Haiku Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 In the mornings I babysit two children and take them to school. They are 8 and 5. This morning the five year old told me, "School is just not for me." When I asked him what he meant, he explained that he just wasn't any good at it. :crying: I talked to his dad about it and, apparently, the school (which is known as the most progressive in the district) has a behavior program where each child starts the day with 3 flags. Every time they misbehave they have to take down a flag and place it on a frowny face. If they lose all three there is some sort of punishment. Apparently my young friend frequently loses all three. The thing is, he's one of the nicest kids I have EVER met ... he's just kinda dreamy and dawdle-y. It just breaks my heart that he's in KINDERGARTEN and has already decided that school is a negative in his life. :sad: Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 That is so sad! That poor kid. If I were that child's parent, I would be at the school to discuss this situation ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I have twin 5yo nephews in a similar situation. They are in K as well, usually get into trouble at school, stay on "red" (it's a traffic light system) and then have homework (HOMEWORK!!???!!!) four days per week. Both dh and I have tried talking to SIL (dh's sis) about hsing but she says, "It isn't for me." It's really sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Oh, that breaks my heart. The poor little guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendag Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Yea, I have friends who kids have the "stoplight" system going on in school. I guess this is a variant. It makes me sad that kids are already having that outlook on school. A friend of mine told me about a school that was in her district that had a huge red "X" painted out in the playground. Her neighbor kids went to that school. If kids forgot their homework, they had to spend recess sitting out on the red X. Remind anyone of a book? Even the K kids were paranoid about having to sit out on the big red X, but it still happened. There were a couple of kids that were seen on it pretty regularly I guess...kids that really needed to get out the extra energy. I thought it could be handled in a different way and wondered who came up with that bright idea so I just shot off an email to the district president and he was appalled, thanked me for bringing it to his attention and said it would be taken care of asap. I'm not against age appropriate consequences, but what was more surprising to me was that the parents knew about the policy and seemed to be ok with it. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campmom Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 When my child was in school they had a paper hand that they started each week with. Each time they misbehaved (whatever that was) they got a hole punched in one of the fingers. By the end of the week my daughter often didn't have any fingers left on her hand. No wonder she hated school. I really had a problem with the fact that they were using a body part to punch holes in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 When my child was in school they had a paper hand that they started each week with. Each time they misbehaved (whatever that was) they got a hole punched in one of the fingers. By the end of the week my daughter often didn't have any fingers left on her hand. No wonder she hated school. I really had a problem with the fact that they were using a body part to punch holes in. This sounds like something from a bad movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Blech. It's not like it's that hard to implement a postive reinforcement system instead. In the PS-run program my DD is in, the kids in primary got "grabbers" each day. Nothing was ever taken away except the grabbers. Kids who kept their grabbers could turn them in for prizes and a chance to win a weekly drawing for a bigger prize. No taking away recess from kids who need to move, just a little something for positive incentive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 My son's school has some sort of system but it seems to not be unrealistic (I didn't hear about it for a year). Some of those things seem like abuse. And the being afraid of sitting on the big red cross is a bit like the corporal punishment when I was at school. The good kids were afraid of it and the others developed a defiant, don't care attitude in defence. I don't think it helped anyone overcome their problems though. And punching holes in fingers? Did anyone think that one through? It is just creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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