Lessons should be learned over time, especially lessons about the flaws and foibles of adults with power over children. I think 6 or 7 or 8 is too young for some of these lessons that we're talking about.
Sorry to take such a strong stand, but I really feel that a disservice could be done to kids here. I just don't think school should be a place for kids to learn to suffer. I think that's a lousy lesson to learn so young.
Kriston, I never meant for this to be an either-or discussion. There are situations where taking a kid out is the right thing to do. You and others have describes kids shutting down as a result of the environment. If my kid shut down, then I would also take action and do it quickly. I thought I had said that pretty clearly in all my posts, but I guess I didn't say it clearly enough, so I am saying it again. If your child is being harmed, you are a doing a good thing by drastically changing that situation which includes pulling them out.
I guess I used our examples because I wanted Doodlebug to not be too hard on herself for not doing something earlier. She and her DS can still learn from this situation. For example, by encouraging her son to be more forthcoming with info in the future, letting him know what is OK to tolerate and what he needs to tell people about. Why didn't he tell her earlier? When should he come to an adult? If these things get figured out now, it can head of problems in the future. And, if, by telling her story, someone else doesn't accept their kid's "everything is OK" when it isn't, that would be a good thing too. I didn't mean to suggest that just because we can learn from something bad, we should activley subject our children to it.
Am I off your black list, yet, K
