Girl, 5, Forced To Apologize For Hugging Classmate

[ECH1969]

A family in Maynard is outraged after their 5-year-old daughter was forced to write a letter denouncing hugging after a classmate embraced her.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Brenda Brier and Michael Marino pulled their daughter, Savannah, out of school early Wednesday. The couple was angry after a meeting with officials at the Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, where Savannah is in kindergarten.

At issue is a hug Savannah said she got on the playground from a friend named Sophie. Savannah hugged Sophie back. The hugs resulted in Savannah having to write a letter, complete with teacher corrections, that read, "I touch Sophie because she touch me and I didn't like it because she was hugging me. I didn't like when she hugged me."

"She said, 'I'm really sad that I got in trouble for hugging,'" Brier said.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/8491575/detail.html
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Zero Tolerence.

[ThomCat]

1. This is stupid, sick and dangerous.

If kids can't show affection they aren't going to learn how to relate to each other. If they are trained from a young age to keep their distance then that's what they'll do as adults.

What Friggin kind of world are we trying to create when 5 year olds can't hug each other?
:grr:

[Left Is Write]

2. What?

My kindergarten daughter and her friends would be in trouble all the time then - they're always hugging each other.

[Wetzelbill]

17. oh sorry

I was distracted by your mussed up hair. :P

[electropop]

3. What the hell is going on?

Are they requiring sanity tests for schoolteachers these days, and if you pass, you don't get the job?

[kurth]

4. Is there any common sense left in America?

Fucking idiocy gone wild. Where are people's brains?

[MADem]

5. Sorry, that's fucked up!

Five year old kids? What is this world coming to?

It's hard out there for a kid.....

[sasquatch]

6. That's what the right wing wants in this country: Zero Tolerance

[countingbluecars]

7. I think this part of the article is also important.

"School Superintendent Mark Masterson told NewsCenter 5 there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor." The superintendent said the school reported "one girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe what happened."

[ECH1969]

11. More

Savannah said she did not lift her classmate off the ground.

"They're trying to accuse her now, basically," Brier said.

[countingbluecars]

19. Yes, the superintendent

stated that there is a "dispute of facts."

[knitter4democracy]

32. They're five--that happens.

My daughter's five and in kindergarten, and they all give each other hugs (school also covered what touching is okay and what touching isn't pretty well--I was impressed). I always double-check with the teacher and ask more than once, as my daughter still sometimes changes her story, depending on how in trouble she thinks she'll get or on her mixing up reality and fantasy.

[Blue_Tires]

34. yeah, there isn't a lot of info here...

when i was that age, we would do headlocks, full-nelsons, figure fours, and all the other things our heroes in WWF and WCW were doing...of course, if things ever escalated, or if someone got hurt and a grownup asked us to explain, we were always 'just playing' or giving 'love taps' or 'shadowboxing," etc....i know this situation is different from my own, and i know all the facts are not in, but i also remember whenever i got in trouble at that age, by the time i finished telling the story to mom and dad it was 1. The other kid(s) fault, 2. The teacher's fault or 3. A harmless accident....Luckily for me, my parents never believed my filtered version of the story, but there are a lot of parents out there that do

[phantom power]

8. Jesus, are they going to sew a big red "H" on her chest?

[gkhouston]

9. you have GOT to be kidding me

I've got a 5 year old and every afternoon there's a veritable orgy of farewell hugs with her buds when I pick her up from school. You'd think we were leaving town for months instead of going home for the evening. Stupid stupid stupid....

[TrogL]

10. watched any team sports lately?

Their group hugs look closer to orgies to me.

[Solly Mack]

12. My head just exploded

[bluestateguy]

13. Public school administrators aren't the brightest people in the world

I'll just leave it at that.

[kurth]

20. They make a shitload of money, though

Your tax money.

[redqueen]

39. So you're saying they're all the same?

Nice... really nice...

[lpbk2713]

14. Look for this kid in psychotherapy in a few years

through no fault of her own. The other kid too.

[sakabatou]

15. That's fucked up....

[NYC]

16. A bear hug. I still don't understand.

...School Superintendent Mark Masterson told NewsCenter 5 there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor." The superintendent said the school reported "one girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe what happened."...

It doesn't say or imply that the bear hug and/or lifting off the ground frightened or injured the child.

[azurnoir]

18. Can't be too careful

If you allow them (2girls) to hug at 5 who knows they could be marrying each other at 25. Or as Barney Fife would say "gotta' nip it the bud":sarcasm:

[MsUnderstood]

21. way to jump to conclusions guys

School Superintendent Mark Masterson told NewsCenter 5 there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor." The superintendent said the school reported "one girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe what happened."

So if the aide didn't report the touching and the teacher didn't report to the parents then the girl being lifted off the ground (potentially damaging the spine, bruises, etc) would go home and tell her story to her parents and those parents would have been mad.

Basically in this sue happy society, kids shouldn't be touching other kids in school. You don't know the intentions of the other kids.


And if one girl did bear hug another and lift her off the ground then that is not a hug that is "rough housing" which isn't allowed.

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. "You don't know the intentions of the other kids."

Are you serious?

5 year olds, with deep ulterior motives?

That's fucking nuts!

[FiveGoodMen]

26. "potentially damaging the spine"

A little-known fact is that about 3600 women become paralyzed each year as their husbands carry them over the threshold and damage their spine in the process.

