Since we were talking about books recently, I thought this might be of interest to some on here. Posting two links about the story. The first one tells WHY the Mom wanted to book removed AFTER her son was suspended for using the word. The second one gives the outcome and so forth.


Parents seek removal of book containing language they blame for 6-year-old son's school suspension | abc13.com


Channelview ISD removes 'poo poo' book from elementary school library | khou.com Houston


Wonder what else was behind her son being suspended besides the use of the phrase: “poo poo head" towards another student?

Shaking head here!

I think the Mom should put her efforts into teaching her son the difference between reading something and imitating it.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

It's Texas. I would expect nothing less. From either side.
First, she should have protested the suspension. Who suspends a small child for saying poo poo head? Really??
Second, the book should have given her reason to demand an apology for the suspension, (that she should have contested), and an expunging of the suspension from his record.

Well for me it is a bit off the top, he said the S.... word for poo=poo I can totally understand, however having been the classroom so much, there are many times they have said I have to make poo=poo instead of I have to use he bathroom, it happens, Peace. Catherine

My thoughts on this one exactly, jujubee2! Imagine how she will handle things as he gets older and reads more mature subject matters!

I didn't let my kids read Captain Underpants.

Little kids think that talking about underwear is kinda dirty. Like they're pushing the bounds.

It's not the 'mature' side of a kid who likes to laugh at underwear jokes and poop.

It's the immature side.

There's a place for that - don't get me wrong. I've got sons myself.

But I'd rather see schools promote maturity - the path they *need* to walk down, not the topics about which the boys like to giggle in the bathroom.

Little kids often don't have the maturity necessary to filter out what is wise to do and what's a bad idea. I have a really awful memory of being nine, and having read a Judy Blume book in which some girls made Slam Books at a slumber party. Everybody had a piece of paper and put their own name at the top of it. Then everybody traded papers, and had to write one good thing about the person, and one thing you didn't like about them. It was all fun and games in the book. So... seemed like a good thing to suggest at a slumber party I attended when the action was kind of dying down.

Um... no. Worst idea ever. Ya know how Dr. Phil has people identify the seven events that were pivotal in their development of who they ultimately became? That party is on my top seven list. We all said ugly things that changed our perceptions of ourselves... well, probably forever.

As a middle and high school kid, I had the sense to know what was a good idea and what was a bad one... but little kids are a different animal. And I just think the schools should stick to exposing kids to a little more highbrow lit (like Ramona the Brave and the Boxcar Children and Shel Silverstien) than cartoon books about underwear.

Well from my experience in the classrooms over the years, some of the children refer to using the bathroom, as such phases as
I have to go potty
I have to make poo=poo
I have to make number two
I have to make number one
I have to pee really bad while holding themselves.
I have to fart, literally I know it is part of life but I had to even write the word let say it..
Now for us they are 5 and some are 6years old, as Wow said they are immature to fully understand and they do associate these words with dirty words and then they laugh, they laugh if the words underwear or toilet paper is mentioned.
We have always tried really hard to get them just to raise their hand and simply say I have to use the bathroom, for the most part it works, but then they slip. However back to op I personally feel it was a bit too much for the word poo-poo like I said if they said a curse word, then no way never ever.... Peace. Catherine

I wouldn't have suspended the kid. It's not nice to call another kid a poo-poo head. Had that been my classroom, I'd have had a talk with him and maybe kept him in during recess.

I'd rather save suspensions for biggie issues.

I assume the kid had been bratty in other ways, and that was the final straw.

Still... we make it seem funny in their books that we give them AR points for, but then get mad at them when they do those very things. I think there is some hypocrisy there.

I know this is off topic, but I wanted to share, several years back we had a child in the class who lets say for better choice of words did not listen, and liked to use all the potty words. Well long story short, now you realize children are way too innocent all the time and speak their minds and thoughts without thinking. Anyway out of the clear blue sky, we were having a discussion about what is your favorite television show. Well to our total amazement, the child replied with a smile I LOVE TO WATCH SEX IN THE CITY". To which some children laughed of course we were upset , had to speak to him and talk to his parents. You know what they confirmed he was caught after being put to bed, watching the show. To them it seemed like no big deal and more of a issue of something he is going through. To this day among other issues, this one will always remain with me ....Peace. Catherine

My youngest couldn't wear his "I heart Boobies" bracelet to school because (this is what he told me) one of the younger kids picked up the word boobies and used it at home, and the parent was upset about it.

