Babbs in the Woods: On Jan. 10, a five-year-old girl stood in a bus line with her friends and they discussed the merits of a princess bubble blower compared to a Hello Kitty bubble gun. The little girl extolled the virtues of the Hello Kitty toy, and said, “I’ll shoot you, you shoot me and we’ll all play together.”
According to a report by CNN, the next day, the kindergartner was not only called into the principal’s office at her school in Pennsylvania, she also was suspended for 10 days for a “terrorist threat.” Then, to add insult to injury, the child and her mother had to meet a counselor, who deemed the child to be normal and not violent. The child met with the counselor without her mother, too. The child’s mother does not allow toy guns in the home. The suspension was busted down to two days. Supposedly, the family would like to have the little girl’s record expunged and the school district rescind its suspension.
The report states there was a victim, as well. We can only assume it was the little girl who chose the princess bubble blower.
Oh, for crying out loud. Who is the adult here? In the first place, who reported this incident to the school? A mom with her hair on too tight? And then, for the school administration to take this to such a serious threat level begs the question of why? And furthermore, I would never allow my five-year-old child to meet one-on-one with a therapist, and never in such a ludicrous trumped up situation, as this one appears to be.
The little girl, according to the family’s lawyer, is still upset by this business. And she should be. If I were a parent with a child in the Mt. Carmel School District, I’d be upset, too. I’d be wondering why my child’s principal could not discern an actual threat from this silliness. I’d have a lot of questions for this principal, such as these:
These are the types of questions we need to be asking our school authorities. How exactly are you going to protect our children? And we want answers. Stop spending your time creating problems where they don’t exist.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
Yes, Bill. This was insulting in so many ways.
Thanks for commenting.
It was brought to my attention that a school counselor is not a therapist. I stand corrected. It was also brought to my attention that the school has every RIGHT to question a student, and that the media does not know the entire story. It seems we’ve heard enough to get the idea. “Terrorist threat” and “victim” used in a report? That’s just ridiculous.
I would hope that the parents of this girl sue the living pants off of the people that instigated this nonsense.
I would also sue them as individuals to see if they claimed this action as employees of the school district as a warning to other idiots that have no brains.
Keep following this please!
Bill McCarthy