6 Yr Old Suspended From School For Making Gun With Hand

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White Rain

White Rain

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WTF? You have got to be kidding me....
WHAT do 6 yr old's play?
Cops n robbers.
Cowboys n Indians.
Things like that.
I only have one son (9 months old) out of 2 step-daughters and 2 daughters, none under the age of 10...
Too think my son could be suspended just for doing a hand signal, part of normal, every day boy (and girl) playfullness makes me very angry.
What happened to imagination? Pretend-play?
It's a sad world now for kids. A sad, sad world.

A Michigan boy reportedly has been suspended from school for curling his hand into the shape of a gun and pointing it at another student.
Erin Jammer, said her son, Mason, was just playing around when he made the gesture Wednesday, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
But officials at Jefferson Elementary School said the behavior made other students uncomfortable, and they suspended Mason for the remainder of the week, the paper reported.
School officials also told the paper that Mason had been warned repeatedly against pretending to aim his hand at students but continued the behavior over several months.
Jammer told the paper her son isn't violent and doesn’t have toy guns at home. She suggested a less harsh punishment, like taking Mason’s recess away, might be more effective in teaching him not to make a gun with his hand.
 
White Rain said:
WTF? You have got to be kidding me....
WHAT do 6 yr old's play?
Cops n robbers.
Cowboys n Indians.
Things like that.
I only have one son (9 months old) out of 2 step-daughters and 2 daughters, none under the age of 10...
Too think my son could be suspended just for doing a hand signal, part of normal, every day boy (and girl) playfullness makes me very angry.
What happened to imagination? Pretend-play?
It's a sad world now for kids. A sad, sad world.

A Michigan boy reportedly has been suspended from school for curling his hand into the shape of a gun and pointing it at another student.
Erin Jammer, said her son, Mason, was just playing around when he made the gesture Wednesday, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
But officials at Jefferson Elementary School said the behavior made other students uncomfortable, and they suspended Mason for the remainder of the week, the paper reported.
School officials also told the paper that Mason had been warned repeatedly against pretending to aim his hand at students but continued the behavior over several months.
Jammer told the paper her son isn't violent and doesn’t have toy guns at home. She suggested a less harsh punishment, like taking Mason’s recess away, might be more effective in teaching him not to make a gun with his hand.
Click to expand...


Let me say I realize it said Mason had been warned repeatedly...but still, we ARE talking about a 6 yr old. I agree with Mason's mom, take his recess and such away and see where it goes from there.
 
This is absurd. There are far better ways to deal with the child. I agree with the mother about recess as it would probably get through to him better.
 
You cannot squelch the imaginative play of a little kid, at least not without causing damage. Imagination is such an important part of a child's life.

This is ridiculous beyond description.

Completely and totally STUPID. And believe me, Mason KNOWS how stupid this "rule" is.
 
We live in the age of overreaction or underraction. This is an overreaction. Trust me, sitting out recess is a more fitting punishment.
 
I'm the odd one out here.
Maybe they could have come up with a more suitable way to deal with it, but I agree that something should have been done.
Why did this kid continue to do it after several warnings? Does he think that the rules don't apply to him?

Yeah....it's imagination and play. But does that mean you wouldn't react to a child pretending to rape another child? Or pretending to stab another child?

I'm 100% anti-gun, so that may be why I have a different POV here. But it's bigger than that- it's about learning to abide by the rules, even if you don't agree with them.

My own daughter learned the gun signal from other kids when she started school, but I taught her that even when it's pretend it's NOT OKAY, because it can scare people.

Apparently the other kids were scared of his actions- that makes it different to normal cops and robbers type play.

The parent of this boy should not be so flippant about it....And why do they always run to the media with these stories? Your kid violated the rules, disregarded the warnings and you make out like he is a victim?

If my daughter breaks school rules that I think are stupid, she still needs to be punished appropriately, because the rules are in place for a reason.

Kids need to learn that they need to follow rules. And there will be consequences if they don't, because thats how life works....even for grown-ups....and it's the parents job to teach them that.
JMO
ETA: Just want to add that I dont think that suspension ever really achieves anything. Maybe they should sit him down with the other kids so they can explain how it made them feel when he did this.Personally I think this kid is crying out for some attention, and he has learned that negative attention is the only way he can get it.
 
butwhatif? said:
I'm the odd one out here.
Maybe they could have come up with a more suitable way to deal with it, but I agree that something should have been done.
Why did this kid continue to do it after several warnings? Does he think that the rules don't apply to him?

