View From the Bushes

I know everyone was very interested to know what the result of my conversation with the Police Chief was, so I apologize for not posting anything on Monday or Friday. I talked to the Chief on Friday. Initially he assumed that it was my kid that had been arrested, which I didn't realize until about halfway through the conversation. Which I guess implies that he hadn't actually talked to the actual parents of the boy in question. I'm not sure what to make of that...

In any event, I mentioned that my big problem was cuffing the kid. He explained that after sad experience their policy has become cuff anyone 9 and older, which seems awfully young to me, but I guess 9 isn't as young as it used to be. And as I think about some 9 year old wanna-be gang member then I guess I can see where if they really started kicking and punching they could be a handful. But to this I replied, "Surely you have some discretion, I mean this was a kid who wasn't threatening anyone, from the gifted and talented bus. Was it really necessary to cuff him?" But of course he started talking about policy. And he's got a point, in our litigious society the minute you start exercising personal discretion you open yourself up to liability, but as long as you're following policy...

In any event, despite not reaching any kind of a resolution with the Police Chief, I felt better for having talked to him (and the transportation director) . Though perhaps even without talking to them I would have felt better just because of the passage of time. I guess the thing that still bothers me is that even if my kids don't take anything else away from this experience (which is unlikely) they're still going to be left with the lesson that danger is the greatest evil. That the merest hint of a threat, a kid with a small knife, provokes a greater response than anything else they've ever seen. And I'm not sure that's a lesson I really want them to learn.

Searching for self-reliance
Ross