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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Being made to sit on the floor

277 replies

MandaLo · 27/09/2023 17:10

I'm genuinely interested to hear what others thoughts are on this.

DS10 is in a class with a teacher new to their school. She's very young but seems quite pleasant when I've spoken to her.

He told me last week that as a punishment for talking the teacher is making children sit on the classroom floor for 30 minutes each time. It hadn't happened to him though.

Today he came out of school to say that he'd asked the child next to him what book they'd chosen from the library and was made to sit on the floor for half an hour. He wasn't massively upset, just said that his bum went numb from it.

I've never come across this before. DS said some children are constantly on the floor. Does this sound ok?

OP posts:
sofasunday · 28/09/2023 22:36

Is sitting on the floor for 30 minutes a punishment? News to me but I left secondary school a few years ago, I’m in my 20s. I used to sit on the floor in primary school all the time - fair enough in a group setting like a morning activity. Kids generally don’t have ailments that might flare up being sat on the floor.

VisaWoes · 28/09/2023 22:45

Hmmm, have to say for the first three years of secondary school I had to sit on the floor for a 30 min assembly every single morning. My bottom survived.

the issue to me would be the punishment for asking someone else about a book but I suspect there’s either more to it or he was talking when he shouldn’t have been.

DiscoBeat · 28/09/2023 22:47

It depends. If it's a cosy book corner away from the busy class with soft rugs and just an opportunity to reflect quietly, fine. Hard floor under the eye of the other children, definitely not.

Sherrystrull · 28/09/2023 22:48

Westz1 · 28/09/2023 22:28

I wouldn’t really say asking what book the child sat next to him had was disrupting the lesson! Putting a child on time out on a carpet for 30 mins missing valuable school work seems far worse in my opinion!

Talking when you're not supposed to is absolutely disruptive.

76evie · 28/09/2023 22:48

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This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

43ontherocksporfavor · 28/09/2023 22:55

Stop talking. Get to stay in chair.

Mooshamoo · 28/09/2023 22:56

I don't think a child should be made to sit on the floor. It's demeaning. Why the floor?

I've taught in a couple of schools.and the most I did was make a child leave class for ten minutes and get them to sit outside the class with a book. There was a chair that the child could sit on. Making a child sit on a floor for 30 minutes is not ok

Mooshamoo · 28/09/2023 22:57

This reply has been deleted

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Thats awful. Why didn't she just send him to the heada office, send him to another teacher for a while.

You shouldn't be able to physically punish children in any way. Standing for a whole class is physical abuse.

Julimia · 28/09/2023 22:57

Sitting them on the floor is barbaric

43ontherocksporfavor · 28/09/2023 22:59

Get a grip!

Mooshamoo · 28/09/2023 23:00

Would any of us like to sit on a floor for thirty minutes?

I wouldn't choose to

43ontherocksporfavor · 28/09/2023 23:04

No but surely the teacher is trying to make a point . You’d do it once then learn your lesson.

Totaly · 28/09/2023 23:04

I often choose to sit on the floor and I’m over 50! Lying on the floor is good for your back.

Fitrix29 · 28/09/2023 23:06

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YRGAM · 28/09/2023 23:08

It is a physical punishment and therefore illegal

Also, the posters saying 'Children sit on the floor to read so it's OK' - I hope you don't apply the logic of 'If you like to do something in one context it's OK to be forced to do it whenever somebody else pleases' to your own lives and relationships

Fitrix29 · 28/09/2023 23:09

Littlemissalone · 27/09/2023 17:51

Over reaction. I make my young pupils sit on the floor or away from others if they talk or make noises when I am. It's a natural consequence and it works for me. It's not in the behaviour policy but so what? Teachers do their own things to manage minor disruptions.

Stop shitting on teachers. The majority of us try our best and just want children to learn. If your child is talking when they shouldn't be, then they are disrupting other children.

It’s not a natural consequence at all. Natural consequences are ones which happen naturally, this is something you’ve chosen.

For example, if a child is not paying attention in class then the natural consequence is that they miss what’s being taught at that point. Making them sit elsewhere is a punishment. You might feel that it’s justified, and I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you on that, but it’s definitely not a natural consequence.

Mooshamoo · 28/09/2023 23:10

Totaly · 28/09/2023 23:04

I often choose to sit on the floor and I’m over 50! Lying on the floor is good for your back.

What if someone told you to sit on the floor for thirty minutes, and also told you that you weren't allowed to get up?

HelenTherese2 · 28/09/2023 23:11

No wonder the country is in the state it’s in if all parents behave the way parents on here seem to.

PSA: your kids are often a PITA for teachers and not the angels you think they are. Kids also lie and/or embellish things. Stop being overly dramatic and smothering. Being made to sit on the floor isn’t some sort of torture for goodness sake. Kids need to learn to do what they are told.

Totaly · 28/09/2023 23:11

Natural consequences are ones which happen naturally, this is something you’ve chosen

If they choose to talk and not listen, then the best place for them is to be moved so they aren’t distracted or distracting.

They then receive the education we all pay for. The teacher gets to teach the lesson they’ve planned and they don’t have to run catch up sessions in their own breaks.

Eskimal · 28/09/2023 23:13

This is really worrying. If she didn’t use it in her teacher training (which she wouldn’t have done) then she shouldn’t be using it now she’s qualified. This is more serious than a training issue. It’s a power issue and she obviously has some poor character traits to think this is ok. Any child with ADHD is going to really suffer under her “discipline”. I think this needs to be raised immediately. I hope the head is a good nurturing person. At my sons old primary school, upon hearing something like this the head would say things like “but Mr W is a good teacher so this can’t possibly be right.” And then do nothing.

76evie · 28/09/2023 23:18

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Mooshamoo · 28/09/2023 23:23

Being made to stand for a lesson I think does fall under physical abuse.

I don't think schools would allow it. Did the school know about that?
When I worked in a school we were only allowed to give punishments that were approved of by the school..

These were

  1. move markers on the board under names to indicate bad behaviour
  2. you could make a child sit outside the classroom for 10 minutes in a chair.
  3. you could send the child to the office.

There is no way I would be allowed to inflict physical punishment on a child. Physical punishment is outlawed

xmaswiththeinlaws · 28/09/2023 23:26

Seems an odd choice of punishment, unless it was for swinging back on a chair, in which case I would agree with it on the grounds of " If you can't sit safely on a chair you'll have to sit on the floor"

Duechristmas · 28/09/2023 23:27

Gensola · 27/09/2023 17:21

That is illegal as it’s a physical punishment

How is sitting on the floor physical punishment? It's entirely normal to sit on the floor in primary school.

MrsHughesPinny · 28/09/2023 23:27

We all sat on the floor about half the time when I was at school. I can’t imagine why this is an issue for anyone. I still sit on the floor now watching tv, etc.