Kindergarten cops?
Just a warning, here: I'm going to be flirting with trouble on this one, so get ready…
A few weeks ago, an incident in a Florida kindergarten garnered national attention: It was the police handcuffing of a violent child after the five-year-old threw an hour-long fit that included tearing papers off classroom walls, trashing an administrator's office, repeated climbing of desk and tables, and THROWING DOZENS OF PUNCHES at the school's assistant principal.
At least 30 minutes of the scene was caught on video. At no point on the tape did any of the staff at Fairmount Park Elementary School attempt to restrain little Ja'eisha Scott as she rampaged - I assume either because it's against the law or out of fear of a lawsuit (big surprise: they're being sued anyway). So they exercised the only option available to them:
They called the cops.
Predictably, the police restrained Ja'eisha - not with guns or batons or tasers or pepper spray, but using only their officially-issued handcuffs and zip-ties - before holding her until her Mother arrived. No charges were pressed against her. But instead of thanking the officers for teaching her hellion daughter some limits without hurting her or blemishing her record, Ja'eisha's mother has hired an attorney, and is exploring her lawsuit options against the police department, and possibly the school as well.
Hmmm. I'm starting to see the root of the problem, I think. The mother obviously believes that it's the school system's job to teach her child how to behave and function in a civil manner - without touching, castigating, or punishing her, of course - in addition to educating her. Which brings me to another interesting point: What's really ironic is how the whole scene began…
Apparently, little Ja'eisha didn't want to take her math lesson like the rest of the kids!
Now here's a crazy question: Since when do grade-schoolers get to decide whether they WANT to get educated or not? Clearly, Ja'eisha (along with a lot of other kids today) has been brainwashed by today's discipline-less child-rearing that puts a kid's "self-esteem" above anything even resembling a rule or responsibility. She probably honestly believes she doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to do. But I tell you, this is all a bunch of pop-psychology crap designed not to make happier, better-adjusted kids, but to prevent PARENTS from ever having to feel the painful pangs that go along with disciplining their offspring.
This same blameless, non-accountable MO is what makes an ever-increasing number of parents pressure doctors into medicating their kids for non-existent ADHD - or makes them hire lawyers to sue those who discipline their out-of-control children instead of disciplining their children themselves.
And what's even more sickening than this prime-time illustration of just how far we've gone toward the death of discipline are the things some people are saying about it…
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Diagnosis: Malparentitis
Of course, this "5-year-old in handcuffs" incident has blogs and newsgroups buzzing all over the 'Net. Many of those who've written (clearly those who have bothered to watch the tape) are deeming the actions of both the school personnel and the police as wholly appropriate - even restrained.
Then there are those bleeding hearts out there (most of whom are no doubt raising little brats themselves) who are quick to speculate that little Ja'eisha Scott is not simply symptomatic of the ineffectual modern "time-out" philosophy of parenting, but rather suffering from a disease. In just a very short time searching these forums, I found suggestions of autism, ADHD, Asperger's or Tourette's syndrome.
But I assure you all, the only disease that anyone who actually watched that tape could credibly deduce is a case of "mal-parent-itis." What's worse, some brainwashed jury's probably going to reward her handsomely for it. Meanwhile, little Ja'eisha will continue to grow up without guardrails, believing herself persecuted any time anyone tries to make her learn anything, follow any rules, or take any responsibility for her own actions.
And because of this, she really IS a victim.
Some of you parents out there are going to want to write nasty things to me (or about me) after you read this, but these things have to be said - and real changes have to be made. And before you decide to lay into me, consider this: Could what happened in Florida have ever in a million years happened to YOUR child?
If your answer isn't a resounding "NO," then perhaps you're the one who should be in handcuffs.
Telling the truth - and bearing the consequences,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
