Is That 4-Year-Old Really a Sex Offender?

[Subdivisions]

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It's great that we are more aware than ever about sexual harassment in schools. But it is a terrible mistake to permanently label children who are barely out of diapers.

Consider these egregious examples: In December 2006, a 4-year-old boy in Waco, Tex., was punished with an in-school suspension after a female aide accused him of sexual harassment. According to a television station there, the child had hugged the woman while getting on the bus, and she later complained to administrators at La Vega Primary School that the child had put his face in her chest. School officials later agreed to remove sexual references but refused to expunge the "inappropriate physical contact" charge from the boy's school record.

In my home state of Maryland, state data show that during the 2005-06 school year, 28 kindergartners were suspended for sex offenses, including 15 for sexual harassment.

Last December, a kindergartner was accused of sexual harassment after he pinched a classmate's bottom at Lincolnshire Elementary School in Hagerstown, according to the local paper, the Herald-Mail. The charge will remain on his record until he enters middle school. "It's important to understand a child may not realize that what he or she is doing may be considered sexual harassment, but if it fits under the definition, then it is, under the state's guidelines," school spokeswoman Carol Mowen told the Herald-Mail. "If someone has been told this person does not want this type of touching, it doesn't matter if it's at work or at school, that's sexual harassment."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101901544.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">WaPo Link

What the hell...? I'm left speechless.

[rurallib]

1. 28 kindergartners suspended for sex offenses???

Kindergartners?? good heavens. Insanity.

[Bicoastal]

2. The day America dies...

...is the day kids can't sing "I see Paris, I see France..." on the playground.

[NYVet]

11. LOL!!!!

You have a good point.

I have fond memories of when I was a kid in Kindergarten and learning how to get along with my classmates. My mom made sure that I knew to respect the feelings of the oter kids in class and if I misbehaved, I was sent to talk to my grandfather, who would just sit there and ask me what I did. When I told him, he would then look at me and tell em that he was disappointed in me.

When growing up, I think that having my grandfather disappointed in me was worse than an asswhooping from him.

[zabet]

3. Jeeeez....

such hysteria when a 4 yr old is a sexual offender.

If they are going to go to that extreme, the first
week of Kindergarten will have to be dedicated to
teaching 4 and 5 year olds what legally constitutes
sexual harassment and sexual assault. Also to teach them
the nuances that differentiate affectionate gestures
from harassment.

The fundies do not want sex education in the schools but,
they want to label a 4 yr old as a sex offender?!?!?!
What a way to eff up a child's sexuality and concept
of showing affection - - get it in
the formative years so they will be warped for life. :grr:

[CoffeeCat]

4. Interesting...

I see two issues here:

First, children do not understand sex and sexual activity the way an adult does.
Educators surely must use common sense and make the distinction between the principal
pinching a student's butt and a kindergartner doing it. Children do not have an
adult's understanding or knowledge of sex, and those behaviors don't even have a "sexual
category" into which a child can contextualize those actions.

Secondly, are more children acting out sexually due to sexual abuse that happened to them?
If a child pinches a student's butt, that is probably not acting out. However, if children
are touching other children in their private area or pretending to power up on a child and
forcibly touch them---then those behaviors are red flags for sexual abuse. Children will
mimic what has been done to them. I hope educators are keeping this in mind if they see
children acting in this way. Those children need help. They do not understand their
actions. They are simply imitating actions that are perpetrated on them--and this behavior
signals anxiety about what is happening to them. The "act out" to make sense out of
trauma.

In a semi-related issue--I was called to my child's school this year. She's in first
grade and six-years old. The principal had her in the office. Out on the playground, she
was waiting her turn for the monkey bars. One child would not let my daughter have a turn
and my daughter said, "If I don't get my turn, I'm going to kill you!". My daughter
was suspended for "threatening to kill another child." This is on her written record.

I certainly don't excuse my daughter's behavior. She was told not to talk like that
and not to use language like that. I spoke with her about other choices she could make
and we haven't had a problem since. She never spoke like that before, so I'm assuming
this was a one-time incident.

