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Getting at the truth with children is not an exact science

I was called to school because my second grade daughter had bitten another child.  The boy was not hurt very badly--he had on fairly new jeans, which everyone knows are the next thing to armor.  Anyway, the conversation at school with the teacher listening went like this:

Gryphon: "Did you bite Ted?"   Daughter: "Yes."   G: "You understand it's not acceptable to bite other people."   D: "Yes."   G: "Did you mean to bite Ted?"   D: "Yes."   G: "It wasn't an accident."   D: "No."

G: "Tell me why you bit Ted."   D: "Well, see, I was the wolf and wolves bite people." G: "OK, but you know you aren't really a wolf?"   D: "Yes."   G: "That means that even when you're pretending to be a wolf, you don't bite."  D <just short of tears>: "K."    G: "Did you tell Ted that you were sorry?"   D: "Yes."

It was hard to find a further punishment.  I fully sympathized with my daughter, as I had done something very similar at the same age.  Besides, Ted was a hell-bound babe, and a whiner with it.  I think he provoked every single child in the class into physical confrontation that year.  It's a wonder they all didn't gang up on him and really do him some damage.

posted by GRYPHON on August 30, 2003 at 2:50 PM | link to this | reply

Good observation Bunny
Yes you do have to be a little creative to extract news from children

posted by beachbelle on August 30, 2003 at 1:20 PM | link to this | reply