want everyones opinion

[darkchild16]

this happened at my nephew school and i was just wondering what everyone thought about it http://www.stpetetimes.com/2005/04/22/Southpinellas/Video_shows_police_ha.shtml

the police handcuffed a 5 yr old girl

 

[scob89]

Now thats just not right at all.

 

[darkchild16]

i know

 

[joce]

I may be the only one to say it but I think she needed it. At five years old if you treat a teacher like that,one of your biggest authority figures,what is going to happen to you later on? Her mom sounded like an idiot on the tv. She had gone in and "told that lady to stay away from her daughter". I'm sure she is not a good role model for her daughter and I can only hope that the little girl gets the help she needs. The cops didn't violently throw her around or anything. Was it traumatic? yeah probally but what should they have done? That is one punishment that could have a good effect on her if her mom wasn't trying to get a lot of attention. A kid in my middle school bit a teacher and they dragged him out. He was slightly handicapped too and no one threw a fit about that because he did the wrong thing.

If they would have hit the girl I'd see the point of being upset but they didn't. And I know it would not happen to any kids I know in school because if they behaved like that their parents would be calling the cops themselves!

 

[Renee750il]

Handcuffing was a bit extreme and the child's behavior was appalling. The teachers really deserve a round of applause for handling this child so well. We don't have any idea why this child is so badly behaved; whether she is coddled and catered to at home and is just utterly, utterly spoiled, whether she has a psychological condition, whether she's a very frightened child, or whether she's just a horrible, manipulating brat who is going to grow up and make some poor man blow his brains out someday.

I'll just bet those teachers are breathing a sigh of relief - maybe even throwing a party - after finding out she won't be coming back to their school!

 

[jackrussgirl]

The principal exerted extreme self-control. Now all the police need to do is hand-cuff the mother for not teaching a potential sweet little girl how to behave.

 

[smkie]

i disagree. with the opinions above, the child is in crisis, the child needed behavior crisis interventions..there are holds, and blocks, that cause no harm, represent a control for the child..that is now out of control, that is not about bad behavior, that is something way way more, and i didn't watch it until the police came, because i thought the assistant princ. was being very passive and allowing the situation to esculate more and more out of control..and no point did i see her lower her self to the child's level, or try to have eye contact, and no point did i see her back the child in to a safe zone..i won't go on, i had training in physical crisis intervention for working with the profoundly retarded and it was a whole lot like that...fear, anger, a need to be punished, a feeling that they deserve it, so they try to force it, and by golly she got the whole thing..at no point did i see the principal act appropriately. This is a baby, not a criminal, and a child that is DESPERATE for some control. but not to be the controller which she obviously was. I have horrors of what her home life is like. i would give it a 75 percent that the child is mentally ill. Mental illness is very hard to diagnose in children, and is easily passed over as something else. An ambulance should have been called, as well as the parents..this was not a police call.
That had all the signs of a full blown manic phase.
The principal needs some serious behavior modification classes..or a different job. I woud assume that there would be some mental illness training to go with working in large groups of children..especially for chemical imbalances.

 

[Love4Pits]

I agree and go with what smkie said 100% . I watched both videos on there and the one with the little girl in the principles office just really got to me. She looked like she has a temper like my 5 year old Nephews he is in therapy yes a 5 year old. That might have to be an option for this child she seems like she has alot of internal problems.

 

[smkie]

the office scene made me physically ill Pits..i watched the classroom scene again, i still won't watch the police, i think that would send me off on a tyrant. in the classroom there were 6 times the principal could have blocked, and redirected without ever touching the child, removing her to the hall or a safe room. That is long before things spiraled way way down. just omg.

 

[Renee750il]

I couldn't see the video, only got to read the article, but I can understand why school personnel would be acting in a passive, hands-off manner. If a school employee had physically touched the child - or even done something that could be construed as minimally "aggressive," it would have opened thatperson and the entire school system up to a potential lawsuit. Their primary responsibility was to protect the other children, which they did.

 

[Love4Pits]

The principal was alot more hands on in the office It was just crays you see all the papers strewn on the floor from the little girl. I was physically frustrated when she was ripping the papers off the bulletin board and when she kept on hopping up on that table.

 

[smkie]

she didn't have to touch the child renee.the child is walking from one end of the class room to another, like a pacing dog working it's self up..if u saw it i think you would know what i am talking about. All she had to do was stand directly in front of the child and "walk"her into a corner, or out of the room, away from the eyes of the other children, into a far smaller space, with safer "walls" the principal was far more interested in her walklie talkie..and she looks bored out of her mind while waiting for the police to come..at no point..at no point at all did i see her get down on the child's level to "see" whats wrong. Why is my most favorite question..why are u so upset can go a million miles with someone who is 5. Works good if your 95 too. Following BEHIND, or holding your Hands out eye level..mean not a d*** thing when someone is falling apart. that was the most desperate child just begging for help. i don't know how much training a teacher of small children has to have but surely this is covered. U would give a dog more understanding then that little girl received.

