http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/11/gun-play-zero-tolerance-toward-young-
schoolkids-could-backfire-says-expert/
Little boys around the nation keep getting in trouble for guns � whether
they�re made of plastic, formed by fingers or even fashioned from Pop-
Tarts � but some experts say having �zero tolerance� for games children
have played for centuries is turning the adults into bullies and
backfiring on kids.
Elementary educators trying to discourage children from settling pretend
beefs with pretend guns is nothing new. But in the aftermath of the
Connecticut school shooting, and with the grownups increasingly polarized
over the Second Amendment, rules for recess, on the bus and in the
classroom have become stricter than ever.
Some say too strict.
�These zero-tolerance policies are psychotic, in the strict sense of the
word: psychotic means �out of touch with reality,�� Dr. Leonard Sax, a
Pennsylvania psychologist and family physician, and author of �Boys
Adrift,� told FoxNews.com.
In recent months, there have been several examples of children being
disciplined for what was once seen as innocent role play.
A group of students was suspended this month from a Washington state
elementary school for using Nerf dart guns as part of a math lesson,
despite having permission from their teacher.
In March, second-grader Josh Welch was suspended from a Maryland
elementary school after unknowingly biting a Pop-Tart into the shape of a
gun.
"I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top of it, and it
kind of looked like a gun," Welch told a local Fox affiliate.
Last month, also in Maryland, a 5-year-old boy who brought an orange-
tipped cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10
days, according to his family and a lawyer. The child was grilled for more
than two hours by a school principal and wet himself, according to his
family.
Girls have been swept up in the phenomenon as well. In January, a fifth-
grade student in Philadelphia broke down in tears after being scolded in
front of her classmates for accidentally bringing to school a piece of
paper that was folded into the shape of a gun and given to her by her
grandfather. And a 6-year-old South Carolina girl was expelled after
bringing a toy gun to school.
Sax said he worries about the long-term effect, particularly on boys, of
being told the games they play make them bad.
�Out-of-touch policies such as these, which criminalize behaviors which
have always been common among young kids, are contributing to the growing
proportion of American kids, especially boys, who regard school as a
stupid waste of time and who can�t wait to get out of school so that they
can get back to playing their video games,� Sax said.
Dr. Dan Kindlon, a child psychology professor at Harvard University who
specializes in behavioral problems of children and adolescents, said
school administrators have a strong basis for delivering the anti-gun
message to kids.
�It would seem to be an overreaction to discipline a 6-year-old for
pretending his finger is a gun barrel, but I am sure that the specter of
Sandy Hook, Columbine, et cetera, haunts the dreams of many school
administrators,� said Kindlon.
Sax doesn�t disagree, but said those school administrators should get
their point across in a less heavy-handed way.
�There are more effective ways to encourage good behavior and to
discourage criminal behavior, without disengaging boys from school
altogether,� Sax said.
A Hayward, Calif., elementary school is planning a toy gun exchange for
later this month, modeled after the exchanges law enforcement authorities
hold to collect real guns. Kids who hand in the play weapons will get a
book and a raffle ticket for a bicycle. Strobridge Elementary Principal
Charles Hill said he hopes rounding up the toy guns will stop kids from
growing up to play with real ones.
�Playing with toy guns, saying �I�m going to shoot you,� desensitizes
them, so as they get older, it�s easier for them to use a real gun,� Hill
told the Mercury News.
While the toy gun trade-in may be a more reasonable way to address the
issue than suspending or expelling children, Yih-Chau Chang, spokesman for
Responsible Citizens of California, said kids can handle make-believe
games, even if their educators can't.
"Having a group of children playing cops and robbers or cowboys and
Indians is a normal part of growing up,� Chang said.
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
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