Husband touched a kid to reprimand them on school trip

[ToddlerIs2]

Husband went on school ltrip with yr 6 dc as our DC"s 121 so only responsible for him. Yr 4 girl in front was being annoying all journey. Husband asked her to stop several times. He dozed off and she banged the seats again (so banding onto her knee) and he lent over and tapped her on the head and told her to stop. Off the coach the teacher spoke to him and he said sorry, didn't think etc. now head wants to see him. What's the likely consequences? We have a lot going on and I'm not holding it all together very well so at home so don't know how irrational I am. He's never smacked out kids so I know it won't have been a smack to the head etc and it was only when she got off she told the teacher. I'm absolutely fuming because how did he forget to never touch someone else's child? And obviously there's an angry parent there that there's a grown man who's touched their daughter so school will probably have to make an example of him. Any ideas what's likely to happen?

I honestly don't understand all this drama. He tapped a kid who was behaving badly on the head. I can easily imagine reaching over the seat to get the child's attention and to tell them not to keep hitting the seat. I mean, probably not ideal in a world where people get very worked up, but I'm struggling to see this as a big deal myself.

is the childclaiming he hit her or something?

If they are on a coach I would imagine he tapped her on the head to get her attention as it was the part of her he could reach. Honestly people getting their knickers in a twist over this are ridiculous, maybe she shouldn’t have been being annoying after repeatedly being asked to stop. Running to the teacher and wailing about it also smacks of the kind of child she is 😂.

The school may have to have a word with your partner but unless they had gone through a briefing about what he should have done in this type of situation then how was he meant to know this would be blown up out of proportion? Even if it does get escalated or the girl does report to police then I’m sure, beyond a cursory explanation from your partner, they won’t look into it furthur as it’s such a non event. Maybe the coach has cctv on it that can verify what your husband is saying if it does come down to her word vs his

the sad thing is the amount of time wasted by schools for dealing with the couple of bonker parents like that.

No wonder their little darlings are a nightmare!

Absolutely this,the world is gone hard-hit, he tapped a kid to ask them to stop messing about hardly worth all this fuss. If my child told me this id immediately ask what they were doing that an adult had to speak to them, no way would I be thinking of getting the parent in strife with the school or anything else.

I'd have thought that would be up to the parents. Would you be pushing for a formal charge of assault or just a telling off?

Yeah that is so far in the realm of normal child behaviour - children can be annoying as we all know! Honestly I would have thought your DH could grin and bear it, having volunteered at lots of school trips they are full of moments like this and I think he over-reacted. I would have rolled my eyes as a teacher if he’d reported it to me too, to be honest. It’s very minor really.

We don't really know if the other child was naughty, or just excited to be on a school trip and that meant she was disturbing the DH's sleep. Year 4 children are still excitable and get a bit loud, which is fine because the supervising adults shouldn't be asleep.
What will happen will depend on your DC's need for 121 and how the school is set up. If you can go, then he should be barred from going again. They should be reporting it to their safeguarding lead, you never hit near a head and a man can even poke quite hard.
A school helper put her finger in my grandchild's face last week and I'm glad I haven't ran into her when we are both alone. So you might have trouble coming from the family.

So somewhere between a reprimand from the Head and police taking him away, charging him with assault and him losing his job and all our family. Great.
Idiot!

You keep mentioning police, prosecution and child abuse as well as your husband touching a child. What the hell did he do?? Unless this post is a fake situation and you are having some fun (?!) dramatising on purpose.

So the DH was a bit of a twat and shouldn't have tapped the child on the head but bloody hell there's some serious over reactions here ...I very much doubt the police would be interested as Im pretty sure tapping a child on the head isn't considered a crime...if it had been any harder than a light tap to get a child's attention then I'm sure the other staff on the bus would have heard the child cry out ....

I suppose the school will ban him from coming for some time. Will you be able to go the next time?

I don't understand why he should react at all to a girl being "annoying".

I'd expect a 121 carer to interfere only if the other child was in danger/doing something dangerous, but if her being "annoying" didn't warrant a teacher's reaction, I don't see why would he do anything.

Alas I'm already worried about him losing his job if he's prosecuted for assault. I'm not sure him getting into work at 10 and finishing at 2 will help

Like rule one. Don't touch someone's kid.

is that a rule specifically written in your school?
I've volunteered and worked in several schools, never once heard of this 😂

OBVIOUSLY no adult is encouraged or allowed to beat a child, or even be in the school toilets ever if there's one child in them, but "touching"?
Come on.

busses these days have CCTV on them I would be requesting the footage Incase it a case of he said she said

I absolutely agree, he behaved like a child himself and if not banned shouldn’t volunteer again anyway if he’s going to be so irritated.

A bit of an over reaction to someone just trying to attract her attention. I doubt he battered her round the head.

Why is he getting in at 10?

Really? That's not supervision.

I haven't said anywhere she deserves it. He was spoken to when he got off the bus so I think he considered it dealt with.

I really don't think he'll be prosecuted for assault or that the police will be interested even if they did report it to them for some reason.

He didn't hit her he tapped her. I see this as using one finger to attract her attention.

Year 6. On a bus. It’s fine

Precisely.

Those parents complaining about the behaviour of kids have only got themselves to blame. Silly buggers.

I doubt he'll get prosecuted for assault. That is, if it was just "a tap" and there are witnesses and coach cctv.
He'll just never be allowed to supervise again.

Indeed.