Preschooler investigated for threatening his friends
Categories: Preschoolers, Health & safety, In the news, Childcare
I don't know why the teachers at The Family Development Center at University of Colorado would take away a child's pillow right before nap time, but for some reason they did. And the child who lost his pillow was not happy. In fact, 4-year-old Kyle kind of went over the edge into what can only be described as a misdirected temper tantrum. Instead of giving his teacher a piece of his mind, he threatened his fellow classmates. With a gun. According to staff at the day care, what he said was this: "I am going to go shoot all my friends!"
If an older kid says this, you should definitely call the police. But a 4-year-old? I think a good talking-to would be in order. Kyle did get a talking to - right before the university police arrived. They questioned his parents about whether or not there were guns in the home. They assured the police that not only were there no guns at home, Kyle isn't even allowed to play with toy guns or watch television.
I don't know if Kyle got his pillow back, but he did get expelled from the school in which had been enrolled for the past three years. His mom thinks the situation was handled unreasonably and I tend to agree with her. I know that in this day and age we all freak out when a kid threatens violence - often with good reason. And I may not know all the facts regarding Kyle and his home life, but I do think a four-year-old is too young to comprehend what a threat like that really means.
If an older kid says this, you should definitely call the police. But a 4-year-old? I think a good talking-to would be in order. Kyle did get a talking to - right before the university police arrived. They questioned his parents about whether or not there were guns in the home. They assured the police that not only were there no guns at home, Kyle isn't even allowed to play with toy guns or watch television.
I don't know if Kyle got his pillow back, but he did get expelled from the school in which had been enrolled for the past three years. His mom thinks the situation was handled unreasonably and I tend to agree with her. I know that in this day and age we all freak out when a kid threatens violence - often with good reason. And I may not know all the facts regarding Kyle and his home life, but I do think a four-year-old is too young to comprehend what a threat like that really means.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GrammaSheila 8-02-2008 @ 5:19PM
Was the child having a temper tentrum? YES!
Has there ever been a child who said something foolish while having a temper tantrum? YES!
Did the child have a gun? NO!
The reaction of the school is as stupid as the British who call toddlers "racist" for refusing to eat spicy food.
Common sense is dead. I really miss it.
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Justin 8-02-2008 @ 5:50PM
Said it dozens of times before and will say it again.
Schools are nothing but useless ignorant morons. It makes me sick seeing post after post on here about stuff like this. Just makes me want more and more to homeschool my children.
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Amy 8-02-2008 @ 8:13PM
I remember when I was in school, we had capable teachers and adults who knew how to handle situations. Where on earth do some of these current crop of educators get trained? They are utterly useless.
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ablndmomnt 8-02-2008 @ 9:06PM
I live here in Colorado and in the original story on 9news.com it stated that the child had many issues and this was basically the straw that broke the camels back. I'm not saying that the school was in the right or that they were wrong. I don't work there and have to deal with this child and parent. I do have to say though that if you have never worked in a daycare you should cut the school a little slack. Ive been kicked, bitten, cussed out, spit on and then told that I need to be more compassionate to the child because of this or that. Ive had parents tell there children they don't have to listen to me because I'm not their parent and then leave for 10 hours to go to work and then to the gym and to the mall to pick up a gift etc. Ive had parents come to pick up their kids LATE not just 5 min but close to an hour and then yell at me because I have to charge them. Daycare workers are generally underpaid, overworked and unappreciated. Thats why I no longer work for daycares.
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Ann 8-03-2008 @ 12:14AM
As a preschool teacher, thank you ablndmomnt and SHAME ON YOU Justin, Amy, and Gramma Sheila. You really should know better. Yes they probably could have handled it differently but overall it IS a safety issue for the teachers as well as the other children. What if YOUR child was in this particular class?
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Susan Hamilton 8-03-2008 @ 5:40AM
Ah, excuse me, he was....FOUR! If you are truly terrorized by this comment, maybe you should rethink your career choice!
