Thread: If you have kids.....

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Have any of them gotten in trouble at school for Halloween-related things?

My 4 yr old is in preschool this year and we're having a tough time with him talking about the haunt. He grew up with this stuff, as I'm sure your kids have, so it's second nature to him. We've told him not to bring it up, but he was talking about how he was going to chase people with a chainsaw next year and some of the kids started crying. He had a time-out during their entire outside play time because of this. No one else in the school is really big into Halloween, at least not the darker non-inflatable side of it. Any advice, or do we just wait it out and hope he forgets about it soon?

I got word that the principal will likely want to have a talk about this tomorrow....fun.

Stacy

I don't have kids but I was a teacher and worked in the schools for 10 years.

Don't worry too much about this... this is really common... I even posted about this in another thread

Your child is not the first one to do this nor will he be the last. In general, a lot of boys tend to be about gore.... if it is not Halloween then Wars, or Dinosaurs eating People, or Cops shooting bad Guys.

Unfortunately, due to a vast number of legal and social issues they have to address this with you and your son.

Try not to take any of it personally. You are not in trouble.

The school has identified a problem and are looking for a solution.... they are not trying to judge your child or blame you as a parent.

Just explain the situation to the school and ask them for soultions.

However during the conversation try to remain calm.

Sometimes when a child acts out like this it is a sign of neglect, abuse, mental illness, etc.. And they are going to be looking at how you react in this situation to determine if any of those things is a factor in this situation. (Although I am sure not in this situation because usually the acting out is much more extreme).

If you remain calm and are helpful, they will just chalk it up to a child with an active imagination and a love for Halloween. And it will make future conversations with the school easier.

I know that it is hard to hear that your son is losing his recess and getting other consequences but we all have to modify our behavior to the environment we are in and we all have to learn that some behavior that is alright in our homes is not alright at school or at work.

And if he learns this lesson early, you both will have and easier time in school and in life.

However, if the school or the teacher is being unreasonable let them know. Above all else, you are your child's advocate.

And don't worry...little kids tend to have short attention spans... soon your son will be focused on Pilgrims, or Santa Claus.

And schools tend to have short term memories with small isolated events.... in a day they will be focused on some other child that ate a container of glue, or accidently stabbed themselves with a pair a scissors, or missed too many days of school ect.

Wow... What an awesome answer.

I love this forum!