Yeah....it's imagination and play. But does that mean you wouldn't react to a child pretending to rape another child? Or pretending to stab another child?

I'm 100% anti-gun, so that may be why I have a different POV here. But it's bigger than that- it's about learning to abide by the rules, even if you don't agree with them.

My own daughter learned the gun signal from other kids when she started school, but I taught her that even when it's pretend it's NOT OKAY, because it can scare people.

Apparently the other kids were scared of his actions- that makes it different to normal cops and robbers type play.

The parent of this boy should not be so flippant about it....And why do they always run to the media with these stories? Your kid violated the rules, disregarded the warnings and you make out like he is a victim?

If my daughter breaks school rules that I think are stupid, she still needs to be punished appropriately, because the rules are in place for a reason.

Kids need to learn that they need to follow rules. And there will be consequences if they don't, because thats how life works....even for grown-ups....and it's the parents job to teach them that.
JMO
ETA: Just want to add that I dont think that suspension ever really achieves anything. Maybe they should sit him down with the other kids so they can explain how it made them feel when he did this.Personally I think this kid is crying out for some attention, and he has learned that negative attention is the only way he can get it.
Click to expand...

Why did this kid continue to do it after several warnings? Did he think the rules didn't apply to him...
My gosh he is a 6 yr old! I remember at that age it took me a few warnings plus butt whippings to get the hint!
To me hand signals in the shape of a gun symbolize normal everyday cowboy and indian, good guy and bad guy behavior in children....
A child pretending to rape another child however would send up HUGE red flags to me...I fail to see how these two actions (one normal, childlike behavior seen on tv (A Christmas Story and such anyone?)) and another un-normal behavior (child rape) seen on TV ummm when??? can even be compared... Can hardly recall seeing any 6 yr old + appropriate tv shows that show child-rape.
I respect you telling and showing your daughter that it can NOT be ok to do gun hand signals...but really, a child being suspended over this? GIVE ME A BREAK! Yes maybe other kids being scared of his actions DID make it different, but WHAT or rather HOW did suspending him make them feel safer?
What about him coming back to school? What would/could the principal/teachers/parents possibly do in the mean time to make the kids feel safer?
I appreciate your saying maybe other kids sitting him down, telling him how they might feel may change thingsl...but I really don't think hand gun signals in a 6 yr old are crying out for attn...I think it is normal, everyday boy (and girl, at least in my case about my own self!) behavior. MOO
 
White Rain said:
Why did this kid continue to do it after several warnings? Did he think the rules didn't apply to him...
My gosh he is a 6 yr old! I remember at that age it took me a few warnings plus butt whippings to get the hint!
To me hand signals in the shape of a gun symbolize normal everyday cowboy and indian, good guy and bad guy behavior in children....
A child pretending to rape another child however would send up HUGE red flags to me...I fail to see how these two actions (one normal, childlike behavior seen on tv (A Christmas Story and such anyone?)) and another un-normal behavior (child rape) seen on TV ummm when??? can even be compared... Can hardly recall seeing any 6 yr old + appropriate tv shows that show child-rape.
I respect you telling and showing your daughter that it can NOT be ok to do gun hand signals...but really, a child being suspended over this? GIVE ME A BREAK! Yes maybe other kids being scared of his actions DID make it different, but WHAT or rather HOW did suspending him make them feel safer?
What about him coming back to school? What would/could the principal/teachers/parents possibly do in the mean time to make the kids feel safer?
I appreciate your saying maybe other kids sitting him down, telling him how they might feel may change thingsl...but I really don't think hand gun signals in a 6 yr old are crying out for attn...I think it is normal, everyday boy (and girl, at least in my case about my own self!) behavior. MOO
Click to expand...

My issue is with this parent repeatedly saying "He's only six and he doesn't understand this".....Well it's her job to explain it to him.

If you break the rules- you get punished. It's really simple. It's not even about what he did. If he had've spat in the playground and been told repeatedly not to do it, and still did it anyway, he should be punished.

To me it just seems like this parent is enabling negative behaviour which could have been viewed as bullying by the other kids.
I'd like to know if this parent knew this was going on and if she was working with the the teachers to find a reasonable way of dealing with it, before running to the media.
 
I'm all about little boys playing with pretend guns - think it's completely normal, doesn't bother me a whit. That said, a 6 year old IS (or certainly should be) able to learn to not do something when he has been told repeatedly not to do it.

