Some parents are losing it!

Posted on May 22, 2006 in Folly Watch Violence

Liz shares an article about “helicopter parenting” where parents enter the classroom to dispense justice against children who bully their offspring. Angry sires have committed assaults against both teachers and students in a ragged quest for filial justice:

In West Allis, Serena Kelley was charged six weeks ago with battery of a 14-year-old boy. According to the criminal complaint, she walked up to the student while he stood with some friends in front of the school.

The complaint says Kelley asked, “Why are you messing me with my kid, punk?” She then pushed the boy against a railing and punched him with a closed fist in the left side of his face, threatening: “If you ever go near my kid again, I will kill you.”

Could this behavior be a symptom of bipolar disorder? Maybe. I see something in that conjecture from my own experiences with anger though I have never gone so far. Could drugs and alcohol be involved? I would lay money on that one. A very likely correllary to this is unresolved feelings that the parents have stemming from childhood abuse by bullies or teachers. If these parents are sending confused messages about conflict resolution, it is likely that they received such messages when they were growing up.

Behind these overreactions there are valid concerns: what ~are~ schools doing about bullies? Many teachers think this is part of the natural social ecology of academia. I feel that is nonsense. Parents as well as students need to feel secure about the hours their young one’s spend in schools. Perhaps we are paying for the sins of our parents who turned a blind eye to internercine conflict in the classroom, thinking that it would strengthen us. That shibboleth should marked with a F and a makeup essay written.