When third graders attack.....

[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.

[dukedogsmom]

I think parents need to start parenting more and letting the government or special action groups raise their kids less.

Exactly. They depend on the teachers and police to raise their kids.

[moosmom]

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

And you didn't say anything to those little fu--ers??? I would've thrown rocks at them to see how they liked it. Grrrrrr, don't get me going on stupid parents.

[Catlady711]

It's not just the video games/cartoons influencing kids. What about all the ton of CSI, Cold Case, etc type shows. These type of shows basically step by step tell you how people were killed, and a person with a twisted and/or misguided mind could easily see these as a 'how to' on murder.

Many times kids are just left to go watch tv to stay out of the parents hair. The parents frequently don't supervise the viewing. And to top it all off many parents sit and watch tv shows like this with thier kids and never speak up on what was right/wrong with people's actions on the show, and never use the shows to help teach their kids reality from fantasy.

When I was growing up my mom not only supervised how much tv I watched but what I watched as well. Whenever I was watching tv mom would ask questions or point out things during commercials to help teach things to me. Heck mom even used real life situations (kid screaming and throwing a tantrum at the store/restaurant) to teach me how to behave and to learn lessons from things around me.

This is sadly lacking in many homes. Parents don't pay attention to the tv shows THEY'RE watching, to realize the influence on their kids, let alone use the time during comercials to teach their kids.

[caseysmom]

And you didn't say anything to those little fu--ers??? I would've thrown rocks at them to see how they liked it. Grrrrrr, don't get me going on stupid parents.

We just drove for an hour and I was in the bathroom, when I came out my daughter was mad and told me about it. By then the boy was walking away, I told my daughter if I see him do it again I am going to go stand near him and talk to him about what he was doing.

[cyber-sibes]

We were talking about this over lunch today with friends - unbelievable, isn't it? But I disgree:

... They depend on the teachers and police to raise their kids.

A big part of the problem is that teachers are NOT ALLOWED to discipline kids in the classroom anymore. It's not like when we were kids & you were expected to show respect to adults in authority (who were entrusted to provide consequences for your misbehavior) For Pete's sake, these kids hatched this plot because a teacher reprimanded them for standing on the chair? What's next - will they plan to kill a parent who tells them not to stand on the furniture at home?

[Reachoutrescue]

This is so horrible. My son is in 3rd grade so this really bothers me. These kids are so young...where do they get this from? They are only 8 and 9.....what are they going to be like when they are 15 and 16? I really hope something is done for them before it is too late.

[lizbud]

A big part of the problem is that teachers are NOT ALLOWED to discipline kids in the classroom anymore. It's not like when we were kids & you were expected to show respect to adults in authority (who were entrusted to provide consequences for your misbehavior)

One sure cure for today's school problems is to have an Order(any Order)
of Catholic nuns to take over the running of the schools.These kids would shape up quick. back in the "good old days" Catholic schools were given
permisson by the parents to discipline children if neccesary.

Children knew their limits & the consequences of bad behavior.