8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker

[Ceicei]

Heck, when I was in elementary school, we still had dittos. Yeah -- I remember sniffing them, too...

Dittos... oh wow! I forgot all about them until you mentioned this. Man, just having that pop up in my mind brought back the memory of the smell... funny, I really liked that smell!!!

- Ceicei

 

[Sukerkin]

It's small scale incidents that like this that remind me just how rapidly things have fallen apart without us really noticing.

For contrast, when I was at secondary school we had free accesss to experiment with:

mercury
sodium
phosphorous
radium
potasium

We also used to light the gas jets directly (none of that mundane Bunsen Burner malarkey) and see what explosive/noxious compounds we could come up with. Anything that blew up, made a stink or frothed like some Sci-Fi monster was great by us .

 

[charyuop]

It's small scale incidents that like this that remind me just how rapidly things have fallen apart without us really noticing.

For contrast, when I was at secondary school we had free accesss to experiment with:

mercury
sodium
phosphorous
radium
potasium

We also used to light the gas jets directly (none of that mundane Bunsen Burner malarkey) and see what explosive/noxious compounds we could come up with. Anything that blew up, made a stink or frothed like some Sci-Fi monster was great by us .

When I was a kid my favourite toys were lead soldiers. I guess I will die of cancer for that...

 

[FearlessFreep]

In my experience... there aren't too many 8-year olds huffing. Yeah, they'll sniff the marker, smell their shoes, and explore a lot of the world that way -- but they're not generally trying to get high.

After having a few kids I made the observation:

"Children discover the world by sticking it in their mouth one piece at a time"

 

[wushu2004]

And please allow me to add

:hb:

Ah the beauties of the stupid zero tolerance policy

 

[charyuop]

After having a few kids I made the observation:

"Children discover the world by sticking it in their mouth one piece at a time"

Yes, but keep always an eye on them...all the time...my parents didn't and trust me, me and the girl next door had a lot of fun discoverying things together...as you said, one piece at the time :boing1:

 

[Big Don]

In 81 or so I got SCENTED markers for Christmas. Yeah, the BLUE smelled like Blueberries, the PURPLE smelled of Grape...
a little quick Google Fu and VIOLA: Scented Markers!

 

[Sukerkin]

When I was a kid my favourite toys were lead soldiers. I guess I will die of cancer for that...

You'll have company there . The plastic ones were never as good.

 

[Big Don]

You'll have company there . The plastic ones were never as good.

The plastic ones were great! They made excellent BB Gun and slingshot targets, if, lousy slingshot projectiles... You could blow them to pieces with firecrackers or melt them with a magnifying glass (nuclear war casualties...)

 

[charyuop]

The plastic ones were great! They made excellent BB Gun and slingshot targets, if, lousy slingshot projectiles... You could blow them to pieces with firecrackers or melt them with a magnifying glass (nuclear war casualties...)

Oh man if those were not the days...dangerous and funny at the same time, but we can say we survived them!!!!! (Of course I know the situation it was in my country, Italy, but I assume USA was pretty much close to it).

_Seat belt? What were they? When my mother wanted to smoke a sigarette in the car she would take me away from my favorite place in the car: sitting on her lap in the front seat with my face at 2-3 inches from the windshield. So she puts me in the back seat, where I turn into a crazy pinball jumping left and right, while she cleans the air in the car with a wonderful sigarette.
_Plastic toys??? Where? When? I rememebr those great giant robot made of full metal that were as big as my whole torso!!!! Now put them in the end of a 6/8 years old kid and you can't imagine his forehead how it incredibly will turn into the himalaya mountains. Not to mention those techno/construction toys where hammer and screwdrivers were yes of plastic, but so heavy that you needed a crane to lift them (ask my poor thumb and its nail which flew off thanks to one of those hammer).
_electric breakers??? Yea sure, safety first. Let's install one of those safety breaker that interrupt the power when there is a difference in tension... oh wait, back then they didn't exists. Heck, my parents still talk about the time I opened my 45 record player to "work" on the mechanical part and opps it was still plugged in!

I admit that my generation was more "daredevil" than kids nowadays, but parents were less sue-happy and more like "did you fall? you got hurt? well then stop crying and go back to play!" and so were teachers.

Maybe we need to give back to kids and parents today something that got lost in time...but safety first of course.

 

[brandy]

Well, even if the school did take it too far, maybe this will have a positive affect on the 8 year old in the long run. Maybe he will learn at an early age that, drugs are bad m'kay?