This is on her permanent record now. I spoke with the principal and he said, "I have to
do this. After Columbine, we just can't be too careful."

I think sometimes common sense does not prevail. Anyone who has young children, understands
that they say and do things that they do not mean. I appreciate that the principal brought
this matter to my attention. HOwever, did she have to be suspended and is it necessary
to have her permanent record document that she threatened to kill another child?

Maybe I'm biased because it's my own child, but I think sometimes we lose our heads
when it comes to stuff like this.

[gratuitous]

5. Boy, am I glad I grew up when I did

I probably would have had to be on some registry for the rest of my life thanks to my juvenile curiosity. You know, before America went barking mad, we used to understand and practice the idea that a 4-year-old couldn't form a criminal intent. And while we're putting kids barely out of diapers on lifetime registries, we still puzzle over whether a government official told an out-and-out lie under oath or just inadvertently misled the congressional committee when they were talking about torture.

As usual, I blame the Republicans for this state of affairs.

[flashl]

13. THANK YOU!!

"And while we're putting kids barely out of diapers on lifetime registries, we still puzzle over whether a government official told an out-and-out lie under oath or just inadvertently misled the congressional committee when they were talking about torture."

[LiberalEsto]

6. If a child has been "sexualized" by abuse

in his home life, that child may try to act out that behavior with others.

The 4 year old daughter of a very close friend of mine was assaulted with a plastic toy by a male preschool classmate. When the girl told a pediatrician that her vaginal area hurt, he did an exam, and reported the situation to the state child protective services.

They interrogated my friend and her husband. Social workers questioned the girl and got the information about the classmate's assault out of her. They questioned everyone at the preschool, and where the staff claimed the girl was never left unsupervised, although that turned out not to be true. The boy denied doing it, but the investigators found the girl's story to be credible and consistent with minor physical damage. They thought the boy might have been abused by someone else, but whatever they found could not be told to my friend because of privacy laws.

The preschool denied everything, and refused to expel the boy because nothing could be proved, so my friend, in order to protect her daughter, had to quit her job to stay home with the girl. This happened over 20 years ago.

PS - I used to work for a child assault prevention program that taught preschool and elementary children strategies for protecting themselves against bullying and abuse. I received training on child abuse through the program, and learned that these kinds of things can and do happen. I had decided to do this because of my friend's experience, wanting to help other kids stay safe.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I am speechless as well. How sexually repressed does one have

to be to consider the actions of a kindergartener as sexual harrassment? This is the age when children need to be taught what behavior is appropriate and what is inappropriate. If they are actually imitating sexual behavior, it is my understanding that it indicates that they have probably witnessed it or they have been sexually abused themselves.

[mainegreen]

8. Good lord. 'The child put his face in her chest'?

You do realize you stupid asshole (not the OP, but the lady in the story), that 4 year olds are about three feet tall? Where the hell is the kid's face going to go? Over your head?

People like this should be summarily fired. Or punched in the face. Or both. Yes, lets do both. To intentionally threaten a child (and foolishly claiming sexual abuse in this case from a four year old) without really having been sexually assaulted? To be so stupid as to hold four year olds and adults to the same standard? Through your idiotic actions actually make it harder to deal with the rare, real case of sexual abuse/harassment? No, you deserve to be fired.

And a punch in the face.

[Maine-ah]

9. oh, JFC.

:mad:

[KingFlorez]

10. Seems to me that the aide is the one with the problem

The fact that she would contrive accuse a 4 year old of sexual harassment says that she's pretty screwed up.

[shadowknows69]

12. I confess I chased girls to kiss them when I was 5

should I turn myself in?

[hlthe2b]

14. These morons will be going after (licking) dogs next...

for lewd behavior....:crazy:


God, we are a fucked up society.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. This is the natural progression when the religiously insane breed with authoritarians

You ever notice that some of the weirdest shit originates in the same locales (not **just** Tejas, before you jump my ass) over and over. There really IS a Dumfuckistan. It has no borders but its citizens are embedded in our country.