A Day in the Life...

Today was one of those days that I wonder where the justice in life is. I have a small boy in my class that brought a knife to school today. It was found by mistake. It was just a small (less than 3 inches thank goodness) pocket knife. He came to me to tell me that it was his. He began to cry and said that his mom and dad did not know that he had it and that he did not mean to bring it to school. It fell out of his pocket on accident. I wish that was the end of the story. He then went on to tell me that this tiny little knife was in his possession because when he comes up to the playground after school there are big kids there that jump him and hurt him. One of his friends gave him the knife for protection. I told him not to come up to the playground alone. I told him to not come up to the playground at all. I asked him what did he think was going to happen when he "little kid" pulled a knife on them "big mean kids". After I turned the knife into the office, I went and told him that I appreciated his honesty and that he needed to go home and tell his parents because they were going to be getting a phone call from the office. He broke down and was crying with heart wrenching sobs. As he slid down the wall sobbing, I began to cry.

What has happened to this world. I have this little boy in my class, not an angel but not a problem. He is one of my kindergarten safeties and does a fabulous job with the children. He takes his job seriously and I really like him. This nice boy is now facing at least five days of suspension pending a hearing that could determine that he might be expelled. All because he felt powerless. As always nothing will probably happen to the bullies, even if they are found. Bullies rarely get caught. Bullies rarely get punished. My poor child will now have this incident on his permanent record. Yes, it does exist and it is computerized now.

I was crying because I felt bad for him.

I was crying because I felt powerless to help him.

I was crying because no child should feel like they need a knife for protection.

I was crying because I had to be the one to turn him in.