Cathy in the Wright

I get so tired of these fantasy-land totalitarians. If the director (!) of Early Childhood/Preschool programs gets his or her knickers in a twist about some childish play-acting, he or she has no business being around children. If the school administration gets their briefs in a bind, they need to find something they're demonstrably capable of administering - like a small pile of dirt.

At the very least we need to pass a law requiring that all of the people involved in teaching read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" - no alarms should be sounded until a child's behaviour is more egregious than Tom's.

God only knows what would have transpired if The Governor had been watching Looney Tunes.

Yes, please say hello to the German boys from soccer. Also, I subbed for a team last Friday...I think it was for your Russian friends!

I can imagine the look the director gave the The Governor. Unfortunately, in my experience the pretend guns and swords are vilified even more than physical threat, especially if there is PC undertone.

There was a young Muslim boy in Bug's class last year that kept pretending to pour gas on him and then threaten to set him on fire and blow him up. Bug actually had nightmares and didn’t want to return to school.

The schools’ reaction was to try to keep the boys separate, but the teachers didn't want to speak to the parents about this type of pretend play because it could be misinterpreted as racially motivated.

Eventually, after cooling off, I did talk to the mom but by then the damage was done. Then I had to explain to my 3 year old that this other boy was only pretending and that he wouldn’t be set on fire when he went to school. We also had a long talk about cowards and bullies.

Ellen, that story is about the worst I've ever heard. Just about any kid will pick up a stick and pretend it's a gun or a sword. Only a truly twisted kid will go through an elaborate ritual of pretending to set someone else on fire. Racially motivated or no, someone should've spoken sternly to that kid.

My kids attended/attend a no-violent-toys pre-school. Doesn't stop any of them from loving super heroes, or having pretend fights (or the very rare real ones.)

I don't know what it is the administrators think they're accomplishing by banning this type of imaginative play. It's very clear in the real world that good guys use tools like guns and swords to enforce the laws and protect the good people; most kids are emulating this behavior. They imagine themselves the knights, the cops, the super-heroes. Far from seeing anything wrong with that, I think it's terrific.

Ellen - Horror story! I hope Bug is okay. What a traumatic ordeal for a 3 year old. I can't imagine what sort of parent wouldn't want to know if their kid was doing that sort of thing. I mean, I'm not proud that The Gov took aim at his teacher; we've had lots of talks about not aiming at people...at least I caught him in the act and got to nail him on it right away.

How's your search going for finding resources for gifted kids?

Here's a site I have found to be a useful resource regarding gifted children:

Uniquely Gifted: http://uniquelygifted.org/

It deals specifically with kids who are both gifted and learning disabled, but there are general "gifted" resources as well.

HTH!

First off, thanks everyone for your concern. Bug has bounced back pretty well, all things considered. There were a couple of other altercations with this child. And even though he picked on other kids, I was the only mom to step up despite the PC concern. It did create a fasination with bullies and we have dealt with that as well.. As for the other Mom, lets just say it is a long story and at least now they aren't in class together.

Joan-thanks for the gifted site info, I'll be looking at it later today.

We have basically decided to do a combination of homeschool and another program to allow him to play with other kids. All the details are not final but we are getting there.

Hope to see you guys tonight.

Elle