Tonight I was telling hubby about the Flap Jack debacle, where they’ve been banned due to Health and Safety issues, some kid was hit in the head with one. His immediate response was, as predicted, a rant about the nanny state, which I completely agree.
Then he moved on to talking about, as he does, when he went to school and the teachers used to throw board rubbers, you know the ones with the wood backing??? This triggered a personal memory.
When I was about 7 possibly 8. I explicitly remember my teacher writing this on the board.
Being blonde, or possibly young, it took a minute for the penny to drop, but when it did, I hit the deck. Then he proceeded to chuck the board rubber at the kid behind me. I honestly, don’t know if it hit the kid but I reckon it was probably deserved.
I would never condone such behaviour as it borders on abuse and would never mention the teachers name as he’s probably comfortably in retirement if he isn’t dead already, and he was my favourite teacher ever.
However, and I think this is the point to think about, I stopped, I listened and didn’t question or challenge authority.
I think there is something in this? Thoughts?
I think as a country we’ve gone soft and I completely agree with the “nanny state”. We are no longer allowed to discipline children without repercussions (my husband told our older 2 off in public the other day. No shouting, just a stern tone and the looks he received you’d think he’d beaten them!). Teachers also are no longer allowed to discipline as the used to. I remember seeing several teachers at high school have breakdowns in class because the kids were unruly. One teacher actually went full blown breakdown and threw a table at a kid (he was a little shit though so he was bound to crack someone!)
Like you I wouldn’t question authority yet my kids do it all the time & I can’t see a difference if how I am raising them to how I was raised. It’s learnt behaviour from society and copying others. (IMO)