When third graders attack.....

[moosmom]

And their parents are WHERE????? I would hold them accountable for their kid's actions and I would also suspend/expel all guilty parties. Or....better yet, have them spend 24 hours in a prison cell (not a holding cell) where they have a whole night to listen to the creepiness that goes on in those kinds of places.

[lizbud]

Sounds so unbelieveable. How old would they be, 8 or 9?

I know it's no excuse but, so many couples have both working full time
jobs to make ends meet nowadays. Nobody seems to have the time to
properly supervise the kids anymore.

[mugsy]

I saw the picture of the backpack...

The parents will be held responsible, I'm sure. I'm with you Donna...what ever happened to parenting? Now it just means they want to be buddies because they're still kids themselves or are afraid to discipline their kids because they will be accused of abuse.

I often ask myself why I went into teaching...because there isn't much teaching going on anymore...it's more paperwork and babysitting.

[Twisterdog]

I am failing to see where the parents of these children are to blame for this, necesarily. Honestly, parents, when your kids were in the third grade did it EVER occur to you to search their packpacks and coat pockets every morning for knives and paperweights? I would have NEVER occured to me that my child could or would plot something like that! One kid could have picked up the broken knife in an alley somewhere ... and what parent thinks of the paperweight on their desk as a potential problem? These are EIGHT YEAR OLDS.

And, thus, being eight year olds ... they got this idea from somewhere. I have a hard time believing this was conceived by these kids without outside influence. Whether it was older siblings talking, the media exposure to high school and college tragedies, video games, whatever - these eight year old children have heard way too much, way too young.

[Jessika]

I am failing to see where the parents of these children are to blame for this, necesarily. Honestly, parents, when your kids were in the third grade did it EVER occur to you to search their packpacks and coat pockets every morning for knives and paperweights? I would have NEVER occured to me that my child could or would plot something like that! One kid could have picked up the broken knife in an alley somewhere ... and what parent thinks of the paperweight on their desk as a potential problem? These are EIGHT YEAR OLDS.

And, thus, being eight year olds ... they got this idea from somewhere. I have a hard time believing this was conceived by these kids without outside influence. Whether it was older siblings talking, the media exposure to high school and college tragedies, video games, whatever - these eight year old children have heard way too much, way too young.

Parents should raise their kids to have morals and to know right from wrong and that behaving that way is COMPLETELY WRONG AND UNACCEPTABLE. Just because parents "back when" didn't have to check their bookbags... times have changed, when I was younger parents were actually around to parent and raise their own children versus dumping them off at a babysitter, school function, or daycare. Parents would ask their children about what happened at school, how their day went, and make small talk because they actually cared. Nowdays that hardly happens because, as someone mentioned previously, most parents are still pretty much kids themselves!!!

I fully believe the parents are 100% responsible for these children's actions. Yes I understand that even the best parent in the world can turn out a bad egg but... dear Lord, nearly a whole class of them!?

[Twisterdog]

Just because parents "back when" didn't have to check their bookbags... times have changed, when I was younger parents were actually around to parent and raise their own children versus dumping them off at a babysitter, school function, or daycare. Parents would ask their children about what happened at school, how their day went, and make small talk because they actually cared. Nowdays that hardly happens because, as someone mentioned previously, most parents are still pretty much kids themselves!!!

Well, I'm not exactly a parent from "back when", since I have three school-aged kids at home. I would be VERY surprised to hear ANY parent say they checked their 8 year olds packpack for weapons. Honestly now.

So, are you saying children who go to a babysitter or daycare are uncared for and not talked to, by default? Really now?

No one, as far as I have heard, knows ANYthing about the home environments, employment status or age of these kids' parents.

[mugsy]

This is an excellent point on why we DON'T allow backpacks in the classrooms where I teach. I know my sister, who adopted a meth baby who is now 9, checks his pack every morning before he leaves...not necessarily for weapons, but, to make sure he has all of his things. I'm just SO glad I don't have kids...I would lose my mind!
While, I'm sure, the kids had outside influences, the fact remains they brought the things to school with an intent...and it wasn't good! I have no idea what kind of background these kids came from and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, what does matter is that it happened. It speaks volumes of today's society.

[Jessika]

Well, I'm not exactly a parent from "back when", since I have three school-aged kids at home. I would be VERY surprised to hear ANY parent say they checked their 8 year olds packpack for weapons. Honestly now.

So, are you saying children who go to a babysitter or daycare are uncared for and not talked to, by default? Really now?

No one, as far as I have heard, knows ANYthing about the home environments, employment status or age of these kids' parents.

