2nd grader suspended for pretending to throw imaginary grenade

[Sorrior]

Not really, obviously once somebody fell down or so we werent going like "now I can kick the face too!". We also didn't really try to tackle, mostly we wanted to kick the shins.
After a while you just learned to keep your legs closed while playing soccer or just take the pain and ram through to the safe zone. And of course a few would kick back the kickers so basically they would have free reign haha.

Anyways, I am 30 but even I start to sound like a grumpy old man already. I walked alone to school when I was 8 or so and after school I would just go hang out at the park with the rest of the kids or just go home with a friend. My mom wouldn't even know where I was. I would just come home when it was 6 oclock. None of those play dates etc.

I also remember the first time I heard somebody got grounded (he shoplifted some candy or so). I was probably 12 or 13 already. I couldn't really understand how it was punishment because there was no jailcell to keep you in. How can they stop you from walking out the door? I still got the old fashioned punishment and for shoplifting I knew I would get beat the crap out of me. I specificall remember the concept of "grounding" was really foreign to me. I would get the crap beaten out if I teased some kid in school or so and this kid shoplifted and had to play video games at home for a week.


Anyways, I don't know what the hell happened in 20 years time but even though half the kids seem to do well with this new kind of teaching, the other knows how to play the rules to their advantage and is bossing over their classmates, teachers and even their parents. But they will just get their ritalin eventually.

LOL yeah i know what ya mean...26 here and i feel so old sometimes.

[Ryme]

This is also a movie, and you quoting it is pretty much the example of undue influence, it is a story, having a zero tolerence policy isn't likely to cause random light sabre duels in a metal factory either.


it is a good policy, and one that is effective, kind of a good idea, since we have kids actually going to school and doing this sort of nonsense.

Wow, um, how about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke

[Itisamuh]

Ridiculous.

The way schools are going overboard, they might as well strap kids to chairs with duct tape on their mouths.

Every young kid, or boy at least, does play fighting. Let kids be kids.

[Mall Security]

I might ask if he knew what he said or where he learned the word..But calling too much attention to it would likely backfire and may even result in the kid actually becoming something of a bigot. I've found we call attention to things in such big ways that we then make a bigger problem than it could/should be. Thus why i say have to be careful..If anything talk to and ask his/her parents to figure it out...Those these days he probably heard it on Xbox Live and so i'd just tell him that's a very very bad word and he shouldn't use it if really young and if older explain that using it in the wrong place could get him killed(assuming something like the N word).

Yeah, sorry i am going to disagree, again as i said i wouldn't want to ruin this kids life, and I am very sure he MIGHT not have had any real appreciation for that but unlike you some things are not about being cruel or kind, sometimes a Zero Tolerence is simply that, you have to address it, you can't just say well ok, and we never know this might not have been the first incident.


At some point there has to be measures that say yeah we gotta do something, KEEP this in mind millions of kids get suspended ALL the time, while 1 month is a long time, and i am not sure why it wouldnt get him expelled, and I am not saying expell him, but if this is or Was that big of a deal then yeah, it is going to stick out, but then again kids get expelled all the time too nationally, so what made THIS grab headlines, My guess is there is more to it.

[Sorrior]

Yeah, sorry i am going to disagree, again as i said i wouldn't want to ruin this kids life, and I am very sure he MIGHT not have had any real appreciation for that but unlike you some things are not about being cruel or kind, sometimes a Zero Tolerence is simply that, you have to address it, you can't just say well ok, and we never know this might not have been the first incident.


At some point there has to be measures that say yeah we gotta do something, KEEP this in mind millions of kids get suspended ALL the time, while 1 month is a long time, and i am not sure why it wouldnt get him expelled, and I am not saying expell him, but if this is or Was that big of a deal then yeah, it is going to stick out, but then again kids get expelled all the time too nationally, so what made THIS grab headlines, My guess is there is more to it.

Maybe but i also have just noticed how when you make a deal out of something it becomes a deal even if it shouldn't...Thus why i say try and solve it as quietly as possible.

[Mall Security]

Wow, um, how about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke

Yes, and when kids arent accountable, and haven't had any instruction even from those who's jobs it is to monitor that, the rest of the world cries when it gets out of control, and my answer to that is not to tell people, well shit happens suck it up we will sit on our hands. Sorry I don't care what is a tradition and popular just because it is. Some behavior can lead to very habbits and nature.

[Dabrix32]

Enjoy your free money from lawsuit. When I was growing up we played "War" all the time. We all had fake plastic guns and dressed up in full Camo and played in the woods in our neighborhood. Sometimes we would have 20-25 kids playing. Now everyone just plays video games. Does society today just want us all to be pussies?

Same with all the kids in my neighborhood. All of our parents hunted so we grew up around guns. We all played War and built ridiculous forts in a 20 acre area of woods in our neighborhood. We held down our forts like we were Delta from Ft Bragg. We all had the coolest looking toy guns. This was before paintball and also before those lame ass laws that forced toy companies to make fake guns be painted all retarded so they didnt look real. Ours were all black and looked real. We had a blast playing and a lot of times the girls would play too. We would try to take each other's forts and it was a lot of fun. Now kids all sit inside 24/7 playing video games. I guess kids just dont wanna have fun anymore.

[Mall Security]

Ridiculous.

The way schools are going overboard, they might as well strap kids to chairs with duct tape on their mouths.

Every young kid, or boy at least, does play fighting. Let kids be kids.

Kids being kids leads to kids going to school at 7th grade and trying to shoot classmates, or trying to lock a teacher in her class in 4th grade and intending to tie her up and injure her.