 

[smkie]

I was able to walk a retarded man (who is in full rage) straight into a chair, and plop..as soon as the edge of the chair hits the back of the knees..guess what happens..and even if he weighs 100 more lbs than me, i could talk him into a calmer state of mind. I had hands on training granted, but this is just a little gurl. She isn't striking out, she's ripping stuff off the wall..BACK HER AWAY FROM THE WALL..for petes sake..back her into a chair, get down on her level...it's elemental 101..talk..quiet and low. Shoot sing a lullabye if u have to. guess the word i want is DIFFUSE. None of that happened there.

 

[Renee750il]

It seems the reporter could have done a much more accurately descriptive report!

You're right, Smkie, behind is useless.

I just wonder what's going to happen. This isn't really that isolated an event, with the exception of the police being called in. Children, adolescents and adults fly into seemingly uncontrollable rages every day for the most trivial reasons. It seems that the inhibiting functions of the brain are just completely turned off or haven't been developed, whether because of some physiological damage or malfunction or because it's never been nurtured and exercised during developmental stages.

Whatever the reason, it's becoming a critical issue and there doesn't seem to be any progress being made toward finding answers.

 

[darkchild16]

i dont think you should put handcuffs on akid i had them on when i was 10 and nnow i have no respect for the police for that xpecialy since i didnt threaten anyone i was just a runaway and they cuffed me TIGHT!!! but we have also had some 6 yr old boy tasered here too these cops need to have more common sence

 

[smkie]

Renee..i read a book once that explained the too many mice in a tank...a few lived in harmony, but too many and the squabbles started, and eventually worked their way to fights of death. When we shipped rats..sometimes too many would come in so i can attest to how true that really is. When i had my children we grew up with the belief that u should only have two, one to replace each parent so that the population problem wouldn't get worse than it already is. I have also read that when a society begins killing and abandoning their children it is the first sign of the society failing.
You throw in a bad economy, i know most of my arguements when married were about the lack of it..and who was not using it wisely, throw that into the pot and we are just a mess. Add to that the people having children by quantities are most often the very people that should not be, and the people that should aren't..(i am the only one from my college friends that became a parent) the spiral begins. I read posts by BigDogdaddy, Luv4pits, Breeze and Scobe..and all the other youngsters, and i see a glimmer of hope. In Kansas they have stopped summer school for gradeschool children..money just ins't going in the right place, yet they will plant a zillion daffodils beside the highway..i even saw them plant Lupines (in Missouri?) don't know who's big idea tht was but it was a waste. anyway i will get off my soap box, sorry...

 

[shredhead (DOG LOVER)]

It's way too extreme to handcuff a little girl. Maybe just take her away or just calmly talk to her. Handcuffing...no. I've been cuffed before and the cops do it pretty hard. Kinda hurt.

-Jon

 

[darkchild16]

we dont have it either

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

Well, in my opinion, it sounds like that little girl is a bit bratty. But, from what the article said, what the teachers were doing sounds kind of stupid to me. You shouldn't tolerate that. Pick the child up, set her on a chair and explain to her that she's having a timeout and why she's having one. Five minutes later, go back and ask her to apologize to you. But, I do think handcuffing her and putting her in the police car was absurd too.

 

[smkie]

the point i think they are trying to make..is was this a criminal offense, or a medical one...who should have been called..is there no class councilor? i am sure the mother will win her law suit..which will deplete an already failing system..i hope she gets some good medical care for her daughter..and some therapy for the whole family. I am sure the police didn't put the cuffs on too tight, but to put them on at all is absurb..gee how hard can a little girl that age hit? Hyia is the same age, and in no way behaves like that, not even at 2. But i did work with a child that behaved exactly like that when the manic phase of the illness had triggered in. It is my opinion that a basket hold (over the top of the arms, no hands on, causes no bruising) could have been used, gee what did she weigh? 40 lbs dripping wet? she could have been scooped up, held in a lap until help arrived. By allowing her to "control" the whole situation meant that her world was even more out of control. I don't not believe for one minute that a child sets out to be bad. There is always a reason. We don't know that she didn't have some of that crack candy that the other (was it a 1st grader?) brought to school last month. His parents told him it was candy.he was going to share. I personally hope the principal finds another form of work, preferably not with people or animals...she isn't cut out for it.. I missed the tazer incident..omg. I had a friend that had a heart condition, everyone knew it, yet in jr high the coach decided he wasn't trying hard enough and gave him one of their famous swats..he had a heart attack.