I think the zero tolerance thing is ridiculous - there's such a HUGE different between pretending your coat is a gun and actually bringing a gun to school! Come on!
I'm wondering how exactly he did that, actually, with the coat. Pretty creative.
Depressionista is right - now he knows just what to do if he wants some attention. And so does everyone else in the class.
When I was a preschool teacher, we had these blocks that we called "gun blocks" because they were curved and the kids ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pretended they were guns. I'm always stunned by the fascination with guns at such a young age. It troubles me, and I think kids associate guns with power. But it's still normal, you'd think any teacher would know that this is just something kids do.
We always handled it at school, not making a big deal, just reminding the kids, "There are no guns allowed at school." And that was it. I never talked to a parent about it because, especially for boys, pretending with guns is pretty normal. They'd even bite their crackers into gun shapes at lunch time and pretend to shoot!
Great questions about the toilet seat lady, I didn't think about all of that. I wish there was a follow-up on that. Obviously, there were some mental illness issues involved here.
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