Parent refuses to feed kid, school freaks.

[Majic Walrus]

http://www.wpbf.com/education/22646374/detail.html

My reaction:

I support the parent, but she's dumb as hell wrapped in a bag of sin. But that doesn't really matter the school should be respecting the wishes of parents or bringing up their complaints to the proper agencies. All that they've managed to do is confuse a little boy who would've been just fine had he not eaten lunch for a day.

Now that being said: Depriving a child of food is about the dumbest punishment I can think of in the whole ****ing world. Instead of punishing him by not feeding him she should've punished him in a less dumbass way.

What do you think SHH!?

 

[amazingfantasy15]

So the kid forgets to pack his lunch one day and he gets punished for it? Couldn't she let one slipup slide? The kid is a fourth grader, he's supposed to make mistakes.

 

[Suirou]

So the kid forgets to pack his lunch one day and he gets punished for it? Couldn't she let one slipup slide? The kid is a fourth grader, he's supposed to make mistakes.

And the world shattered into pieces just because a kid doesn't eat lunch for one day.

 

[SuBe]

I support the Parent. She was trying to teach responsibility and the School has no right to take over Parenting duties.

 

[Majic Walrus]

I support the Parent. She was trying to teach responsibility and the School has no right to take over Parenting duties.

 

[Ghostvirus]

I am going to assume that school starts at 8:30 AM. At best he would go 6 hours with out food, because the mother said that he would eat at 2:30 when he got home. I don't really see a problem with this. It really isn't that long to go with out food. Especially if he had a plentiful breakfast.

 

[katie_girl09]

How ridiculous. The school had no right to interfere with what she had planned. It isn't as if she doesn't feed him.

The only thing the school has done is taught that boy that he doesn't have to listen to his mother anymore.

 

[SuperFerret]

The school freaked out because the whole purpose of public school is to provide lunch, and this parent showed how much of a farce they are since a child technically can go 6 hours without eating.

 

[Manic]

the whole purpose of public school is to provide lunch

The whole purpose?


I see what the mom was doing, and I can respect her decision. She's not even in trouble, here. No one is, really. But apparently (by law) the school can't withhold lunch from its students if they ask. I think the mom should just let it go.

Besides, being forced to eat lunch from a public school cafeteria is worse than getting no lunch at all. I can still taste the bland stew meat in gray sauce from my elementary school.

 

[SuperFerret]

Yeah, the whole purpose. If you happen to learn anything there, it's by accident.

 

[knowsbleed]

The mother chose to make the public school part of the disciplinary chain... her bad. Dumb move. Discipline the child in your own way on your own time.

 

[Manic]

Or put your kid in private school.

 

[knowsbleed]

Wow Manic... talk about extreme measures.

 

[Manic]

Well, that's what he gets for forgetting his lunch.

 

[knowsbleed]

I was thinking of something less extreme... like waterboarding or something along those lines.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

I think it was ridiculous to punish the kid because he forgot to pack his lunch. However, the conditions of the intended punishment weren't all that horrible... he had a decent meal before school (hell, I never had breakfast) and was going to be fed when he returned home only a few hours after he would have had his lunch, anyway. I just don't see it as a reasonable punishment. Now, it being a negative-but-inevitable consequence (like the mother being unable to bring in a lunch, or the school refusing to feed him due to lack of funds) would be understandable, but the school obviously had no issue giving him a meal. It's not like this kid is in high school where he deserves a little added respnosibility... he's a child - worrying about feeding himself should be one of his last concerns.

 

[knowsbleed]

So you're pretty much John Kerry about the whole situation? Jump off that fence... it's nice down here.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

So you're pretty much John Kerry about the whole situation? Jump off that fence... it's nice down here.

I can honestly understand both sides of the argument. The school may have over-stepped their boundaries, but the mother was a little too strict with her punishment system.

 

[danoyse]

I can honestly understand both sides of the argument. The school may have over-stepped their boundaries, but the mother was a little too strict with her punishment system.

And they're a public school, so they've got their own rules to follow too.

I'm all for teaching responsibility, but I really see no reason for this woman to throw a public tantrum because the school gave the kid a sandwich.

I'm a responsible adult, but sometimes I forget my lunch too. It happens.

 

[E-Man]

I think the school is in the wrong here. This kid's punishment wasn't bad at all. He won't eat for 6 hours. Big deal, there are more important things to worry about. It's not like she wasn't feeding him at all. He forgot his lunch, she called and asked them not to give him one, and they did because of the law. I see why the law is put in place, but there are times to where you gotta do what you gotta do. You can't undermine a parent's authority on something small like missing lunch for one day. The school should have made a judgment call and did what the mother asked.

 

[The Question]

Everyone involved in this situation is a complete idiot. Except for maybe the kid. That is my opinion.

 

[E-Man]

I don't see how the mother is an idiot. It's not like she did anything drastic by having her son miss a meal. It's not like she does it all the time, and it's not like the kid will suffer some hardcore pain. It's just a small lesson that would have been learned fairly easy if she got her way.

 

[The Question]

I don't see how the mother is an idiot. It's not like she did anything drastic by having her son miss a meal. It's not like she does it all the time, and it's not like the kid will suffer some hardcore pain. It's just a small lesson that would have been learned fairly easy if she got her way.

I think that approach, punishing someone for forgetting something once, is stupid. Especially because it kind of enforces rigidity, instead of teaching flexibility, which is more useful when things go wrong. Like, I don't think it's evil or that harmful, I just think it's really stupid.

 

[E-Man]

I think that approach, punishing someone for forgetting something once, is stupid. Especially because it kind of enforces rigidity, instead of teaching flexibility, which is more useful when things go wrong. Like, I don't think it's evil or that harmful, I just think it's really stupid.

If it was something bigger I could see how it would be considered stupid, but it's something that is small enough to grab his attention. If she would have whooped him for forgetting his lunch, then I could see how she'd be wrong. Letting him see what it's like when he forgets things is a better punishment. The experience of going without something you're accustomed to is something that seems appropriate to me. He made his own bed, so he should lie in it for a while. If she would have brought back his lunch, then he subconsciously could be thinking that she'll always be there to clean up his mess. If the school bails him out, then he might think that they'll always be there when he messes up.

 

[The Question]

If it was something bigger I could see how it would be considered stupid, but it's something that is small enough to grab his attention. If she would have whooped him for forgetting his lunch, then I could see how she'd be wrong. Letting him see what it's like when he forgets things is a better punishment. The experience of going without something you're accustomed to is something that seems appropriate to me. He made his own bed, so he should lie in it for a while. If she would have brought back his lunch, then he subconsciously could be thinking that she'll always be there to clean up his mess. If the school bails him out, then he might think that they'll always be there when he messes up.

I think you're reading into it a little too much.

And, I'm not saying what she did was wrong, like on a moral level or something. I just think it was stupid. It doesn't seem to serve a real purpose, I think he'd learn more from trying to figure out how he'd get lunch without the one he brought with him, and it's a little unnecessarily dramatic. Like, it's not evil. It's probably not very harmful. But I think it's stupid.