This is so STUPID!

[Mellifluous]

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=154557&format=print

[appyday]

Hey I live in MD...why did I fall for that linkie.. :lol:

[Barbwire]

That's funny, I have been pinching boys' butts since pre-school, and I have never been charged with anything. Go figure. ;-)

[Thomasj]

that principal at that school needs shot. idiot shouldn't be at the school if they don't know anything bout kids.

[Barbwire]

Ya know, Tommy boy, I promised yer old man I'd be nice to you, but you are making it about impossible with statements like that. (bites tongue in half)

[PasoVicki]

It's sad but, having been a foster parent for ten years, I know there are kids as young as four or five who DO display inappropriate sexual behaviors. These aren't "bad" kids; they're kids who have been exposed to things that no four or five year old should be exposed to and have started acting out as a result -- and the acting out takes the form of the kinds of things they've been exposed to.

I'm not saying the kid in this particular case did anything a normal, well-cared for child might not do. However, school personnel often aren't in any position to differentiate between a child who is acting out due to sexual abuse and one who innocently acts in a way that a sexually abused child might act. Since they have to treat everyone equally, they have guidelines as to what is appropriate/inappropriate and how inappropriate behavior is handled. Beyond that, all they can do is report to the authorities if there are enough 'red flags' indicating the child is an abuse case.

[Heidi]

It's sad but, having been a foster parent for ten years, I know there are kids as young as four or five who DO display inappropriate sexual behaviors. These aren't "bad" kids; they're kids who have been exposed to things that no four or five year old should be exposed to and have started acting out as a result -- and the acting out takes the form of the kinds of things they've been exposed to.
Hear! Hear!
I was with my High School b/f and we were visiting school friends of his. The girl's older sister had two children, and the youngest one came in to sit with us as we were visiting and she crawled up on my b/f's lap and told him: "You are sooo cute!" and got all snuggly and google-y eyed with him.
No one understood why I was outraged...it was NOT that I was 'jealous' of a child, it was that a small child (kindergarten age) would act so suggestive and wantonly. I know she was emulating her mother, who was rumored to be using drugs and possibly turning 'tricks' to earn her drug money. Poor child.

[GeorgeGuns]

I sure wouldn't call it sexual harrassment, because a five year old doesn't have a clue. BUT (pun intended) no one should be pinching anyone anywhere at any age, its plain rude and hurtful. THAT can easily be explained to a five year old!!!!

[motorgypsy]

A number of years ago friend's 4 year old was sexually molested by a much larger 5 year old neighbor child. The mother was horrified when her child told her what the 5 year old did and she was at a total loss about what to do because she figured no one would believe her and the larger child would retaliate because the younger child told on him. Obviously the 5 year old had witnessed adult behavior and acted it out on the unwilling and terrified 4 year old. So whether they understand what they are doing or not, small children can do really terrible things and most of the time the parents of the ones who do this refuse to believe their child did anything wrong. It's a terrible problem for teachers and parents to deal with. If a child is disciplined by a school for this type of behavior I would suspect that either the school has had other serious problems of this nature that require them to be really strict or the child has a prior history of this type of behavior and other attempts to stop it didn't work.