So, while I think it's CRAZY stupid that the school chose suspension (and I'm also saddened that society is so terrified of the play of little boys) as a way to deal with this issue, I think the parents need to work with the son to obey his teachers.

Maybe I'm missing something, but surely the suspension didn't come out of nowhere - I am assuming the school had talked to the child and has mother before doing something so extreme.
 
who said making that sign might scare someone...bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


I never heard of such. Years ago lots of kids didn't have toys..you used what you had....wonder what they'd do if he picked up a stick and said it was a bomb?? or a sword?

He doesn't need a punishment....and using rape as an example is way over the top...if that would happen the kid would have to be put away.

Too many liberals thinking up such silly stuff.

Let the kid be a kid.
 
I am also anti-gun, and pretty liberal, but this is silly. Playing guns is something that boys do. I have girls, and I've never witnessed it in them, but I've done daycare (including a home daycare), and I've worked in the school system, and boys play guns. If they don't have guns, they make them out of sticks, or Legos, or toast, or their fingers. In my hippie days, I had a friend who was about as "hippie" as you can get. They did not allows guns in their house at all. They had two boys. The boys made guns. Where they saw or heard about guns, I don't know, but I do remember their mom telling them to "shoot kisses" instead of play bullets. The kids had made guns out of some kind of other toy...cars or something. It's just what boys do.
 
Fun story. From experience, I've found that the ones bothered by 6-year old behavior in schools is the teacher. Kids have their own ways to work things out. A long time ago, I came to the conclusion that every teacher of young children should be PARENTS themselves of children older than they teach. (Unless you believe young ladies teaching kindergarten is a form of birth control). But I digress.

Yes, 6-year old boys will be, well, 6-year old boys. On the other hand, the child and family were warned that if this behavior continued he would be suspended. And the school followed through.

So what concerns me the most, is that no one was able to modify the childs behavior. I think we need better parents? Better teacher? Principle? Maybe Stephen King?
 
sniperacer said:
Fun story. From experience, I've found that the ones bothered by 6-year old behavior in schools is the teacher. Kids have their own ways to work things out. A long time ago, I came to the conclusion that every teacher of young children should be PARENTS themselves of children older than they teach. (Unless you believe young ladies teaching kindergarten is a form of birth control). But I digress.

Yes, 6-year old boys will be, well, 6-year old boys. On the other hand, the child and family were warned that if this behavior continued he would be suspended. And the school followed through.

So what concerns me the most, is that no one was able to modify the childs behavior. I think we need better parents? Better teacher? Principle? Maybe Stephen King?
Click to expand...

Six year old boys can be very immature, although he is certainly learning what is and is not allowed. His failure to learn may be based on his immaturity, the fact that this is an integral part of the way he plays, or the fact that even a six year old recognizes that positioning your fingers like a gun isn't going to hurt anyone, ever......kids recognize idiocy when they see it!
 
butwhatif? said:
I'm the odd one out here.
Maybe they could have come up with a more suitable way to deal with it, but I agree that something should have been done.
Why did this kid continue to do it after several warnings? Does he think that the rules don't apply to him?

Yeah....it's imagination and play. But does that mean you wouldn't react to a child pretending to rape another child? Or pretending to stab another child?

I'm 100% anti-gun, so that may be why I have a different POV here. But it's bigger than that- it's about learning to abide by the rules, even if you don't agree with them.

My own daughter learned the gun signal from other kids when she started school, but I taught her that even when it's pretend it's NOT OKAY, because it can scare people.

Apparently the other kids were scared of his actions- that makes it different to normal cops and robbers type play.

The parent of this boy should not be so flippant about it....And why do they always run to the media with these stories? Your kid violated the rules, disregarded the warnings and you make out like he is a victim?

If my daughter breaks school rules that I think are stupid, she still needs to be punished appropriately, because the rules are in place for a reason.

Kids need to learn that they need to follow rules. And there will be consequences if they don't, because thats how life works....even for grown-ups....and it's the parents job to teach them that.
JMO
ETA: Just want to add that I dont think that suspension ever really achieves anything. Maybe they should sit him down with the other kids so they can explain how it made them feel when he did this.Personally I think this kid is crying out for some attention, and he has learned that negative attention is the only way he can get it.
Click to expand...

