My wife got a phone call a bit ago - I guess my son, in kindergarten, at 5 years old, just got sent to the Dean's office for "threatening to kill a classmate".
The context of the whole thing was rather unclear, but after some questioning, it turns out that my son does not even know what that figure of speech means. He just said it because he heard it before, apparently from mommy.
Now seriously, kindergarten, 5 year old... why the hell was this not handled in the classroom by the teacher? Especially if the context was playing (which at this point the whole context is still uncertain).
It's like the educators are more worried about Columbine, abuse allegations, and mental health than they are actually educating in both intelligence and social behavior.
Home schooling is beginning to look more attractive every day now.
Updated note - YES!!! Mommy and I do not condone such language, we do know that it's not something to use in casual conversation (and is not used as such)! For god's sake, we are not trying to raise the next famous serial killer! The point that I am trying to make is that shouldn't this have been something that could have easily been taken care of in the classroom by the teacher instead of overreacting and playing the Columbine card?!
Updated some more - About a half hour ago my wife IM's me and told me that my son is now harbored in his room. Guess what for? Yep - he said it to mommy, since his behavior this afternoon (not related to the school incident) was not acceptable, to which end she had commented that if he didn't start behaving she would keep him from going on the class field trip tomorrow and from attending class pictures (aka: stay home tomorrow). Well, thanks to the school blowing it up out of proportion now, he knows of a nice tool to get some more attention. Thanks a lot to our fine halfassed educational institution.
Updated yet again - On the way home from work (which my wife picked me up) we discussed the issue further. Apparently, my son's story changed when he got home from school and mommy asked about it. When asked where he heard the phrase being used, he replied that he originally heard it in school, and not infact from mommy. We probed a little further figuring it was from the kids that he waits for the bus with (supervised) since they always play tag, wrestle and other little-kid games (and some like to thug it). He replied, "No mommy, I heard it at school, not from the bus stop or you."
There is a lot more to this issue than a case of bad parenting. I spent a lot of the afternoon figuring out when/where/what context my wife and/or I could possibly use that phrase at home, and I came up with none. The closest my wife came is that when the kids are hasseling her, she occasionally uses the phrase, "You're killin me kid." I guess that might be the culprit, but it seems strange for a 5 year old to be able to twist the context of that to something like, "I'll kill you" without understanding what the phrase means in the first place.
The context of the whole thing was rather unclear, but after some questioning, it turns out that my son does not even know what that figure of speech means. He just said it because he heard it before, apparently from mommy.
Now seriously, kindergarten, 5 year old... why the hell was this not handled in the classroom by the teacher? Especially if the context was playing (which at this point the whole context is still uncertain).
It's like the educators are more worried about Columbine, abuse allegations, and mental health than they are actually educating in both intelligence and social behavior.
Home schooling is beginning to look more attractive every day now.
Updated note - YES!!! Mommy and I do not condone such language, we do know that it's not something to use in casual conversation (and is not used as such)! For god's sake, we are not trying to raise the next famous serial killer! The point that I am trying to make is that shouldn't this have been something that could have easily been taken care of in the classroom by the teacher instead of overreacting and playing the Columbine card?!
Updated some more - About a half hour ago my wife IM's me and told me that my son is now harbored in his room. Guess what for? Yep - he said it to mommy, since his behavior this afternoon (not related to the school incident) was not acceptable, to which end she had commented that if he didn't start behaving she would keep him from going on the class field trip tomorrow and from attending class pictures (aka: stay home tomorrow). Well, thanks to the school blowing it up out of proportion now, he knows of a nice tool to get some more attention. Thanks a lot to our fine halfassed educational institution.
Updated yet again - On the way home from work (which my wife picked me up) we discussed the issue further. Apparently, my son's story changed when he got home from school and mommy asked about it. When asked where he heard the phrase being used, he replied that he originally heard it in school, and not infact from mommy. We probed a little further figuring it was from the kids that he waits for the bus with (supervised) since they always play tag, wrestle and other little-kid games (and some like to thug it). He replied, "No mommy, I heard it at school, not from the bus stop or you."
There is a lot more to this issue than a case of bad parenting. I spent a lot of the afternoon figuring out when/where/what context my wife and/or I could possibly use that phrase at home, and I came up with none. The closest my wife came is that when the kids are hasseling her, she occasionally uses the phrase, "You're killin me kid." I guess that might be the culprit, but it seems strange for a 5 year old to be able to twist the context of that to something like, "I'll kill you" without understanding what the phrase means in the first place.
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