4-Year Old Brings Pot to Preschool
Categories: Preschoolers, In The News, Alcohol & Drugs
When a preschooler hears the word "pot" chances are he thinks of that thing mommy makes mac-n-cheese in on the stove. Well, most preschoolers anyway. Last week, a four-year-old in Tamarac, Florida brought pot with him to school. He casually pulled a plastic bag filled with marijuana out of his backpack and told one of his classmates "this is my brother's weed," according to reports.
His teacher, Iris Dasilva, 45, overhead the little boy and checked his book bag, where she found two more small bags filled with pot. Dasilva then called the Broward Sheriff's Office and the child abuse hotline.
The preschooler initially told investigators his older brother, 21, hid the drugs in the book bag, but later said he found it on a table in his brother's room, the police report said. A Sheriff's Office deputy and an investigator for the Department of Children and Family Services conducted a home visit at the child's residence and found the home clean, in order, with plenty of food, the police report said. It was also reported that the boy's mother told investigators she had never found marijuana in her house and that there was none in the book bag when she packed it.
Before you send your little one off to preschool, you'll probably speak to him about sharing, bullies -- ya know, normal stuff a four-year-old needs to know. But pot? I'm sure we all expect to talk to our kids about drugs at some point, but how young do we really have to start?
"As soon as you can speak to your children, you can start," says Hallie Deaktor, spokesperson for The Partnership for a Drug-Free America. "Preschool is a great time to reinforce how important it is to be healthy. At that age, kids understand that when they feel healthy they can run, jump and play, and when they feel crummy, they can't." Deaktor adds that while a four-year-old shouldn't know the word marijuana, he can understand that there are things people put in their bodies that can make them feel bad -- the same way you would explain to him that some things aren't safe to eat. "If your child is in a situation and he sees something he's never seen before -- like marijuana -- and someone wants him to try it, he won't want to put it in his body because he'll understand it may make him feel bad." The conversations you have with your child about drugs should change as they get older, but starting at a young age and talking about it on a regular basis, will help decrease the likelihood that they'll try drugs when they get older, she adds.
Would you talk to your preschooler about drugs?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
robert 3-12-2009 @ 2:12PM
This doesn't make sense...
"he won't want to put it in his body because he'll understand it may not make him feel bad"
Reply
Master Shake 3-12-2009 @ 2:35PM
Yeah, I saw that, too. LOL Makes you wonder what the writer was smoking when they wrote this. What's funny is that I'd say about 75% of the articles on AOL have major mistakes in them. Yet when you read the news online in other countries, you never see a single mistake.
Jordann 3-12-2009 @ 3:08PM
I thought I was going crazy lol. Glad to see it wasn't just me.
hall monitor 3-12-2009 @ 9:26PM
Time to start the DARE program before they get to kindergarten!
Hall Monitor
http://detentionslip.org
Valerie Valentine 3-14-2009 @ 2:11PM
I think she is right a child usually believes the parent, so telling them it will make them feel bad will discourage them from trying it.
graceeeeee 3-12-2009 @ 2:29PM
New lesson:
remember kids, don't smoke marijuana!
if you do you might become the President of the United States
or win 8 gold medals.
Reply
amber 3-12-2009 @ 2:35PM
haha good one graceeeee!!!!
Larry 3-12-2009 @ 2:38PM
They are going to put a warrant for that family now. The kid will face 1 to 2 years in prison stats the law in Florida doesn't matter what age or how many grams under 20 is 1-2 years. They will make it so hard for a 4 year old to go to school now.
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ayeyobeth 3-12-2009 @ 3:51PM
Wow, I don't think the four year old should get in THAT much trouble for that. He probably has no idea what it does or if its illegal.
ismokelotsofweed 3-17-2009 @ 5:06AM
i think this story is ridiculous. okay, so a little kid shouldn't have had pot in his backpack. but it's POT. how many pot-related deaths are there each year? zero. for the school to get child protective services and the police involved was retarded.
goddammit, fuck this country and it's fascist values.
Amy 3-12-2009 @ 3:09PM
since when does a reporter use "ya know" in a sentance??? only in America...
Reply
nichole 3-12-2009 @ 5:42PM
It has nothing to do with America... it has to do with people who spell "sentence" like you do ("sentance") teaching them how to write. And stupid is an epidemic in ALL nations. Not just this one.
tita 3-12-2009 @ 5:49PM
I love your comment, it was so funny, and is true...!
Paula 3-12-2009 @ 3:25PM
Wow, I wish I'd had something that neat for show-n-tell when I was his age. All I had was my dumb baby brother.
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DENNIS I. 3-12-2009 @ 3:39PM
At least the kid was not selling it like Bristol Palin's mother-in-law.
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Mandi Sue 3-12-2009 @ 4:19PM
Bristol Palin doesn't have a mother-in-law!! She isn't married and isn't even engaged anymore!!! Check your facts!
nichole 3-12-2009 @ 5:44PM
Mandi Sue: You sound so angry about it! Why so upset?
DENNIS I. 3-12-2009 @ 3:42PM
It could be worse, it could have been a box of wne from Wal-Mart.
That stuff is hard to drink & even harder to kick.
Reply
Leanne 3-13-2009 @ 10:03AM
His teacher, Iris Dasilva, 45, overhead the little boy saying
She overhead this little boy saying??????
Was that supposed to be overheard? This article was written so badly I feel like i'm high and smokin' pot - and can't read.. I have to go back and read this over....
Reply
gina 3-12-2009 @ 3:50PM
I thought I read wrong as well lol
Reply