School overreacted ?

[JimmyJam2019]

Child is barely 7, had full weight for school racism policy applied to them for calling an 11yo a poo. On the playground daring each other to call the big kids rude words. Older kid reported child for racist comment, can school not use some common sense, the kid is 7 and has no clue about racism.

But they don't know he has no idea what racism is. And these things have to be nipped in the bud.

What is the 'full weight of racism policy'

That does sound odd. I’ve heard many children call each other “poo” without it having a racist context. Perhaps other children at the school have used it in that way before which is why they’ve jumped to that conclusion. I feel sorry for the child who felt they were being targeted for their race but I also feel sorry for your child who must be somewhat bewildered! They both need a conversation with a sensible adult before drawing a line under it.

Never heard poo being a racist comment. Just a "rude" word little children like to use.

Sadly children do use the term poo as a racist insult, my boys were a similar age when another child told them their Dad was the same colour as poo. My boys are olive skinned while their Dad is Asian. Wether your son was using it as a racist term or not, you need to be asking why they thought it ok or funny to call other children nasty names. I am a teacher in a primary school and would find that behaviour very worrying and certainly not acceptable or standard for a 6 year old.

Why did your child not know about racism? At that age they are old enough to understand the basics and why they need to be extra careful about their language. As they and you have found, the issue is how others perceive their words, not how they were meant.

They are a good age to learn that lesson. Far better to learn it now than trying to teach them when they are teenagers.

We are what might be described as a non-diverse family in a pretty non-diverse area so we have made an extra effort to for example, read books about Rosa Parks or talk about Nelson Mandela from pre-school/reception age.

Were they daring each other to call the older kids random rude words or were they daring each other to call kids with brown skin a poo? You will never know the truth of it (7yos not being the most reliable witnesses), neither will the school so they were correct in dealing with it in the way they did. Might be a good time for some open conversations with your son.

"Full weight of school racism
Policy"? What does that mean?

My 6yo struggles to even use He and She correctly. I doubt a child who is barely older understands racism. Kids just say poo a lot.

My 6yo calls most things some variant of poo. I don't think there's anything hugely concerning about your ds actions.

@Changingeveryth My 6 yo is aware of racism but would never link this to poo.

Haven't they learned about Martin Luther King Jr? I am pretty sure they know at that age.

This is a good opportunity to explain to your child that we need to be careful with words because the way they affect other people can be serious.

What has the school actually done?

Also, they have learned about Rosa Parks. I remember DC coming home speaking of lessons about them.

School isolated my child from his class for two days.
They said poo to multiple children my kid just said it to the wrong kid.
Other kids not punished.

The children of racists can be racists from a very young age. Your child shouldn't be insulting other children gratuitously. Are you telling him that it is unfair or helping him to understand that it is not nice to be gratuitously insulted

Have you had a meeting with the school to discuss this?

HOW is poo "racist"?

Wow! That punishment does sound over the top OP, even if your child was racist, that punishment is well beyond the bounds of appropriate punishment.

And obviously using “poo” as an insult is not necessarily racist. Saying someone is the colour of poo is different. I’d say many six year olds would use the word poo as an insult without it having any racist connotations at all. Context is everything and I wouldn’t entirely rely on your son’s assessment. The punishment is still excessive.

Hmmm..whether it was racist or not entirely depends on the intention of the comment which we won't know. Did they choose poo as the child they directed it at isnt white to highlight the colour of their skin? Young kids can be racist even if unintentional.

Also WTH was your 7 year old doing, staying there with friends, insulting and hurting other children's feelings?! It doesn't seem that you're bothered about that? It's not normal or kind and instead of teaching your child right from wrong, you're on a forum trying to mock the idea that your child could have been racist.

So MLK and Rosa Parks were American. Would children in the UK learn about them...?

I think the school did have to take it seriously.

However I think the punishment isn't appropriate. It would be better to talk and learn about racism.

I think whether your son had racist intentions doesn't matter. The other child was offended. It's an opportunity to learn.

Yes, for my children it was juniors, then again in history and RE in KS3.

I still don’t think that the child was intentionally racist. I whole class approach to not calling people names would have been better in this situation. 2 days of isolation is not something I would be happy with.

"you're a poo head" and "you look like poo" are two different things, even from a 7yo.

The punishment is ridiculous though. A first incident from a child that young should be explained carefully, the kid should feel they've had a serious telling-off, and that should be the end of it.

Kids call each other poo all the time. Even my white kids say you look like a poo as an insult to each other.
Wouldn’t have even occurred to me that someone would take that as a racist insult

Kids can't be kids anymore, there has alway got to be more to it.

Bloody ridiculous.