Is this rude from a child? Age 6, furious reaction from teacher

Because shouting, or advocating for the shouting at children, a 6 year old to precise, definitely won't have implications for mental health right 🤡

No one is claiming the terms are synonymous, however their meanings overlap and it is this failed distinction that the child so skilfully picked up on, to the humiliation of this awful member (mot juste) of staff.

What's the problem with learning to sit in silence sometimes?

This is exactly the type of comment my youngest son would have made. At toddler group during a presentation of the elephant song (….but goodness gracious what a long nose) He piped up “Actually it’s a trunk not a nose” diagnosed with ADD and ASD at 6

He was embarrassed.

Can someone please explain to me why someone taking things literally means

1. you ignore being told not to speak unless certain conditions apply

2. you think pain and injury are the same

I suspect he was showing off more than trying to amuse people.

Yeah this. I could imagine a teacher saying that to a bunch of rowdy teenagers but six year olds (his comment was pretty smart, though)?

Yes, the whole concept of asking random strangers on the internet for opinions should be abolished. 🙄
Why are you here then if not to offer an opinion? 🤣

I can remember, at a very young age (maybe 5 or 6), when I'd done something or other, saying to my mum: "Don't shout at me", when I was being told off. And she would say, puzzled, "I'm not shouting at you". But, at that age - and I distinctly remember this - I could not distinguish between being reprimanded about something I'd done wrong and "being shouted at". To me at that age, they were the same thing. Although, clearly, they aren't. Just saying.

I struggle to understand how this would not be seen as rude and how you could not see it as such. The only kids I’ve ever had nitpick the specifics of things I say in a non-intentionally rude way have normally been neurotypical. It doesn’t mean he is a rude child. He may have thought she was joking around and misjudged it. But in my experience most children don’t put their hand up and nitpick on things especially when just having been given an explicit instruction to be quiet.

Sounds more like a class of children are not used to being told No and think that anyone having the audacity to even slightly raise their voice is 'shouting'. They can then go home and give an exaggerated version of events knowing that their mummy will believe what they say and spend a lot of time asking random strangers for their opinion on a 3rd or 4th hand description.

Well I think we can all reassure you that he was being a smart arse and did get a deserved ticking off and there's really no need to bother the teacher for clarification. Tell him in future if the teacher has asked for them to be quiet and not bother her with anything unimportant then that definitely includes any unnecessary pedantic commentary from him.

His pride is hurt, that's all. He'll get over it and think twice before blurting something out next time. It may seem harsh to him, but if the teacher indulges every child that wants to interject with something, she'll never get a day's teaching done. You need to sit him down and explain that, not automatically assume that he's being unfairly treated. If she was a bit sharp with him then it's probably because he's got form for this (being an annoying know-all) and she's getting irritated by it.

I don't think it was rude, may be cheeky and smart but didn't deserve to be shouted at to make him so upset.

No..if he was being a smart arse he wouldnt be so upset.

If the teacher has said ‘I don’t want to hear from you….’ Then I’m guessing, she has been trying to teach a lesson and keeps getting interrupted.
I’ve had it a million times before. I have 1 hour to teach a lesson and have to keep stopping because someone wants to tell me that it is their birthday in 46 days or they went to McDonalds last night. It’s funny when you hear the story, but extremely frustrating when you’re the teacher.
That being said, I would never berate a child, let alone to the point of them crying and I would absolutely speak to the teacher to find out what happened if I were in your shoes.

If it were my DS I’d tell him:

• Good he thought about it and he made a fair point. Though pain and injury can be different. You can have pain without being injured (e.g. migraine).

• But when the teachers are trying to be firm with others kids, it’s best not to challenge or correct them in that moment. Can be a bit inappropriate and seem disrespectful.

• And if a teacher shouted at him, then that teacher obviously doesn’t know how to be firm without losing control, and that’s not great. It’s disrespectful to shout at people. Though sometimes teachers have to raise their voice if a class is noisy.

• But he shouldn’t take it personally or let it worry him. It’s the teacher’s problem.

Then, ask the school to describe what happened to you, as it upset your son and it’ll help you to support him to get their take.

He’s only 6. I can’t imagine an explanation that’d warrant shouting. If they admit shouting, I’d be concerned.

I’d also be concerned about the original comment. As your son has illustrated, 6 year olds can take things very literally, and another child may sit in class feeling sick, confused or sad in silence because it wasn’t on the list. Inappropriate.

The teacher was not incorrect. ‘In pain’ and ‘injured’ are not the same thing. Injuries often cause pain, but you can be in pain without being injured and (occasionally) injured without being in pain.

This is horrific imagine shouting at your colleague because they said something you didn’t like? I know it’s apples and pears but why would someone twice your size feel the need to intimidate you (that’s what shouting is and in some cases it’s abusive)

lazy teaching if your go to so to scream at a child there are better ways to get your point across and if you can’t keep your temper around young children they probably shouldn’t be teaching

my school years were ruined by shouty teachers (late Autistic diagnosis) and I repeatedly nearly wet myself through fear of being shouted out - please don’t let your son suffer this fate I am still an anxious wreck around authority figures even now 40 years later

It’s never ok for a teacher to shout at a 6 year old. A slight raised voice to get their attention in a classroom is one thing, but to shout, especially to continue to shout if the child then becomes clearly upset, is absolutely not ok.

Have you managed to speak to the staff today to find out if your child’s version was accurate?

And, my first thought when you described your child’s actions: the ‘smart arse’ literal interpretation, seeking clarity, not understanding the context and then acute upset at being told off (because he didn’t realise he’d done anything wrong) was that ASD needs to be considered. Just because it’s not been suspected so far, doesn’t mean it’s not worth investigating.

I think he was being rude. I work as a teaching assistant in a school year 2. I know we would all have thought that to be a rude response. In a way he was correcting the teacher. She obviously needed them to get on with their work and have silence.

He is young and probably didn't realise it was rude so I wouldn't worry too much.

Not the OP and hopefully they will clarify but my assumption was that this was a group teaching situation where more than one teacher and possibly TAs too will be working with smaller groups throughout the day.

The more people involved, the more important it is, if still needed, to make an appointment to discuss when it is mutually convenient, to establish what happened, and then whether support/clarity about expectatons is needed for any party, including the staff and children.

Your child did well to correct the pedagogue. I recall a friend (aged about 11) pull up a teacher for failing to include an apostrophe before the abbreviation for the word omnibus (i.e. 'bus) in an assignment distributed to the class; he was incensed at being corrected. The profession attracts bullies who relish a false sense of superiority to their young charges; they cannot brook being exposed should their standards be sub-par. Full marks to your boy! 👌

My response was addressed to the parent who appears to believe that in pain and injury are synonyms. They are not, so no, I won't be revisiting my response, although you should consider revisiting yours as you appear not to have read mine to come to the conclusion you did.

Sorry! Typos!! Fat thumb.

‘highlighting meanings’, not strange made up word created by my thumb ….