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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that my sons teacher is making a big deal out of something quite small

416 replies

Eshmee · 05/07/2024 18:53

So my little boy is 4. He's in foundation at school and is the youngest in his year. He struggles with regulating his emotions and sometimes when angry or upset will hit rather than use his words to explain what he wants or why he's upset. We have soent alot of time on this explaining how to vocalise what he wants but as I said, he's 4 and from all the parenting advice sites etc I gather that this is fairly normal behaviour for a child of his age.

Today when I collected him from school the teacher told me that whilst waiting in line for assembly he grabbed a teacher assistant by the arm quite hard as she was walking past and this was hard enough to leave a little red mark on her arm. His teacher told me that this teacher assistant is new and was quote shocked so instead of asking him what he needed she ignored him and carried om walking. My little boy was then removed from assembly a whllile later by a more senior teacher and was told off. She also asked him why he had done it but by this time he had forgotten. Whilst I understand that isnis never acceptable to grab, he tells me that he didn't know her name and that he wanted to walk with her to assembly.
When his class teacher was relaying all of this to me she made it sound like a had a violet thug for a son. AIBU to think she's made a big deal out of something small or do I need to crack down much harder on him?
Advice needed for a worried mum :(

OP posts:
EmoIsntDead · 06/07/2024 12:38

Eshmee · 05/07/2024 19:02

Is a child grabbing an adults arm 'physical violence' these days? He only wanted to walk with her but didn't know her name and obviously did it a bit too hard. Is that violence?

Of course it is! He grabbed hard enough to leave a mark!

JudgeJ · 06/07/2024 12:41

Runnerinthenight · 05/07/2024 23:31

Jesus christ, what a reach!!!!

Seems like this poster thinks being violent towards men is quite OK!

Longma · 06/07/2024 13:28

ClairDeLaLune · 06/07/2024 00:13

A 4 year old on a play station? And you wonder why he has issues with regulating his emotions and with violent behaviour? Really OP? Can you really not see the connection?

I doubt that up to 2 hours a week playing age appropriate games in a console will have much affect in a child's behaviour. Not unless there were other bigger issues at play.

Longma · 06/07/2024 13:30

sofasofa42 · 06/07/2024 00:25

He is 4 . I assume this is uk and you are paying alot . You are actually paying for childcare professionals. They should give you the an

State school reception (age 4-5) is free in the UK.

Ilovechocolatetoomuch · 06/07/2024 13:41

He sounds very similar to my DS at that age, There was always a reason for him lashing out.
My son now has a diagnosis of Autism and after a SALT assessment we found out one of his main areas of difficulty is asking for help/ telling an adult if there is a problem.
The school told me repeatedly that nothing was wrong and he wasn’t neurodiverse.
I would go above the school and have your son assessed, it’s not common behaviour in school age children.

mumedu · 06/07/2024 14:10

Eshmee · 05/07/2024 21:26

There seems to be alot of negative comments around the fact my DS is allowed to play on a PlayStation.
A typical day in my house is as follows:
I collect DS1 and DS2 from school. My and my 4 y/o will do something together for an hour or so (play in the garden, play a game etc) until I have to cool dinner. At that point he is allowed to choose what he does. He will either play with his brother or by himself or watch tele. His fave thing to do is play the PlayStation with his brother. These are age appropriate games, disney cars, lego, spiderman etc. He can play until my DH gets home and we all sit and have dinner. We do spellings/reading books etc, bath the kids and go to bed. Is that not pretty normal for a family?
If you guys think that him having limited access to gaming is possibly causing an issue then I'll have to rethink.

I didn't allow gaming at that age. When my children got older, they were only allowed to game on weekends, for a limited time. As a teacher, I instinctively feel that children's lack of attention span is affected by how much they spend gaming.

JennyBeanR · 06/07/2024 15:02

Procrastinates · 05/07/2024 19:04

Of course it's physical violence, what would you call it? I'm really surprised you're trying so hard to sugarcoat it and think it is normal behaviour. It's not normal for a 4 year old to grab an unknown adult arm and squeeze it so hard that it leaves a mark.

A 4 year old grabbing an adults arm is not something I would call violence. I think several posters here are being ridiculous.

Pootle23 · 06/07/2024 15:37

Sounds like he needs to wait until he’s five to start school.

Supergirl1958 · 06/07/2024 17:13

wiggleweggle · 06/07/2024 12:37

Came on to say the exactly same thing.

Am also a teacher. And a mother.

Most teachers on here have all said similar including myself.

OP won’t have it and backtracks. Apparently it’s reactive to hitting and such displayed by other children and so the OPs son gives as good as he gets back.

The fact he grabbed a TAs arm and it marked hard enough and keeps reacting with gesture rather than words suggests that there should be at least SALT investigation as a minimum!

But then who are we teachers, and what good is our knowledge and experience! Someone quoted AI earlier to try and explain that the behaviour the OPs son displays is normal for his age, despite the majority of teachers on this thread explaining otherwise! I mean AI rather than the experience of actual humans 🙄

JennyBeanR · 06/07/2024 18:57

MumChp · 06/07/2024 00:26

Leaving a mark? Yes. It is.

Violence? Goodness, what a ridiculous thing to say. This is a 4 year old grabbing an adults arm to get their attention. He didn't punch or kick. Words have meanings. This isn't violence FFS!

stayathomer · 06/07/2024 19:28

He’s very young op- there’s a middle ground here- your son shouldn’t have grabbed but the teacher should have had the common sense to deal with it and tell him he was too rough. I wouldn’t call it physical assault if a child grabbed an adult to get their attention but I wouldn’t leave them off without letting them know that’s not the way to get someone’s attention.

Runnerinthenight · 08/07/2024 15:51

echt · 05/07/2024 23:11

When someone offers a judgement on the child's behaviour, it doesn't mean they/their children are perfect.

As for "well my kid turned out all right", that is entirely beside the point. This is about one child right now. And by the way, your child needed some very special interventions, just like the one in the OP.

Hilarious!

Runnerinthenight · 08/07/2024 15:51

JudgeJ · 06/07/2024 12:41

Seems like this poster thinks being violent towards men is quite OK!

No it seems like this poster is allergic to bullshite!

Runnerinthenight · 08/07/2024 16:01

BusterGonad · 06/07/2024 03:44

This is what you should have done.
This tread is so depressing, the majority of posters with perfect little angels. Oh how I wish I was one of them without a child with SEN.
Maybe if the TA had done her job properly and addressed the issue at the time. She could've walked him in to assembly, or paired him with a buddy, or just acknowledged that the kid existed rather than walk off licking her wounds. Yes, she's probably on minimum wage, I've worked many jobs on minimum wage but I've still done a sterling job. The boy needs a bit more help than the other kids, the teacher and TA need to offer him this help instead of treating him like he's some kind of thug. They should be anticipating issues before they happen not expecting him to change over night. He's the child, they are the adults. Taking to him at the time would've been optimum.

This 100%.

So many self-satisfied, sanctimonious twits piling in on the OP. Clear that half of them don't have the first clue.

BusterGonad · 08/07/2024 16:14

Runnerinthenight · 08/07/2024 16:01

This 100%.

So many self-satisfied, sanctimonious twits piling in on the OP. Clear that half of them don't have the first clue.

Thank you.

sunflowrsngunpowdr · 08/07/2024 16:23

Ffs some of these comments are insane. He is 4 he didn't "assault" the teacher. Ask to meet with the head and speak to them about your concerns.

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