---------- Post added 2013-02-08 at 10:52 AM ----------

Maybe but i also have just noticed how when you make a deal out of something it becomes a deal even if it shouldn't...Thus why i say try and solve it as quietly as possible.

Yes, my point is sometimes you can't and we don't know how many incidents like this happened before or what they tried, quietly as possible alright, but can't pretend it didn't happen either especially onces its crossed a point.

[FunFarm]

Ahhh, it's like watching a South Park episode with Butters as the main character.

"Postman Butters is on the job! Inspector Butters is on the case!" = "Your son is suffering from multiple personality disorder."
"Eric Cartman tries to un-gay himself by putting Butters' wiener in his mouth, which Butters' father sees." = "Your son is bi-curious because he is confused."

There are probably many other but these two are the most memorable in my head.

[ManglolSA]

so what made THIS grab headlines, My guess is there is more to it.

Yeah maybe they found out the 5 year old is actually part of a terrorist cell group now operating within elementary schools. Next thing you know those absolutes will also include "No pretend aeroplane flying" for fear of them crashing into school structures. The only issue here is parental failure. Kid brought a gun to school... why because of irresponsible parents, why did the kid wanna bring the gun to school to solve a problem.... cause parents failed to equip them with life skills to cope with problems.

[Adam Jensen]

Yeah, obviously that's because people used to play war, cops and robbers when they were kids. I don't even know how to call this logic without getting an infraction.

And what the hell? Who are those people to lecture and tell other people how to live? If you're afraid of imaginary guns and grenades, and you're sure it leads to real violence - doesn't mean everyone else should suffer this stupidity.

I think Mall Security was born a 30 year old adult.

Because clearly he's never been a child.

Kids have been playacting violent games with other kids since . . . forever. It's only been this "massive problem" in the last decade or so. I remember playacting violence as a 7-8 year old. Did I turn out to be a violent fiend?

[Sorrior]

I think Mall Security was born a 30 year old adult.

Because clearly he's never been a child.

Kids have been playacting violent games with other kids since . . . forever. It's only been this "massive problem" in the last decade or so. I remember playacting violence as a 7-8 year old. Did I turn out to be a violent fiend?

I didn't even always play act and yet i despise hurting ANYTHING living for no reason...Don't even like killing mosquitoes or spiders.

[Adam Jensen]

Kids being kids leads to kids going to school at 7th grade and trying to shoot classmates, or trying to lock a teacher in her class in 4th grade and intending to tie her up and injure her.

No it fucking does not. These games lead to nothing.

It's just like the video game controversy, in fact it is exactly like that, where normal kids can play these games (whether on the playground or on an Xbox) and be perfectly normal. Every kid I've ever known has played such games and NONE of them have turned out to be violent. The only ones who turn out to be violent are the mentally disturbed kids. It's not the games that drove them mental, its whatever malfunction is in their brain.

[Fitzgerald77]

Holy christ.... Everyone I knew and including myself did all of the shit in those other articles and much more and we were never suspended/expelled for it..... Seriously, what the fuck is the world coming to? Why not just ban all toys and childhood games and get it over with already?

---------- Post added 2013-02-08 at 06:12 AM ----------

Kids being kids leads to kids going to school at 7th grade and trying to shoot classmates, or trying to lock a teacher in her class in 4th grade and intending to tie her up and injure her.[COLOR="red"]

Games (including video games) do not cause children to grow up to massacre their entire school. This has been proven over and over for years now. The fact that some people are STILL using that defense is just plain sad

[Braggia]

Kids being kids leads to kids going to school at 7th grade and trying to shoot classmates, or trying to lock a teacher in her class in 4th grade and intending to tie her up and injure her.

What? Are you serious? I didn't know any boys that didn't play with pretend or actual toy guns growing up (I'm in my 30s now). None of us committed any violent crimes.

It's sad that there are people that are so afraid of the world that they actually believe absolutely everything needs to be controlled, including the imaginations of children.

[Tekkommo]

Would hate to see what would happen to my friends and I back in school these days, we used to play fake war games which resulted in many imaginary grenades being thrown!

It's in the schools rules though, so that's why he got suspended. Sounds like a fun school to go to.

[Iamanerd]

I think Mall Security was born a 30 year old adult.

Because clearly he's never been a child.

Kids have been playacting violent games with other kids since . . . forever. It's only been this "massive problem" in the last decade or so. I remember playacting violence as a 7-8 year old. Did I turn out to be a violent fiend?

Seriously agreed, he's on a damn crusade against kids well being able to be kids. The funny thing is that now these schools are trying to suppress imagination/creativity and later on when they are older they might act out differently since they didn't get to have a decent childhood. It also creates people who can't think for themselves and only follows what they are simply told to do. I don't know about others but I like being creative and doing my own thing.

[Sloshman]

I think all of this argument over children carrying on the "play" Cops/Robbers into real life is kind of nonsensical. I think that if a child has a problem learning right from wrong it is the parents fault not the kids. You can't learn morals in a vacuum, you learn them through direct teaching or observation. If a kid never sees his parent/s practicing good morals or is never told what is acceptable/isn't they won't learn from them, and then all of a sudden the "play" fighting becomes okay. If you are never taught there is a difference between "play" fighting and actually harming someone then there is a problem, but hopefully most kids do learn the difference.

I may be saying all this because I grew up with decently good morals but I remember as a kid I loved destroying things, anything really (as long as it was mine). I'd take hammers to my Hotwheels and strap fireworks to my army men. I sword fought with sticks and wrestled with friends, I shot real guns starting when I was 10 and own a BB and paintball gun since I was 8. I had lots of bullies through middle school and at first never struck back, then in 8th grade i kicked one's ass and he stopped, so thats how the rest were dealt with. I'd say my parents were successful parents and taught me correctly.