I guess I'm probably a little more liberal or relaxed than some (or maybe most)parents but if boobies and poo-poo were the worst words my kids picked up at school....

I do agree there was a huge degree of hypocrisy in suspending the child for poo-poo when it is in an approved book. Maybe more to the story, or maybe the school should have thought this through a little better.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I also Marilyn feel the same way, I am way too liberal and easy going when my children were younger, having them say those words I would not be upset, for me there would be for me something much more serious for me to get upset. I would not like for them to call someone a poo-poo head that would not be nice, but in reality if that was the worst word they said, then I am worried about nothing. Peace. Catherine

Regardless of the book's merit, I don't think one mother should be prescribing the reading material for the entire school. If she's concerned about what her son reads, she should monitor it and help him choose appropriate books. In the meantime, she needs to teach her son manners and appropriate behavior.

(I agree that the school overreacted with the suspension, if there isn't more to the story.)

__________________
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I don't think, though, that the claim is just that he *said* 'poo poo'.

I assume kids say all sorts of words like poop and fart at school.

The issue (if the story is true as it has been reported) was that he used a term for human feces as an insult to another student.

I think that it's a stupid thing to suspend for that (if it's a first time offense). The child who was the 'victim' of the insult is going to have a really skewed sense of how big a deal an insult like that is and have a warped idea of what merits justice-seeking. If the victim's feelings were hurt beyond measure over being called a poopoo head then this was the perfect opportunity to help toughen the kid up. It's a great life lesson to be able to learn to let insults roll off your back and not run tattle and expect somebody to fix the wagon of anyone who hurts your feelings.

Kids will be kids, and will think poop and farts are hysterical. They just will. It's where they are.

I just think it's good for the adults in charge of their development to keep a fair distance between what the kids think is cool, and what an adult recognizes as mature. I'm not suggesting that books like Captain Underpants shouldn't exist. I'd just rather they be something kids can order through Scholastic rather than what the school opts to offer up for them to read in the library.

I just think it creates a mental picture that schools are taking kids on the path to growth, not helping them marinate in the less mature aspects of their development.

I don't freak out at the things my kids are exposed to at school from other kids (within reason, of course). I'd just rather that they come from those other kids... not from the teachers or the librarian.

There are very few things that I can think of that you would suspend a 5 year old for. Also take into account that different parts of this country have different words and phrases that they use. A hero sandwich can be a sub, a gyro, or a grinder, depending on where you live. My mother would have had a hissy fit if we had used the word piss, living in the midwest. But pee was ok. Imagine my surprise when I first met my soon to be mother in law from the New York and New Jersey area, who was first generation of Norwegian parents who thought nothing of saying, "I'm going to take a little piss" or sometimes "I'm going to take a little tissy."

Calling someone a poo poo head is actually pretty pretty funny. That's probably the worst thing he could think of. Acceptable? Not really. But it shouldn't be an issue unless he repeats the behavior after being warned once or twice. I had to sit my then 5 year old grandson down several times over words that would pop out of his mouth. Luckily he was easy when it came to that. I would explain that some people thought that was a bad word, and that he should find a different word to use. And then we would chose a word together that would be a substitute.

Our next door neighbor has a stick up her....uh spine, and she would not let him play with her little boy if she heard a phrase like poo poo head coming out of his mouth. In fact we would get a phone call, letting us know about the infraction. So he learned to "edit" what he said at an early age.

[quote=wildwood;3505721]It's Texas. I would expect nothing less. From either side.

That's a little ridiculous. We're the second most populous state. Believe it or not, we're not all the same.

From what I read, the woman agreed that she didn't want her son calling other children names, so she didn't argue the suspension. Personally, I would have been arguing it until I was blue in the face. However, a 5-year-old child calling another child a poo-poo head does not necessarily convey a lack of parental guidance. They are going to be silly and say silly things (that they could easily have learned from other kids at school). That being said, considering her child was suspended for using the words in that book (the year before), I don't blame her for calling them on the hypocrisy. In my opinion, the school system really messed up for allowing that to be a basis for kindergarten suspension.

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Kim