How Dangerous IS a Five Year Old, Really?

Published on April 26, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

I'm a veteran parent of five year olds. With my third child celebrating her fifth birthday Saturday, I am inclined to think I know a thing or three about them.

What I DO know is that the danger factor is limited.

Recently, a lot of flap has centered around the arrest of a five year old. Her mother, of course, played the victim card ("they set my baby up"), and while that in itself was wrong, so were the actions of the school.

A school is supposed to have a discipline policy in place. For an institution that assumes the care of children from the ages of 6-18 for more than half of their waking hours Monday through Friday, it is only reasonable to assume they will be equipped with SOME procedure for discipline. 911 is NOT an acceptable option for early elementary disciplinary measures, except in the rare instance that a weapon is brandished and a threat issued against another student.

I worked for years with individuals with developmental disabilities and their work supports were required to furnish a room where they could decompress following an escalation. Perhaps this would be a better option than putting the child in a room full of projectiles.

Yes, the mother should assume more responsibility in this instance. Yes, the school needed to act to handle the unruly child, and yes, the child shouldhave been removed from the classroom. But it is not reasonable for parents to have to fear police intervention for their unruly kidnergartner. The school HAS disciplinary policies in place, and they were most likely violated in this instance.

Comments

ParaTed2k

on Apr 26, 2005

Something I learned from doing security for concerts... Authority is only as good as the respect it commands. How do around 30 security guys keep intoxicating mixtures of music, showmanship and adrenalin (along with intoxications of an alternative sort); combine with star struck multiples of 98.6 crammed into humanly unbearable quarters, from becoming a free-for-all riot?

Answer: By counting on the fact that most those 98.6s have no interest in a free-for-all riot. It is because of the ones that might that we are there, and it is because there are so few of them that we can do our job.

The teacher, parents and administration let everyone know that this kind of behavior from students will not be put up with. Was it harsh... definitely! Was it going too far, probably. Will it send a message to other kids... only time will tell. I'm not saying that was the motive, but I bet it will be the outcome.

----------------------------------------------

How dangerous can a 5 year old be? Anyone guy between 5'5" and 6'5" who has had a 3' something kid swing at him (for anything from a full arm "hey daddy" tap, to a reinforced "NO!") knows just how painful an experience that can be. Just think of that same 3' something, who actually wants to hurt someone. ;~D

Reiki-House

on Apr 26, 2005

This action, though unfortunate, is something that has been festering for quit a while now. And it's all due to one thing. To gear people up for the coming new world order. Bush senior's words, not mine. It's conditioning the population to accept it when it becomes more the norm. Of course the 5 year old was not a threat in need of restraint. But restrain they did. Why? It's silly to think we have only to ask the cops themselves. They won't and don't provide responses with any insight into it. This is going to be more the norm than the exception. America is turning into a military police state, which is of course not democratic in any way. The fear of bogus terrorism is ruining your country's foundations. Truth be told, if the so-called terrorists were going to hit the US, they would have by now. The proof? The complete disregard by the government to make airports safe. Security is a pathetic joke where people fondle women's boos looking for bombs yeah right. Haven't found one yet. And they won't. Why? Because terrorism is a tool of fear, not a clear and present threat.

ParaTed2k

on Apr 26, 2005

Reiki, your aluminum foil hat is coming unhindged, perhaps it's time for a refit.

The only thing this is a result of is too many frivolous lawsuits, and too many stupid "zero tolerance" rules. Too many schools have been stripped of any real discipline authority, so this school called on the only authority left at its disposal. Whether the shool over reacted, or the police did is one thing, but for the parent to threaten to make the problem worse with yet another lawsuit? That is pitiful.

Gideon MacLeish

on Apr 26, 2005

Frankly, one compelling reason why I feel so strongly about this is, the danger of a four and a half year old child is exactly the defense attorney Stephen Jones (the same one that defended McVeigh) proferred in the defense of my half brother's father, who had raped and murdered my half brother. As a result, he received a 20 year sentence on conviction for "causing physical harm to a child" rather than the murder and sexual assault that should have been on his rap sheet. In his own words, he acted in "self defense".

ParaTed2k

on Apr 26, 2005

I think you lost me...The lawyer argued that your half brother's father raped and killed your half brother out of self-defense? And the judge allowed that?

foreverserenity

on Apr 26, 2005

I'm lost too with all of this.

Regardless of the mom saying she's going to sue, and beleive it or not, while I don't agree with it too, it's within her rights. She probably wouldn't have decided to sue if someone didn't tell her she could or if she didn't see this as a meal ticket also, can you blame her, really?!

But we're still talking about a child, who can give a wicked punch yes, and it will hurt yes. But we're still talking about a child and the fact that the PROFESSIONALS at the schools should have handled this situation a lot better. If they had done this, we wouldn't have heard about it now would we?

There are school resource officers and guidance counselors at all schools. They should have handled it way before it came to dialing 911. The police said when they got to the school and saw it was a 5year old, they didn't think it was necessary but did handcuff her anyway, because the school wanted it.

So given the child and the teacher didn't get along, given that the teacher didn't just give up on the child, and given the parent was not given a chance to come to her child's aid, why should the mother not be angry at what the school did.

And of course with the media now involved and this being the topic of discussion almost everywhere, this is now a big scandal.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!