Now keep in mind this is a 6 year old boy who has dreams of joining the military, plays little league baseball, and gets extremely good grades and has been on a second grade reading level since December. (This includes small chapter books)  Doesn't get into major trouble, just your typical silly boy stuff like when the boy has to fart he will put his butt up against your leg and fart on you.

 

Anyway, this boy makes a gun symbol with his finger towards his other boy classmates in music class.  His music teacher tells his first grade teacher which causes the boy to burst into tears.  The first grade teacher has to notify the principal, because it is school policy whenever a kid makes a gun symbol and they take this very seriously.  The principal was not in the building today so the teacher could not report it.  The teacher decides to email the parent letting them know and also telling the parent that she understands that boys can be silly.  Towards the end of the email, she tells the parent that she is not going to formally report the incident to the principal however if it happens again, she will be forced to.

 

So in case you haven't figured out, the boy is Granite and the parent is me.  I honestly don't know what to say.   Jason and I have taught Granite that it is not acceptable to make gun symbols and point them at people so that for that he will be spoken to be about.  What I cannot get over is that it's a 6 year old boy and the school policy says that they take that seriously?  I know she is not formally reporting it, but what if it happens again like during recess.  I know Granite says that they play mostly "army" and "cops".  What if he does it again while playing that?  Do they suspend a 6 year old for that or do they toss him out of elementary school altogether?  I'm seriously sitting here at work, thinking WTF.

 

Thoughts?  Don't hold back, I seriously want to know what you all think about this.  Is the school policy a bit ridiculous for someone of this age?  Or considering recent events is the policy warranted? 

Schools have gone full on zero tolerance in many things. My son raised a big stink with Altoids at his school. A teacher saw him at recess eating one and thought it was an over the counter medication, and I was called in to his school. This was back when he was 6 or 7 years old.

 

Even though it was determined to just be candy, his school still 'banned' (they used a different word) mints at his school. Which of course made him really popular at his school.

 

Anyways, another kid was in the news recently for eating his poptart and leaving the leftover part in the shape of a gun.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/04/watch-boy-suspended-from-school-for-making-gun-out-of-a-pop-tart/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgrzyAsj5qQ

I thought this comment from the site I linked to previously, really nails it.

 

"We have become afraid to even let our children outside. We cover their
eyes from the real world and let them play in the virtual."

The zero tolerance policy is crap, if they did that to my kid I would most likley be home schooling them, I mean we cant even use common sense to know a FINGER or PASTRY isnt a gun, I swear our ancestors and future generations are probably laughing at our nonsense. I would want to take the real thing in and point my finger at them and then the gun and ask which was actually real since they dont know. Its based on fear and emotion and teaching to the lowest common denominator. It is basically taking any responsibilty away from making a decision on the circumstances and blanketing the whole thing, why dont we just show our kids how not to think and reason cause thats where we are headed.

It's absolutely based on fear. That is how we are manipulated the easiest.

True its just you would think as educators the ignorance level wouldnt be so high. I am actually suprised one of my younger kids hasnt been reprimanded cause he plays the imaginary gun games all the time but I think the teachers here are more understanding. Sorry to hear you have to deal with it Siren but this issue really gets me going.

I find it incredibly stupid. Kids are kids. I used to do all of that stuff myself. Hell, we use to get sticks at recess and sword fight too.

Now, I do think educators have a responsibility to protect, but that should be done with common sense. Two friends pew pewing at each other with sticks and fingers, who cares. It's easy to tell the difference between that and a kid who is threatening another kid.

Knowledge of dangerous items and responsible use is something we should teach our children, not hide it from them to stumble into blindly.

Pants on head retarded.

Completely fu#$ing dumb...honestly kids will be kids and boys boys. Who in there right gd mind came up with the finger gun rule. That dumbass outa be deballed so he cant taint the earth with his stupidity. If people acc exposed our kids to this stuff rather than hide the big bad world away.

Strip searching 10 year olds

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2012/12/14/strip-search-of-10-year-old-prompts-complaint-against-elementary-school/

This thread is depressing. 

 

I remember constantly playing with imaginary gunfights all the time, or continued "shooting" with nerf guns when they ran out of darts (which then resulted in the "I shot you!" "No you didn't!" game)

It erupted into absolutely no violence, none of us wound up being deranged maniacs. I don't know if you guys weren't allowed to do that over here as kids at all, but we were pretty rough with each other as well.

 

Only thing that would get you in trouble was sassing your elders, and that was pretty much about it.

Our country is going down the toilet. The fact that a kid can't make a hand symbol is absurd. Our country is weak, and we are breeding and the government is turning our children into weak adults. Caden, (my gfs son) got his cookies taken away because our school doesn't allow that as a snack. WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TELL SOMEONE THEY CAN'T EAT SOMETHING. FUCK THIS GOVERNMENT, FUCK LIBERALS, FUCK THE WEAK ASS REPUBLICANS, FUCK THE PUSSY ASS LIBERTARIANS WHO THINKS ITS SAFE TO SIT IN THE MIDDLE. FUCK ALL THE POLITICIANS WHO ARE RUNNING THE ONCE GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD THE FUCKING USA INTO THE gd GROUND. TELLING ME WHAT I CAN'T FUCKING EAT, HOW MANY ROUNDS MY gd GUN CAN HOLD, FUCK THE USA AND THEIR BULLSHIT LIEING ASS BACKWARDS HORSESHIT THAT COMES OUT OF THEIR FUCKING MOUTHS.

sorry once i hit the part about what caden couldn't eat i shot off. i mean every word of it though. i gave that school a piece of my mind.

