At my school, we teach kindergarteners to keep their hands to themselves and to be gentle with their classmates. If there is a pinching incident, it would be dealt with in that scope -- "You are supposed to keep your hands to yourself" not "you dirty little sexual harrasser!"

There are many good reasons NOT to label a kindergartener's behavior as sexual harrassment but here's one that comes to mind.

Unfortunately, there ARE kindergarteners out there in the world who DO have inappropriate sexual knowledge and might just act on it. However, if we are treating everything as sexual harrassment, how will we be able to identify, document, and seek help for children who do possess inappropriate sexual knowledge.

I would handle the situation as simply not treating our friends that way. If it continued or if there were other warnings signs, I'd start looking for help while documenting everything carefully.

Sexual harrassment -- to me -- implies that the harrasser knows (or should know) that the behavior is inappropriate. It's simply inappropriate to use that term for a small child. Either they don't know that the butt pinching is okay or they need help dealing with whatever caused their inappropriate level of knowledge. But, punishing them and labelling it as sexual harrassment is just not okay.

Sigh.
Mindful Teacher | Homepage | 12.22.06 - 1:59 am | #

Either they don't know that the butt pinching is okay or they need help dealing with whatever caused their inappropriate level of knowledge.

Sorry, but you're setting up a false either/or here. It's not either they don't know it's not okay OR they have an inappropriate level of sexual knowledge. In most cases, they DO know it's not okay -- they just don't have the impulse control to stop themselves from doing something they know will get a reaction from someone else.

Young children generally know they should keep their hands to themselves. They can repeat that rule to you any time you ask. But at the age of five (and beyond) they're still learning impulse control and respect for other people's "personal space."

Plus, to be sexual harassment, it has to be more than knowing the behavior is inappropriate. It has to involve having sexual intent. And five-year olds, no matter how much "sexual knowledge" they have, don't typically have any sense of sexuality or sexual intent.

It's inappropriate for students to pinch someone's arm or to tweak someone's nose. Can those be construed as sexual harassment, too?

Kindergarteners have *been on the planet* for a whopping five or six years. I'm appalled that schools -- you know, those places full of child experts -- can't understand that these children don't come to them with the social graces of adults. Worse, they ascribe adult sexual intentions to people who are still learning to write their names and tie their shoes.

It's disgraceful.
lori | Homepage | 12.26.06 - 11:13 pm | #

I can picture it now, mandatory "sexual harrassment" videos for the kids to view on their first day of school...
Matt
Matt Rush | 12.29.06 - 10:00 pm | #