[MadHound]

50. Glad I wasn't a kid in your world,

Or in our current one either. Five years old, kids are affectionate, and they like to test their strength and can be a bit over exuberant in their affection. When I was that age, yeah, my friends and I would indeed hug, and *gasp* pick each other up off the floor, usually all of a few inches. And no, we didn't bruise anybody, nor was there any spinal damage. In fact getting spinal damage from such an action is close to impossible.

And guess what, these two girls were friends, this was in good fun, and neither one of them complained about it.

What kind of people are we raising when we disallow normal human affection, and normal human contact? Mighty damn cold and cruel ones would be my guess.

Oh, and kids do indeed roughhouse with each other also. Normal part of being a kid. Shame that parts of society don't want kids to act like, well, kids.

[lpbk2713]

22. Somebody needs to spread the word

... that hugging is a no-no.

[Chulanowa]

28. Eek

Is it just me or does she look like a boa constrictor about to gulp that poor girl down?

[RC]

30. Does this picture prove that Pickles is a pedophile?

[seabeyond]

23. i finally had to tell my now 8 year old that some kids

dont like hugs. we were in a private christian school and the little ones would hug. not an issue. my oldest never liked hugs. my youngest LLLOOOOOOVVVVEEEESS hugs. needs hugs. wants hugs, demand hugs. he got a hug from a little boy a couple months ago, and gently i tell him, .... getting too old for huggins with kids. he says, no... he hugged me. they were excited, hadnt seen each other for a while and the other little boy is a hugger too.

as gay as someone wants to make that,..... geez us adults putting our kids in an adult world

[KAZ]

24. Contact number. [phone]

Do it.

[countingbluecars]

36. I'm sure enough anti-public school

freeper types are already on the job. Come on DU, we really don't know all the facts here. I have seen a student cry after being bear hugged by a classmate. It's not a matter of age but rather of size difference.

[boobooday]

27. This is seriously messed up

Zero tolerance for friendship, and affection, and impulsive acts of pure good will.

What have we become? No fun allowed. No hugs allowed.

[Initech]

29. This is head-exploding stuff. Whaaaaaaaa?

[Mend]

31. 5 year old girl with the upper body strength to lift a 50-60 pound

kid clear off the floor....let's get her ready for the Olympics.

[knitter4democracy]

33. Mine does.

She and her friends were doing that earlier this year on the playground until it was fully addressed by her teacher and the parents who knew about it. They don't lift them far, and it's usually with mutual consent.

[Iblis]

40. Sorry, but this is NOT a right-wing thing...

Where are all the school apologists to say "You better not let them hug! They could be packing a knife! Kids are so violent nowadays!"

"Potentially damage the spine" Whatever.

This is the kind of stuff Rush, O'Reilly, et al LOVE! This is the Zero Tolerance State at work! This is the kinda stuff that gives libs a bad name. Don't you get it?

SOMEONE HAD TO APOLOGIZE FOR HUGGING!

A sad day for society.

Sorry.

:rant:

[knitter4democracy]

45. Um, I agree with you, so why are you shouting?

That's why I said that I've seen it go on at my daughter's school and that I was fine with it as long as it was mutual and stayed within correct boundaries, good lessons for kindergarteners to learn.

It is sad that the five year old was forced to write something I'm sure she didn't fully understand about something she thought was fine. Even if it's bear hugging or whatever, it's still innocent until someone's not okay with it, and then that's the time to use it as an object lesson, not a chance to make a kid a pariah.

[Iblis]

49. Sorry. I meant this to go under the general reply, not to your comment...

I apologize...

L

[knitter4democracy]

52. Oh, duh, I should've figured that out.

My bad.

[0007]

35. What's the big deal? I don't get it!

Homosexuality?

[WePurrsevere]

37. If you read the newspapers discussion forum it sounds even more messed up.

Some are saying it's a safety issue... some are saying they were doing what they have been told not to do... some are saying the one girl fell and the other picked her up, brushed her off and hugged her. It sounds like someone needs to actually talk with the two little girls and any other kids that might have seen what happened... na why didn't Sophie have to write an apology if she was the original hugger as it seems to say in the OP story? (Disc Forum link here)

No matter what the reason... we're talking about 2 5 year old girls here. As someone who was once upon a time a 5 year old girl and has raised a couple rather decent daughters I can tell you hugs are a NORMAL way to show affection and caring if a child is raised in a caring and nurturing home... if it was affection based AND the other little girl didn't object it should be a non-issue. To me the only reason to make this an issue would be if the hug was forced on someone who stated they didn't want it.

[bahrbearian]

38. So when is Chimpy going to Apologize to the Nation?

[RB TexLa]

41. I wish in the south they would start teaching girls to shake hands.

I can't tell you how many times I have been in business situations where a woman tries to hug me "hello" or "bye" instead of shaking hands.

[Iblis]

42. What are you afraid of?

Cooties? :-)

Here's a tip: don't travel to Europe.

L

[RB TexLa]

46. It's just them needing to know what is and isn't proper n/t

[alarimer]

48. me too

I do not like being touched by strangers. A handshake is all that is needed. I physically shrink away from people I don't know who get too close.

This story is messed up though. I was a hugger as a kid so I could have gotten into trouble too but my schools had more sense apparently.

[Nikki Stone 1]

43. Two 5-year olds hug and it's a CRIME??

It's not like they were 14 and making out in front of everyone in the hall.

Good Lord!!

[indie_voter]

44. Oh brother. n/t

[Vidar]

47. The educators behind this should be horsewhipped.

-A former teacher

[opihimoimoi]

51. I see women and men hugging all the time...even politicians do it

Bush holds hands with Saudi Peeps, Condi kisses ass all the time, whats the big deal?