I think you are reading MUCH too far into what I'm saying. Obviously I am not sayin that all parents who take their kids to daycare are neglectful, come on now. However I have worked in the daycare environment to know that it DOES happen, a lot more than anyone would like to admit. Some parents would be waiting at 6:30 for our doors to open, and then be late to pick them up at 7:00 at night. To these kids, we WERE their parents, and they did not want to leave. Some of those parents also expected us to potty train them and teach them things that should have been time spent bonding with their parents, not bonding with us.

I never said parents should check the bookbags *every day*, but I DID say that parents should be instilling good morals and values into their children's lives and teaching them right from wrong and sending them down the pathway to be able to make the right decisions on their own. And simply TALKING to their children, asking them how their day was, what is going on in their lives, some parents don't even do THAT nowdays.

I don't understand why you imply my post was an attack on *every* parent???

EDIT: And may I reiterate, in my previous post (including this one) I was speaking in loose generalities about this situation IN GENERAL, I am not speaking specifically about these particular parents, because you are correct, I do not know what their home life is like to pass judgment based on it. But I am speaking of a lot of parents nowadays, some I know personally.

[RICHARD]

The knife had a broken handle....Not one of mom's good "Rachel Ray's signature orange handle butcher knife, with serrated blade to keep food from sticking".

Where did they get the handcuffs?

And I can hear some child psychologist saying, "These children are not developmentally disabled, The fact that they were able to organize and develop a plan shows that they have been misdiagnosed!"

--------

LOL, In the GOOD OLD DAYS, If I had done something like that I would have been marched home and given a good crack across the arse. IF I was lucky I would have been given a dressing down....But since the cops were involved I guess a good trashing would have been in order.

[IRescue452]

I believe it. You should be around some of the kids that come out of the elementary school where I pick up my sisters. They are certainly capable of something like this. And now that I work at a middle school cleaning, I notice how oblivious teachers are to things I can see going on with those kids.

[dukedogsmom]

Sounds so unbelieveable. How old would they be, 8 or 9?

I know it's no excuse but, so many couples have both working full time
jobs to make ends meet nowadays. Nobody seems to have the time to
properly supervise the kids anymore.

That's not an excuse. Both of my parents worked full time all my life. Both the parents and children need to be held accountable for the kids' actions. They are old enough to know exactly what they were doing and that it was wrong. And they shouldn't be allowed back in the school system for at least the rest of this school year.

[moosmom]

That's not an excuse. Both of my parents worked full time all my life. Both the parents and children need to be held accountable for the kids' actions. They are old enough to know exactly what they were doing and that it was wrong. And they shouldn't be allowed back in the school system for at least the rest of this school year.

Absolutely, Val!! BOTH my parents worked when my brother and I were growing up, and you didn't see US taking knives and God knows what else to school except books!!! We turned out fine. Parents need to know what their children are doing, with whom, where and when. And they should be held accountable for their kid's actions, sorry. But that's just MY opinion.

[Sirrahsim]

Parents need to know what their children are doing, with whom, where and when. And they should be held accountable for their kid's actions, sorry. But that's just MY opinion.

I agree completely.

There are always signs that the parents SHOULD have seen if they were paying attention. Kids that age don't just wake up one morning and decide that they want to stab their teacher. It is a parent's job to monitor what their child watches, reads, talks about, and looks up on the internet. You can't say "I had no idea" if you saw that your child watches violence on TV, plays violent video games, talks in an aggressive manner to anyone including the family pet, or exhibits a hundred other warning signs. Kids don't start out with hatred in their hearts. They have to learn it somewhere AND they have to be reinforced in some way at home that the way that they are feeling is correct and ok. I'd even hazard to say that this whole thing could have been prevented if the parents had been more attentive to their child's needs and emotional well being.

[caseysmom]

Yeah me and my daughter went to the lake Sunday and there was a car there, the only other car besides ours and it had a bumper sticker that said "this is my peace sign" then a picture of a bulls eye. There young son was throwing rocks at the ducks and getting cheered on by his big brother, I guess that was all learned in the family.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I'll admit sometimes I had fanasies about doing something mean to a particularly nasty teacher of mine when I was a little kid but I never ever acted on it nor would I ever take even a toy weapon to school. That kind of thing was unthinkable when I was younger. Yes I played violent video games, and I did watch my fair share of kung fu movies and the like but I was always taught the difference between real life and fantasy.
A lot of people blame media violence for what kids do today and I'll admit it does play a part but at the same time I was exposed to way more violent and less politically correct stuff at a far younger age than kids today and I never shot up a school or attacked a teacher. My parents were always teaching me things though, dispite the fact they both worked full time when I was growing up. I think parents need to start parenting more and letting the government or special action groups raise their kids less.