In Minnesota, a school district is investigating an incident involving poo smeared over the boy’s restroom. It seems this type of activity had been going on for a while. Quite understandably one teacher had enough and made the boys in his/her class clean the bathroom. Seems fair to me as long as a certain level of precaution was taken; like gloves [I also think toothbrushes should have been involved, but I am a little more strict than most people]. However, what seems fair to me and what is fair to other parents are two different things:
"This is my son's safety," said Tremell Pittman, the father of one boy. "To me it's a serious, serious health hazard." The boy's mother removed the child from the classroom the day after the incident."
See, the first reaction in this Minnesota town was to call for the punishment of the teacher, which the Superintendent is currently looking into. My response would have been entirely different:
“Did my son clean toilet and walls so they sparkled? Because if not, he is free this weekend to come back to the school and spend the day discovering the finer points of responsibility.”
What are these parents teaching their children? I mean, sure there must have been more than a couple kids who were forced to clean the bathroom that probably had nothing to do the poop on the walls. However, I could have almost guaranteed [prior to the parent’s intervention] that the innocent boys would become wonderful protectors of the restroom. Thus, helping to eliminate the problem. And naturally those boys who did fling the crap on the walls, in my opinion, got the punishment they deserved.
Of course, I could be out of touch again, maybe little Timmy was just “expressing himself,” and the parents are just protecting his freedoms. However, just reading this story made me want to go tell my son clean his bathroom. You know, just because I can. Life isn’t fair, and I have decided I am the one to personally teach this to my boy.
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