Post by Jeanne Sager
Before you send your kid off to school, you try to instill a sense of respect for authority in our kids. But not too much. We want them to feel safe saying no when an adult wants them to do something that doesn't mesh with our values because we can't always be there to do it for them. Take the third grader who was strip searched by his elementary school principal for allegedly stealing $20 from a classmate. It turns out Justin Cox didn't actually take the money, but that's beside the point. An adult made a 10-year-old boy strip down to his undies. And from the way his (rightfully) outraged mom is talking, it doesn't seem like little Justin knew he could say no ... and she wasn't there to do it for him.![]()
Before you send your kid off to school, you try to instill a sense of respect for authority in our kids. But not too much. We want them to feel safe saying no when an adult wants them to do something that doesn't mesh with our values because we can't always be there to do it for them. Take the third grader who was strip searched by his elementary school principal for allegedly stealing $20 from a classmate. It turns out Justin Cox didn't actually take the money, but that's beside the point. An adult made a 10-year-old boy strip down to his undies. And from the way his (rightfully) outraged mom is talking, it doesn't seem like little Justin knew he could say no ... and she wasn't there to do it for him.