Southpinellas: Textbook case of discipline viewed with praise, criticism
At Fairmount Park on March 14, the girl swung several times at assistant principal Nicole Dibenedetto and teacher Patti Tsaousis. She created a mess wherever she went and generally refused to cooperate. She eventually was handcuffed by St. Petersburg police, who were called to the school.
I found this story via AmericaBlog. I watched the videos. It raised some interesting questions in me. At first, as I was watching I thought, “this is typical. Kids do this. What’s the big deal?” I mean, granted, it’s horrible behavior, but the kid is five years old. I was a nanny and, believe me, I experienced far worse behavior from the children I have taken care of.
At the end of the video the police come and handcuff her. Hmmmm. I do kind of think that was excessive. But on the other hand, when the little girl saw the police were there she sat down in the chair and stopped being a menace.
I guess there are some people, after watching it, asking why corporeal punishment wasn’t used. I don’t know. I really think corporeal punishment should be something the parent does and not anybody else. But maybe I would feel differently if I actually had children, and they acted that horribly and disrespectfully.
Interesting, though. Gives me a little food for thought.
