Children, (even "Good Ones") are being Charged with Felonies!

One of the things that saddens me the most about being a teacher is the turn over I see amongst the high school students.  I was taught early on in my teaching career to not become too attach to my students, because oftentimes they won't make it to the end of the school year.  I rejected that belief and have painfully lost students who were sent to continuation schools due to behavior problems.  I have had students to leave the school to return to their home country, drop out because they are pregnant, or even worst, students who were arrested and sent to jail.

I use to think that teenagers could not be charged like an adult, but times have changed. In Florida, a 16 year-old girl with a good record was charged with a felony, after her science project exploded in class.  Kiera Wilmot mixed the wrong chemicals together at home for an assignment that resulted in an explosion. Both Kiera's teacher and administrator told the police that they did not believe that this student purposely came to school in attempts to "blow something up", but in this new terrorist fearing era that we live in, that is exactly how the situation was interpreted.  The 16 year-old student was arrested and charged with a felony.

Earlier this school year a 5 year old Pennsylvania girl in Kindergarten was expelled for telling another girl that she was going to shoot her with a Hello Kitty toy gun that blows bubbles. I am currently the mother of a 5-year old boy and while at school he is exposed to all types of words and conversations. I would be very upset if it was my child that was expelled for making a threat with a bubble gun.  Its hypocritical to expect a 5 year old to know better when they see Buzz Light Year and other toys shoot lasers, and McDonald Happy Meal toys shoot arrows. I am led to believe that this kindergartner who made the threat about using her toy Hello Kitty gun did not intend to cause harm to the other girl. However, in today's society, the phrase "Anything you say or do CAN and WILL be used against you in a court of law" is more real now than ever before. When it comes to the option of jail time age is indeed nothing but a number!

This school year I lost two students as a result of one of my students being charged with a felony.  The boy was interested in one of my female students.  He and this female student both had me for English class.  I would watch the boy and the female student quite often. They always wanted to do their work near one another, and the girl often flirted with the boy.  They had several classes together and eventually took their friendship to another level and continued it outside of school. One day I arrived at school to find out that the girl had reported that this male friend of hers had choked her.  Her mom was at the school and they were very upset.  As a result, my male student was charged with several felonies, put on house arrest and will be charged as an adult.  When this occurred the male student was expelled from school, and the female student transferred voluntarily out of fear of being talked about or harmed by his friends.

I am not in a place to say rather or not the boy assaulted her. I am in a place to say I see boys and girls playing and hitting each other all the time and hitting rather it is for play or for real is against school rules. The signs posted at a school saying "No Horse Playing!" are there for a reason.  There are too many opportunities for students to get in trouble now a days and we as parents need to really be involve with our children lives to help prevent these things from happening.  This isn't a bad student issues.  Now a days, felonies are being assigned to kids on their first offense, rather it was intentional or not.  

I would still like to believe that the odds of our children being charged with a felony are slim.  However, I do want to make my readers aware of the things that I see going on everyday in the schools and want to close this blog with the following acronym to help you remember how to be more connected with your child!

                                               P.S.A> Pay, Stay, and ACT                

1. Pay attention to your child's words, actions, and lack of action. 

2. Stay involved with your child's life in every way possible. Keep a healthy relationship with your child so that you'll know what's going on.

3. Actively communicate with your child and Share some of your own imperfections to make sure that you establish a relationship  built on love instead of a relationship full of fear. 

Now this is truly a P.S.A. (public service announcement.) Children, even the "good ones" are being charged with felonies and are getting in more trouble than even before. As parents, lets remain involve and take our role seriously so we can give society and upstanding gift- our children.

Thank you for reading this blog. Feel free to follow me on google+ or join my fan page at www.facebook.com/ParentsTeachersandTeens . To become an even more involved parent in your child's life, and to better understand the teenagers of today purchase my new book Sex, Drugs, and Other Elephants: How to Deal with Teenage Issues by Clicking Here! Find me on www.amazon.combuy typing the name Shira Dillon.