5-Year-Old Arrested For Candy Outburst At School

ClickonDetroit ^ | March 18, 2005

[ShadowDancer]

5-Year-Old Arrested For Candy Outburst At School

POSTED: 12:52 pm EST March 18, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Florida school officials are apologizing for the arrest of a 5-year-old, whose tantrum landed her in the back of a police cruiser.

Officials said the girl threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the stomach and drew on the walls. She was upset when a teacher took away jelly beans she was counting in a math exercise at Fairmount Park Elementary School.

Minutes later, she was under arrest for battery. The 40-pound girl's hands were bound with plasic ties and her ankles in handcuffs.

A school superintendent said campus police should have been called. He said school officials "never want to have 5-year-old children arrested."

No charges were filed and the girl went home with her mother, who said her daughter will not return. In her words, "They set my baby up."

[lotusblos]

"One could think up quite a few scenerios where the girl might have been responding in a relatively normal - albeit assertive - way, and others in which she was completely heinous. The article doesn't discuss the trigger for the event in any detail."

The trigger doesn't matter. The girl does not control her behavior in public.

[lotusblos]

"If the parents haven't talught the child to behave better than this by they age of 5, what makes you think that they will have her behaving any better by the age of 6. I'm betting she would be worse because she'd have another year to practice."

You're probably right. With that in mind, I think leading her away cuffed was the appropriate thing to do. One thing is for sure, she should not be permitted to act out as she did without having to face the music.

[lotusblos]

"The teacher was wrong to "give" candy to a five year old and then take it back.
Most experienced and competent teachers would have either used something else for counting or let the kids keep the treats."

The teacher was wrong to give candy to the the child for sure. Candy falls right behind cigarettes and drugs on my list of what I don't want a teacher to give my child.

[lotusblos]

"Could not anyone have just grabbed the Kid by the scruff of the neck, and torn her little butt up? Nothing serious, just to the point of grabbing her attention."

If they had done that the goofy parents would be at the front of the instant millionaire line (right behind their greedy lawyer).

[lotusblos]

" Giving candy to a five year old and then taking it away did instigate the child's reaction."

What a load of crap. Giving candy to the brat did not instigate the child's reaction. Lack of couping skills set the little charmer up. Proof of that is, none of the other kids who were given the candy had to be hauled off. They were all able to control themselves.

[LibertyThug]

Unbelievable comments from an adult.
Again, blame everyone else for causing the child to misbehave (ie. hitting, kicking, destroying property, disrupting the education of a class full of other children) and then wonder why our children are growing up blaming everyone but themselves.
I'm really hoping I never run into a child of yours in my class...endless excuses, no doubt.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

However, a quick spank on the bottom might have solved the 'tantrum' issue.

Why, so the school can get sued?

[shellshocked]

Blister the little girls ass with a paddle and see if she wants to do that again. Of course, do the same to the "mother", and see if the mother wants to continue to raise a little anarchist.

[lepton]

No way is that kind of behavior appropriate in any setting or for any reason, unless the child was literally defending her life.

I used the words "relatively normal," not "appropriate. It has been known for millenia that 5 year olds tend to act inappropriately.

As for my statement "One could think up quite a few scenerios where the girl might have been responding in a relatively normal - albeit assertive - way":

Those 5 year olds who cannot be baited into either becoming insular and non-responsive, or hysterical are few and far between.

There is a reason that the Biblical instruction for children to obey their parents is side-by-side with the command for parents not to exasperate their children.

Letting a 5-year old have candy and then taking it away can reasonably be expected to result in a confrontation if not done carefully and with deliberation. ...not every child will, but hardly a rare occurrence.

[ShadowDancer]

Letting a 5-year old have candy and then taking it away can reasonably be expected to result in a confrontation if not done carefully and with deliberation. ...not every child will, but hardly a rare occurrence.

Absolute garbage. A five year old with a normal upbringing would never react the way this child did to that.

[lepton]

The trigger doesn't matter. The girl does not control her behavior in public.

Ummmm. Have you ever met, much less been around any 5 year olds? They can certainly be provoked. I'm not arguing that she was - the article is much less than clear on that account (which was the core of my comment) - but respectfully, that's a silly comment to make.

[MaryFromMichigan]

"The trigger doesn't matter. The girl does not control her behavior in public."

"I think leading her away cuffed was the appropriate thing to do."

The child is 5 years old.

"Giving candy to the brat did not instigate the child's reaction. Lack of couping skills set the little charmer up. Proof of that is, none of the other kids who were given the candy had to be hauled off. They were all able to control themselves"

Temper tantrums are not criminal or unusual behavior for 5 year old children.
If we were discussing a 10 or 12 year old, different standards would apply.
Little children need adults to establish limits and set boundaries. They don't always behave in a mature way. It's why they live with adults.
What's next?
Police arresting a 2 year old for a potty training accident?

[hoosierham]

Since the teachers' and even the parents' hands are legally tied, all anyone can do is call the police or shoot in self-defense. Here in the wuUS ,it is forbidden to discipline children in the manner which proved effective for centuries.

Dr. Spock was an idiot, but then so was Karl Marx , and look how many people believe his BS!

[BJungNan]

So, what are your suggestions as to how to control and disipline an out of control 5-year-old child in a school classroom?

First is to calm the child down and get their attention. As much as they may be looking like they are reacting to other around them, they are really inside themselves. You need to bring them a conscientiouness of themselves and the situation. Here you have to try different things - some may upset them more, some will work.

For example, I was watching some kids and one of them went into the classic lay on the floor and kick their feet type tantrum. I laid down next to them and immitated them for just a bit then said, wow, this is fun. Now what do you want to do.

I don't suggest throwing books and kicking people if that is what the kid was doing. In some instance you may have to handle them as you would a wrigling frenzied cat. Just get a hold of them and the remove them from the area. Likely once in the hall or a unfamiliar environment and they will start to calm down.

After that you have to deal with the correctional measures. But like spanking a child - if you do those things - you have to do it outside of the situation.

If you think about what happened here, the presence of the policeman and being put in the car was the same thing. In came a very different element to deal with the child and the back of the car was definately a different environment.

It is like when a kid is crying in a restaurant. The parents can not get the kid to be quiet, but if a stranger walks up to the table and address the kid directly, the kid will instantly go quiet (most times). Again, that was a total waste of public resouces to bring in the cops. The same effect could have been had another way.

[LibertyThug]

What's next? Police arresting a 2 year old for a potty training accident?

Most, if not all of the 5 year old children I've come across in my life have not gone off hurting adults...however, I've never come across a parent of a 5 year old who said, "They set my baby up" as a response to her child's behavior.

[MaryFromMichigan]

A five year old with a normal upbringing would never react the way this child did to that.

Someday, I would like to visit your planet.

:)

[ShadowDancer]

Come and visit it anytime you'd like. I have two daughters. My oldest is freaky good, never once threw a tantrum (I give myself no credit for that, it's just not the way she's wired). My second one is far more normal. Crazy, marches to her own drummer. What my mom calls 'My Payback Child'. Yet she has never, ever come close to pulling the crap that this child did. I can't even imagine that and can't believe you think it's normal.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Well, I'm one of ten children and we have 4 kids of our own.
I've worked with children in day care and in the public school system.
Trust me.
An occasional tantrum in a young child is normal.
Sometimes a 5 year old does behave like a child.
Go figure.

[ShadowDancer]

Do you honestly think this child's behavior is typical of a five year old? Read it again. It was way over the top.