In Trouble For Show And Tell

LOL America.

This country has got to get a clue and wake up!
War and Terror we run to the polls and vote for the champion of our fallen. A first grader hugging a staff member gets the suspension for a week for something they are not even aware exists! I wonder what sick fantasy this "staff member" was having and why is that person not being labeled a pedophile? That is what I as any parent of any child that age would be pushing through the court if this kind of crap pulled me out of work to go pick up my child. Get a clue or the thing we will b making in America in decades to come will be mal adjusted freakish nightmares lurking about street corners looking for trouble because they feel like nobody can love anybody. I think the aide is sexually frustrated and perhaps should be asked to take a leave without pay while the administration at that school completes a background check. The writer below uses the phrase "Dumb Asses", I second that "EMOTION". Now what wll I loose my job because I have emotions? Get real America we know better than this!

This is ridiculous. I don't understand how anyone could say that banning hugs, especially for children so small, is psychologically sound. I mean seriously. It's bad enough that nudity, something EVERYONE has, is such a stigma in today's society. Now we are talking about banning any physical contact whatsoever. This is ridiculous. MORONIC PRUDES. Are they going to pay the money when these kids are in their 20s, having to go to therapy because they can't function properly because their lives were void of any normal physical contact when they were young. In a world where war and terror is so prevalent, we're going to ban the peaceful contact between human beings. AGH this infuriates me. I don't even....whatever.

did anyone ever think the aide may have been sexually harassing the 4 year old? come on, he's a kid and she is an adult. who do you think is the stronger of the two? the aide could possibly be a sexual predator. but no, this moronic society is gonna try and blame it on the children. DUMB ASSES....

Sad that people working in schools have to live in such fear of lawsuits or other actions from parents who would overreact that the school overreacts before the parents have a chance to!

The teacher who hugged the 4 year old in such a way that his face was in her chest is the one who needs to learn smarter behavior, though. How about an arm around the shoulders, side to side hug?

Our school district told teachers this year that ANY physical contact with a student is a reprimandable, possible firing offense. They specifically told us NOT to hug students or pat them on the back. So sad.

This is an abuse of the sexual harrassment laws. Surely educators, child psychologists, and the legal profession can come up with a solution to this situation that protects a small child for normal behavior and prevents absurd lawsuits from clogging our overburdened courts.

This sounds like the case of an overly-sensitive and up-tight teacher who doesn't understand or truly care for children.

It is ridiculous to even consider dismissing a child 6 and under for sexual harassment - harassment implies knowledge of sex and intent. a child this age has no real knowledge (or at least no understanding) of sex - even if explained and there is no intent to violate someone else or manipulate them for their own sexual gratification, etc. If a young child's behavior offends someone - whether teacher or student, they should be spoken with and the situation explained to them and they should be asked to stop the behavior. The parents should be immediately involved and then positive efforts should be made together to work with the young child to to change their behavior (which normally takes time). If after such efforts are made, the child does not respond, then and only then should perhaps steps leading to suspension, etc be taken.

I agree with aric261. I think that the issue in this case is not with the child's actions, but the adult's interpretation of them. Almost anyone who works with young children knows that they want to be hugged and touched all the time. It is a developmental fact, that's what children want. The children should not be punished for something they do not understand. I think it should be handled by talking to children when they do things, explain to them that some people do not like it when they do those things, like lifting their dresses. If problems persist they should be discussed with the parents. No kindergarten or first grade child should be doing anything that truly constitutes sexual harrassment and warrants suspension. I personally believe most children that age shouldn't even know what it means to be suspended from school.

how can a young child even begin to under stand what sexual harassmant is?

Hey - summertyme - how 'bout not being such a JERK about things and just comment on the story or the opinions posted about it? Based on the lack of compassion in your comment, I'd say you would be the exception to your own rule.

Now, with regard to the actual story... I agree with the several who point out the need to evaluate the aide. If this woman doesn't know the difference between a 22-year-old young man burying his head in the breasts of a woman and a toddler burying his head, then she needs to take on another profession! The Blackwells might consider bringing her before the School Board for obviously inappropriate feelings while dealing with a child under her care. Perhaps these type actions will help to quell the idiotic legal actions that are so ridiculously rampant in our society today.

This is crazy. I am a year away from my teaching degree and I garuntee that in my primary elementary education class there will be no reports from me for "sexual misconduct." Children at that age are far too young to understand what they have done wrong. Children at that age have an instinctual need to touch and be touched. They don't know the "adult" boundaries all they know is their desire for contact. Besides at the ages of kindergarten and first grade parents still check the children in the bathtub to be sure they have washed and most still need help washing their hair, so how are children to know it's not okay to touch. Maybe the teachers aide should have followed the unwritten rules of hugging that come with working with children: hug them on the side not directly to the front...if she is that worried about it all. It is crazy for some adult to think that a young child is intentionally sexually harrassing them, or sexually harrassing them at all for that matter. Use a little common sense people...it's really not as hard as you may think.

what is this society coming to my 4 yr old loves to give hugs should i discourage her from doing something she has done all her life to everyone because now i have to be afraid that someone is going to say she sexually harrassed them thats ridiculous she gives hugs because she likes someone and that is her way of showing appreciation as is the case behind most hugs given by children around her age not to make someone (idiotic adults) feel sexually harrassed my child is breastfed and knows breasts as warmth givers and soft pillows not as erotic areas people (idiotic adults) should not be allowed to care for such young and influential beings if they are going to feel sexually harrassed by them by the way why was the aide feeling anything sexual around little kids? i think she needs to be evaluated.

This is just a step down from pro viding elementary school children birth control pills or condums that I have been reading lately. Next, I suppose, they will be dropping on newborns for suckling or their mothers for breast feeding. There is something wrong with the adult if they consider this in any way a sexual happening. This is an insult to the childs parents for teaching these terrible things at home. Then what will parents do when we bathe the child, clean and diaper the child if they reach the age of 3 or 4. What will the older siblings think when they see their parents touching and hugging their infant? Will the educational system accuse the parents of being pedofiles? What are they now teaching our children? I think it is time for home schooling! Time to draw that line in the sand and take a stand. Posted by bobcro @ 1:30 PM 11/14/2007

This is just a step down from pro viding elementary school children birth control pills or condums that I have been reading lately. Next, I suppose, they will be dropping on newborns for suckling or their mothers for breast feeding. There is something wrong with the adult if they consider this in any way a sexual happening. This is an insult to the childs parents for teaching these terrible things at home. Then what will parents do when we bathe the child, clean and diaper the child if they reach the age of 3 or 4. What will the older siblings think when they see their parents touching and hugging their infant? Will the educational system accuse the parents of being pedofiles? What are they now teaching our children? I think it is time for home schooling! Time to draw that line in the sand and take a stand. Posted by bobcro @ 1:30 PM 11/14/2007

This is the most ridiculous thing I have read in recent times. If this person is uncomfortable giving or getting hugs then she should not be working with preschool aged children and if this person REALLY believes that anything perverse occured then maybe the parents of the little boy should sue HER for sexual harrassment of the child! The whole thing is just absurd! It is really sad that this person is getting her 15 minutes of fame at the expensse of a 4 year old child.

This is just about the stupidest thing I have read recently. If a person is uncomfortable with hugs then she should not be working with small children, and if this person Really believes a child that young could mean anything perverse by hugging her or wanting a hug, she may be the one who should have charges filed against her! This is absolutely absurd!!

Children of preschool and early elementray school age do not give hugs, touches and kises as a sexual thing. Children of this age thrive on plain old love and that is the way that they show their feelings. A person who would file charges against a small child for sexual harrassment needs to get a life. They are only bringing these charges agianst children to place themselves in the public eye. They know the child meant nothing sexual by the hug or where the child layed their head. I'm sure that when they child gave their mother a hug they layed their head on their mother's breast. To get my attention sometimes my 5 year old grandson will pat me on breast if he sitting with me watching TV, there is nothing sexual to it. The same is true of the pats that a child gives a teacher or another student. I know as children mature the situation changes, but small children need hugs and touches it is just part of human nature.