Son cut his hair in school

[Shmee1988]

Hi everyone. I'm just looking to gage some opinion on this one. My DS is 5 and in year 1. Yesterday when my DP collected him from school he had a HUGE chunk of hair missing, right at the front of his head. My DP asked the teacher what had happened and she said she didn't know as she hadn't even noticed the (astonishingly obvious) massive chunk of his hair missing. When asked, my DS said that him and his friend had both cut there hair with scissors while doing an arts and crafts lesson. Another child had also cut up a tennis ball behind the sink.... I was a bit upset that this was able to happen and annoyed at the lack of supervision but no harm done (this time).... so my attitude has been very much 'kids will be kids, it'll grow back' no need to make a fuss. However, upon relaying this funny anecdote to others, it seems that some people feel I'm not taking it seriously enough. I did speak to the teacher and she said she was distracted by another group of kids and I understand that she cannot have eyes in the back of her head, all kids need supervising and my DS is old enough to know it was a stupid thing to do. Apparently some others are of the opinion that I need to be raising my concerns with the head and be more concerned about the level of supervision. Dont get me wrong, I am concerned and I've made this known but it can't be undone and I don't see what good will come of making an already stressed out teacher feel bad about it. Equally, it could of been so much worse and someone could of got hurt. Am I being too relaxed?

YANBU - give the teacher a break, she's likely stressed enough as it is.

YABU- take it more seriously and complain about the lack of supervision of 5 year olds with scissors.

I’ve put YABU as this happened to me whilst I was stood in the same room as my daughters.

She was 3, my older daughter was 5. I was cooking tea and they were at the dining table (kitchen/diner)
I was mortified 🤦‍♀️. I only had 2 people to look after who were in the same room.
i was so pre occupied cooking a nice tea for us all that I didn’t even notice until we sat down to eat 😂

I did it to my friend when I was about 6 with safety scissors.

both our mums were sat in the same room as us

Oh dear. Sorry, why does that mean you voted IABU?

Another child had also cut up a tennis ball behind the sink

I’d really question this tbh. At that age they are given safety scissors, which are passable but not fine with paper even. Yes, they will cut hair and anything thin and weak but it’s not like a finger can be cut off. I’d really question whether a tennis ball could be cut up with safety scissors, even with decades of scissor use under my belt I don’t think I could achieve that with those.

Ah I voted the wrong way round and have changed it to YANBU

I would be seriously unimpressed with a 5 year old messing with a scissors and he would know it.

He's old enough to know better.
Time for a firm talking to IMO, to behave himself.

Well, you certainly should have no doubt at this point that the teacher has far too much on her plate. She definitely should have noticed that at least two of her students were missing chunks of their hair, even if it's understandable that she missed the actual cutting.

I'd be concerned.

My DS cut another boys hair at a similar age in class. When questioned he said the other boy said his hair was too long, so DS obliged.

Thankfully the other parent found it quite funny and the teacher was apologetic.

Did your friends' children never have an accident at home or do something stupid or silly? And that's just with a couple of kids to look after , not 30.

Because she didnt notice while supervising two children, not 28.

That! My own daughter did it at school at the same age, and when I was teaching, a kid in my class did it!

Fortunately the parent of the kids in my class just laughed, just as I did when my DD did it (after the first minute or two of shock!)

It was a mixed reaction. If it could happen to me being pre occupied with just two pretty well behaved kids in the same room and yet a teacher with possibly 30 kids some which may have demands and additional learning needs.
At the same time if it was my kid I would be wanting to find out what happened.

I was so upset at the time with my two. I remember crying when my husband walked in from work.

I didn’t notice one of mine had chunks of hair missing and I only had two to look after!

Why do you think he wasn’t being naughty?
You’d rather blame the teacher for not having the ability to have eyes on 30 children at once, than admit your 5 year old knew bloody well he wasn’t supposed to use the scissors on his own head?

Year 1 has a ratio of 1:30 so the teacher isn't going to be closely supervising every child.

By Year 1 children should be able to be trusted with scissors, they will have had scissors accessible in class in Reception and Nursery too.

Tell your friends they’re the reason why so many teachers are quitting!

I agree.
A full class and you are supposed to be able to stop this.

In the teachers place if they decided to call the parents in a give THEM a talking to about their child, I wouldn't blame them.

At 5 I would be bloody cross with my children messing with a sissors...they should know not to do that at 3.

At montessori my children were warned about sissors and being very careful with them, and they were the blunt tiny childrens ones.

I know because they told me!

DD and her friend cut each others hair, in after-school club. She(now aged 16) still talks about how the head teacher picked the hair out of the bin and put it into two separate evidence bags (the girls are different ethnicities so easy to do!). Headteacher was in your friends camp, seemed non plussed when I and the other mum both just shrugged about it.

We explain the rules to children when using scissors. We always remind them.

In a class of 5 year olds, there will be 1 teacher and (possibly) 1 TA. No one can keep their eyes on 30 or even 15 children at all times because most humans (including teachers) only have one pair of eyes and those eyes can't see 15 - 30 people in detail at once.

We have to let them use scissors.

School scissors can barely cut card. They wouldn't be able to cut through a tennis ball.

Where do i start with this.
Me as a child chopped off on of my pigtails at school i was 4 cut my fringe at 5.
My sister cut my fringe when i was 12 it was awful.
I cut my sisters hair again in our teens.
The worst was when we both wanted blond hair i was 5 and sister was 6 so got in the garden shed an used paint yes wall paint my mother was not happy and dad had to shave our heads.
Its funny now.
Fast forward 20 odd year we had kids of our own omg i felt sorry for my parents.
My son got the shavers out at 10 to give him and his brother a under cut they looked like mushrooms pic was taken.
When they were smaller eldest 4 at the time cut a lump of hair off the side of his head at school reason it was itching his ear.
Youngest son age 5 cut chunks out his hair at school because he wanted to be a rock star then went on to use pva glue to spike it up.
Both had shaved heads many times.
I have many more storys.
My sister has 2 daughters that loved to play hair dressers need i say more.

All our kids are now in there 20s and have grown out of cutting there hair.
Op this is what parenting is.

The tennis ball cutting is a made up brag by a child! No 5 year old is strong enoughand the scissors are not sharp or big enough.

I work in a school with dc of this age. There are usually a couple of hair cutters each year. Most parents are fine and know you can't watch them all the time but you do get the odd complaint, which tbh doesn't achieve anything as we can't ban scissors! Better than the ones that stick dried peas or a bead up there noses - those require a hospital trip!

Its not possible for one teacher to have their eyes on every single child. So many children do this at some point. When my son was 5, his friend cut my son's hair, they were playing. His poor teacher was mortified telling me, I just laughed. These things happen. One of my children has cut their own hair at home too.

And how would you feel if another child cut a huge chunk off another child’s hair? I remember hearing an article in the news about a little girl who was bullied at school by kids because she had lovely hair and her mum used to plait it beautifully for school. Another child at the school cut off her plait at school one day, leaving the little girl feeling devastated. I think the teacher should take responsibility if they are going to give children scissors and supervise them properly.

Then they shouldn’t give them scissors if they can’t supervise them properly.