When third graders attack.....

[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.

[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.

[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!?

[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.

[IRescue452]

Sometimes its the parents morals that get in the way. I frequent quite a few forums and gamer sites online that are visited by kids as young as 8 years as well as adults. Sometimes kids will start threads about wanting all of a certain group of people to die just because of the way they are dressed or the way they act. Stereotypes run wild and most of their topics are worthy of hate crimes. And where do they learn to hate certain groups...parents usually. Religion and race especially play a huge role. Kids take to extremes the things parents might only say or do in private settings.

[JenBKR]

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.

Exactly - and there have been studies done that say that kids don't completely understand the difference between 'real' and 'fantasy' until age 16. I wonder if these third graders even understood what would actually happen to the teacher.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Exactly - and there have been studies done that say that kids don't completely understand the difference between 'real' and 'fantasy' until age 16. I wonder if these third graders even understood what would actually happen to the teacher.

What studies are those? I'd be interested in seeing that actually, as I thought I had a good grip on the differences at a young age. Maybe I'm an odd case though.

[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.