I respect your opinion, but I really don't think a little boy making a pretend gun out of his fingers is anywhere near the scenario of pretending to rape someone. Little boys playing cops and robbers is a part of normal childhood experience, however, a six year old boy who displays or mimics sexual behavior is a child who should be looked at carefully. What that child is doing is not within normal six year old behavior....for a child to do that would probably indicate the child had been abnormally sexuallized through abuse or exposure to adult activities.
 
kgeaux said:
I respect your opinion, but I really don't think a little boy making a pretend gun out of his fingers is anywhere near the scenario of pretending to rape someone. Little boys playing cops and robbers is a part of normal childhood experience, however, a six year old boy who displays or mimics sexual behavior is a child who should be looked at carefully. What that child is doing is not within normal six year old behavior....for a child to do that would probably indicate the child had been abnormally sexuallized through abuse or exposure to adult activities.
Click to expand...

Bringing up the rape scenario was simply to point out that there are limits to a childs imagination, and we all draw the line at different points.
And that just because it's pretend, doesn't make everything that's pretend okay.

This boy wasn't suspended for playing cops and robbers with other kids.

IMO, There's alot more to being a boy than gun play. It's not like we are feminising them by eliminating gun play in schools. Handball, basketball, paper-scissors-rock, card games are just a few of the things I saw the 6 year olds at my daughters school playing today.

I feel really sorry for this kid. I've been thinking about him and what would have been a better way to deal with the situation.
Firstly they should have pointed out that scaring the other kids isn't the way to make friends- that it's only going to make them want to stay away from him.

Secondly, it would have been a good idea for the school to use a positive reward system with him. Like each day he follows the rules, and doesn't pretend to shoot people, he gets a smiley face or sticker on a chart. Once he gets so many of these stickers, he gets an award in assembly for doing the right thing by following the school rules. And then he learns that he recieves positive attention and acknowledgement for doing the right thing.
All jmo
 
This is the most ridiculous story of late. I don't believe for one minute that this child making a pretend gun out of his hand scared other children. Most likely, it was the twisted mind of a nut case teacher who got it into her mind that Columbine and other school killings originated with boys making guns out of their hands.

If the child was doing this in class repeatedly, then the child is disrupting the classroom. No more, no less, and that is what should have been addressed.
If he's doing it repeatedly, then guess what? The teacher has no control of her class. If anything, the teacher should be put on suspension.
 
Just because one kid in a class continues to do something he's been told not to do does not mean the teacher has no control over the class. Don't punish the teacher for something the child is doing.

butwhatif?, I don't think that anyone is suggesting that eliminating gun play is feminizing a boy. I, for one, am all for it, although at my house we've had toy guns as well as toy swords. The point is that you can tell a child that you don't approve of playing with toy guns, you can make sure there are no toy guns available, and you can even make sure the boy does not see movies/TV with guns and violence. But there is something in a boy's genetic makeup that makes him have the desire to play with guns.

Schools seem like they're becoming less about teaching and more about getting kids punished. I'm seeing it in the news, and I'm even seeing it in the school where I teach. Students are beginning to think it's "us" against "them," and I'm beginning to agree with them.
 
First I want to say that I've learned the news never gives the whole story, so I'm sure there is more than what we're hearing. That said, it seems like this is more about the child not following the rules rather than him making a gun shape with his hands.

If a child is not following the rules, they should be punished. Do I think he should have been suspended? No. I believe there were probably other, more appropriate, alternatives. Then again, I don't believe in suspension in general. Especially the older a child gets. It seems like more of a reward than a punishment to many of the kids.

At age 6, the child should understand there are consequences to his actions. My 4 year old is having a hard time learning that right now, but we're making sure she knows. When she gets in trouble for something, we make sure to talk to her about the fact that we asked her however many times not to do something and told her exactly what would happen if she didn't stop. Since she didn't stop, she's receiving consequences. By the time she's 6, I'm pretty sure she'll understand.
 
I'm a girl and grew up playing cops and robbers with the boys. It was fun. We had toy guns. My sister and I had Lone Ranger gun belts. None of us grew up to be murders or criminals. I can't think of any one I grew up with that turned out bad. The teacher gave us a whack with a ruler if we were bad and back then you hoped your parents didn't find out :)

The kid is 6!! The punishment is ridiculous. He's a kid playing a kid game - I highly doubt he harmed anyone. People... or rather SHEEPeople are idiots with no common sense or ability to form or even the RIGHT TO HAVE their own opinions. The reaction to this little boy's play is much more disturbing than what he did.
 
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