![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
This mom = best mom.
Had an after-school conference with a student and her mom today. Actual snippet of the tongue-lashing that the mother gave her daughter:
To put this in context, yesterday this particular student grabbed another student's drawing and scribbled in black marker all over it, and then tried to claim that she had the "right" to do so because she felt like it. And she was being totally serious, too.
To be honest I've never heard the "if the President of the United States doesn't have the right to do that, then neither do you" argument used before, but I kind of like it. I think it helps put things in perspective for an emotionally and cognitively immature seventh grader better than the usual "how would you feel if somebody did that to you?" tactic does. Which, by the way, is a tactic that usually fails with middle school students because it allows them to respond by saying "I wouldn't care" - which, whether true or not, is effectively the end of any attempts to reason with them about their behavior. It also allows them to respond with "Well *I* would be angry but she deserved it because [insert bullshit reason here]" and that is never a fun path to start traveling down.
So remember, kids: If President Obama doesn't have the right to do it, then neither. do. you.
Nobody has that right! Not even President Obama can get away with doing that! If even the most powerful man in the United States can't get away with pulling that crap and claiming that he has the right to do it because he feels like it, what makes you think you can do that and get away with claiming that it's your right because you feel like it?
To put this in context, yesterday this particular student grabbed another student's drawing and scribbled in black marker all over it, and then tried to claim that she had the "right" to do so because she felt like it. And she was being totally serious, too.
To be honest I've never heard the "if the President of the United States doesn't have the right to do that, then neither do you" argument used before, but I kind of like it. I think it helps put things in perspective for an emotionally and cognitively immature seventh grader better than the usual "how would you feel if somebody did that to you?" tactic does. Which, by the way, is a tactic that usually fails with middle school students because it allows them to respond by saying "I wouldn't care" - which, whether true or not, is effectively the end of any attempts to reason with them about their behavior. It also allows them to respond with "Well *I* would be angry but she deserved it because [insert bullshit reason here]" and that is never a fun path to start traveling down.
So remember, kids: If President Obama doesn't have the right to do it, then neither. do. you.
no subject