Yesterday my son came to me after school with rather dispirited frown. On the bus ride home a classmate told him that tomorrow (today) he would go to school with his gun and shoot my son
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I know several people who've let their kids around that age handle and use guns, and some have a rifle or target pistol just for the kid. We're talking rural people who hunt, and take gun safety seriously (as well as generally taking right-to-bear-arms and all the political stuff very seriously), and part of teaching their kid what a rifle is for and how to use it is for the safety and respect angle. But kiddo isn't allowed to handle it without permission and supervision.
I also know that every one of them would immediately yank any and all firearm privs, not to mention tan the kid's butt, at any suggestion it was used for anything other than proper hunting in-season etc (there's no question of trusting a kid that young to make deadly-force self-defense judgements).
Hopefully this kid's parents are the type who'll be horrified at their kid's threat and use it as a lesson.
In the dojo we told parents to institute a strict no-tolerancy policy for any threats even in jest to kick-your-ass or otherwise use what they've learned in class. Or even just bullying. Our policy was if the kid was caught doing that, he was suspended from the martial arts classes, maybe expelled if serious enough. Any second offense and he would be expelled from the dojo. In addition to (and whether not) whatever the school or parents imposed. If you abuse the privilege or power, you lose it.
What concerns me isn't just that a kid is going a bit overboard in trying to swagger and intimidate, it's that he's probably just aping the attitudes he's picked up from his parents. Not necessarily about firearms, but about sexual orientation. Imagine the repercussions if you & RR were pulled in somehow.
I know some parents like that. I was taught to shoot on a rifle range at 10, but that was the only time I was allowed to touch a gun. I had hoped the boy's parents were like that but I have little confidence considering how lightly they're taking this.
When the mother was notified when she tried to drop off her son she told the school she didn't have time to talk about it and left. She's also denied fault the numerous other times her son has been disciplined by the school (and likely would have this time too had her son not admitted to saying it).
And yes, I worry that the school would stop being sympathic to my son's position, or at least distracted from the real point of this issue, if they knew his father was dating another man, or that his parents are polyamorous. I'm not out to the school on either count simply because of how intolerant this tiny town is. The neighboring town is worse, a Dutch-reformist community that outlawed dancing in establishments that serve alcohol and refuse business licenses to stores who wish to be open on Sundays!
Sounds like a good time to reinforce to your kids about societies' views on homosexuality and marriage. Your kids I think have seen you dating in both contexts? Is he clear on this difference or maybe a bit confused. So hard to keep "world's" straight...what's ok here and what's not ok there.
I know several people who've let their kids around that age handle and use guns, and some have a rifle or target pistol just for the kid. We're talking rural people who hunt, and take gun safety seriously (as well as generally taking right-to-bear-arms and all the political stuff very seriously), and part of teaching their kid what a rifle is for and how to use it is for the safety and respect angle. But kiddo isn't allowed to handle it without permission and supervision.
I also know that every one of them would immediately yank any and all firearm privs, not to mention tan the kid's butt, at any suggestion it was used for anything other than proper hunting in-season etc (there's no question of trusting a kid that young to make deadly-force self-defense judgements).
Hopefully this kid's parents are the type who'll be horrified at their kid's threat and use it as a lesson.
In the dojo we told parents to institute a strict no-tolerancy policy for any threats even in jest to kick-your-ass or otherwise use what they've learned in class. Or even just bullying. Our policy was if the kid was caught doing that, he was suspended from the martial arts classes, maybe expelled if serious enough. Any second offense and he would be expelled from the dojo. In addition to (and whether not) whatever the school or parents imposed. If you abuse the privilege or power, you lose it.
What concerns me isn't just that a kid is going a bit overboard in trying to swagger and intimidate, it's that he's probably just aping the attitudes he's picked up from his parents. Not necessarily about firearms, but about sexual orientation. Imagine the repercussions if you & RR were pulled in somehow.
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When the mother was notified when she tried to drop off her son she told the school she didn't have time to talk about it and left. She's also denied fault the numerous other times her son has been disciplined by the school (and likely would have this time too had her son not admitted to saying it).
And yes, I worry that the school would stop being sympathic to my son's position, or at least distracted from the real point of this issue, if they knew his father was dating another man, or that his parents are polyamorous. I'm not out to the school on either count simply because of how intolerant this tiny town is. The neighboring town is worse, a Dutch-reformist community that outlawed dancing in establishments that serve alcohol and refuse business licenses to stores who wish to be open on Sundays!
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