Susan Hamilton 8-03-2008 @ 6:00AM
The schools are a mess! When my son was in kindergarden, he and a friend were brought to the office, and I was called in. It seems the boys were given a sandwich for lunch, and decided to mold the foil into "guns" and "bang" each other. I started laughing when they told me there was a zero tolerence for violence. This same school told me, many years later, they were not available for after school help. "we have lives too, hire a tutor". My kids are older now, but still in school. I am disgusted daily by the things they come home and tell me, and its the teachers and administrators who shock me. The kids are learning alright, but not the things I was hoping!
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pbhj 8-03-2008 @ 10:12AM
>>> This same school told me, many years later, they were not available for after school help. "we have lives too, hire a tutor".
Why do you expect others to give up their whole life to look after your kids when you won't give up your evenings to do the same?
J.P. 8-03-2008 @ 6:18AM
Come on people, this is a four year old boy that knew no other way to express his anger simply because he has never been taught another way. I fully believe the school mishandled the situation by not giving him the loving discipline that he needed at the time. In the end however, this type of behavior has to be dealt with and disciplined in a loving way at home. It would seem that hasn't happened consistently and intentionally and that, my friends, lays on the heads of the parents.
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pbhj 8-03-2008 @ 10:11AM
Why didn't you link the fuller report of the incident? http://www.gazette.com/articles/class_38797___article.html/made_old.html
I don't see how the mother can be too mad, she has no clue about the child - he's been looked after by others since he was one year old. It's not like he's had a clean "record" so far. Sounds like he needs some love and attention from his parents.
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Amy 8-03-2008 @ 10:16PM
Shame on us? Ann, a safety issue? What kind of training do you people get these days that you cannot look after a 4 year old. He threatened his friends saying he was going to shoot them. HE IS FOUR YEARS OLD.
If my kid was in that school and had such incapable adults, I'd find him somewhere better. If these are some of the adults manning our schools, no wonder kids are having trouble.
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Ann 8-04-2008 @ 12:16AM
Amy, so a child threatening to kill people isnt a safety issue? WOW! Point blank...he made a threat and it absolutely need to be looked into. I dont know if it warranted an expulsion but its been noted that he has noted behavorial problems. As I asked earlier what if your child was a classmate of his? My guess is youd feel differently. And lets not put ANY responsibility on the kids parents thats what teachers are for right?
Gabby 8-04-2008 @ 10:27AM
Yes, this child CLEARLY has behavioral issues! In the article linked by pbhj, it states the child sometimes has trouble staying still during naptime, AND sometimes he runs instead of walks! Now, is that typical 4 year old behavior? Please, they most likely did a kid a favor by giving him the boot. The daycare employees sound incompetent.
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Jenni 8-04-2008 @ 10:33PM
Does a 4 year old understand the impact of those words? No. But it got a reaction. And maybe he has said something similar before and gotten a strong reaction. I will say this, as a preschool director, if even had a rumor about a teacher taking a child's pillow at naptime in a situation like this, that teacher would be called into my office.
This teacher and child got into a powerstruggle. The teacher wanted to show her dominance and control. All that did was anger the child. Not being there, I don't know what steps I would have made in the progression at this nap incident, but I can say that taking a pillow away will garuntee this child isn't going to sleep.
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jknichols 8-27-2008 @ 5:19PM
When my nephew was 8, he was fiddling in class one day with a rubber band and a paperclip. When the teacher asked him what he was doing, he responded "building a bomb". You might have thought the kid blew up the school or something! His parents were called, meetings were held between officials, and he ultimately was suspended from school. Even the principal seemed to think it was a bit extreme, but explained that they had no choice due to the "zero tolerance" policy. My nephew had no idea what he had done wrong because to him he was just playing imaginatively. Any chance that they (either parents or school) had to teach him about the dangers of such comments in today's society was lost in the resulting drama.
Today, he is a well-adjusted, responsible 20 year old who made it the rest of the way through school without so much as a single detention. I would have hoped that in the intervening 12 years we would have interjected a little common sense into these zero tolerance policies, but I guess not.
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