That is absolute BS. Don't we have more important stuff to worry about that playful and innocent hand gestures?

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2012/12/14/strip-search-of-10-year-old-prompts-complaint-against-elementary-school/#.UTlVdiXhYvw.facebook

Heres a classic

I decided to do some digging and got out Granite's school policy handbook.  Granite's gun hand gesture qualifies as a terroristic threat because he "threatened" the life of another student by making the symbol.  How his elementary school handles this is the PA state police are called and the student is immediately suspended and put up for review for expulsion.

 

All I have to say, is god help them if I get a phone call at work saying that my 6 year son is sitting in the principal's office and the state police are there, because he was playing army again and made the gun symbol.  Jason and I are not ones to sit down and let people walk all over our family, because of what they think is right. 

 

Do you know what sucks?  The whole time we were talking to Granite about this, he was crying because he thought he did something wrong.  The only time we have a problem with him doing that is when we are out in public and he starts doing it (the boy has a very active imagination, lol) and he starts going pew pew.  It's not really a big problem, it just results in a "Granite, save that for at home with Logan".  So anyway, Granite's sitting there crying while we are talking to him and we are trying to tell him he did nothing wrong, but he didn't understand.  So we tried to remind of him of the Sandy Hook incident and that since there are bad people in the world they make it bad for everyone.  We really didn't know what else to say or how to explain it, because he didn't do anything wrong.  He just did something that boys do.

I decided to do some digging and got out Granite's school policy handbook.  Granite's gun hand gesture qualifies as a terroristic threat because he "threatened" the life of another student by making the symbol.  How his elementary school handles this is the PA state police are called and the student is immediately suspended and put up for review for expulsion.

 

What in the actual fuck.

 

So 6 year olds playing cops and robbers can be labled as terrorist threats?

 

Are they seriously that retarded?

A terror threat are you serious....what the fuck is wrong with people. Some shits really gone to far. How bout we just lock ourselves innour basement forever. If morgans school ever called me bout that id snap hard. Your son did nothing wrong. Nothing that any normal kid wouldnt do....WTF are boys supposed to play these days tea and dolls

Kids are majorly straddled with adult rules, like making gun symbols equals a terrorist act. These same kids end up graduating and are not able to afford college. For many, this means signing up with a military branch, or taking out huge student loans they'll be paying off into their 30's. If they're lucky enough to take out the student loan, they'll be enlightened by college. Many learning about how foul our government really is. The ones that can't . . . end up learning how to shoot . . . GUNS.

 

See the major divide there? Beginning at childhood, we're already being shaped for division and that stays with most into adulthood. When, if you're like most of America, you're either Progressive or Conservative.

 

There can't be a revolution if half of America agrees with their government.

 

*edit* I'm not pooping on anyone who has entered the military. Just saying for many, it's their only way to get to college and better their lives.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/zero-tolerance-guns-schools-newtown

I find it incredibly stupid. Kids are kids. I used to do all of that stuff myself. Hell, we use to get sticks at recess and sword fight too.

 

You and me both, and there was no harm in it at all. By the end of the day the very worse that would have happened is a scraped knee or a few bruises, we all walked away happy and waiting to do it again tomorrow. This thread kinda makes me sad, I understand zero tolerance but some things are just ridiculous. Yeah you don't want guns in school, or in the hands of stupid people (hell thats why I left my last job), but since when did my index finger and thumb become a lethal weapon worthy of putting me on a terrorist list?

I'm sorry to hear that while you were talking to your son Siren that he was crying the entire time. I completely agree with you, he did nothing wrong at all from what you have told us. One day we will stop living in fear of "terrorist threats" and maybe life will go back to normal.

Kids are majorly straddled with adult rules, like making gun symbols equals a terrorist act. These same kids end up graduating and are not able to afford college. For many, this means signing up with a military branch, or taking out huge student loans they'll be paying off into their 30's. If they're lucky enough to take out the student loan, they'll be enlightened by college. Many learning about how foul our government really is. The ones that can't . . . end up learning how to shoot . . . GUNS.

See the major divide there? Beginning at childhood, we're already being shaped for division and that stays with most into adulthood. When, if you're like most of America, you're either Progressive or Conservative.

There can't be a revolution if half of America agrees with their government.

*edit* I'm not pooping on anyone who has entered the military. Just saying for many, it's their only way to get to college and better their lives.

PK..im a little lost here. Guns are not the issue. Its

Damn phone...lol. the prob is some shithead sitting around with nothing to do that wants us all to become mindless drones. How bout we just oh hell i cant spell...labotomize....lol. every american. Line us up. Seriously, if some kid does a bang bang on ya do you call the cops no because we have common sence. Also being in the militay you lost me brother. I served and have no urge to snap and climb a tower. Its not gun its the fools with em and its not us legal gun owners most of the time.

 

 

 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened.