When a Virginia 6 Year Old Shoots His Teacher

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

CNN and NY Times give us a great report of the 6 year old Virginia child who shot his teacher.  "A 6-year-old boy is in police custody after he shot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, Friday afternoon, Police Chief Steve Drew said in a news conference.

“The individual is a 6-year-old student. He is right now in police custody,” Drew said. “We have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man.”...."Richneck Elementary School will be closed Monday, according to Newport News Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. George Parker.

“I’m in shock, and I’m disheartened,” Parker said in Friday’s news conference. “We need to educate our children and we need to keep them safe.”....

More than half of all gun owners store at least one gun unsafely—without any locks or other safe storage measures. In fact, nearly a quarter of all gun owners report storing all of their guns in an unlocked location in the home. 4.6 million minors in the US live in homes with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm. 3 Many children know where their parents keep their guns and have accessed household guns — even if their parents think otherwise.  Many of these children handled guns without their parents’ knowledge. Nearly a quarter of parents did not know that their children had handled a gun in their house. 

When we have to suddenly beware that a 6 year old can  be that dangerous, that is the time that people have to start using the defensive tactics like better security at the entrances of their buildings, checking anything people carry in.  Even a 6 year old must be frisked.  

I'm told that Richneck Elementary did have a system at the door, but didn't use it every day.  They may have been frisking only adults.  It might have just been a click that sounded if they were carrying.  Virginia is on the list of 28 states with child access prevention laws.  State Laws Prohibiting Intentional, Knowing or Reckless Provision of Firearms to Minors Colorado Delaware Georgia Indiana Kentucky Mississippi Missouri Nevada Oklahoma Tennessee Utah Virginia Wisconsin.

"Dr. Parker said that while district schools have “metal detection capability,” the schools do not make children walk through a metal detector every day....“This is not a Newport News problem,” he said. “It’s a bigger and broader problem than what we’re seeing today.” I'm sorry, Dr. Parker, but starting with this situation, you do have  a Newport News problem and must start facing it.  Start with your town and then work outwards.  Find the infection here, first and cure it.  

States Imposing Criminal Liability for Allowing a Child to Gain Access: The broadest laws apply regardless of whether the child even gains possession of the firearm. Massachusetts and Minnesota impose liability in circumstances where a child may (Massachusetts) or is likely to (Minnesota) gain access to a firearm. In Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey and Texas, liability exists whenever a child gains access to an improperly stored firearm. In these states, it is not necessary for the child to use the firearm or cause any injury.

Evidently he came to school with a loaded gun, and that a 6 yr old may not be able to load a gun by themselves.  What kind of parents leave a loaded gun laying around for a child to pick up?  Guns in a home are supposed to be under lock and key.  What's the penalty for not following this law?  It should be the jail time in this case of nearly killing this teacher.  

The use of firearms is regulated by both state and federal laws that impact when and how you can keep a gun in your possession. With more states such as Texas relaxing their regulations, it’s common for people to have many questions about what’s legal. In most cases, having a gun in your house without a license is legal, but there are times when you may not be allowed to have a firearm stored at your residence. Knowing your rights to gun ownership can help you avoid potential legal problems and make sure everyone around you stays safe.                        

On abc TV news the other day, it was mentioned that children 2 years old and younger should not be in front of TV watching a program.  What?  That people are using the TV for babies of that age is a surprise, unless its for a very short span of time.  Instead,  babes should be in a playpen playing with their toys.  That should not be considered as a distraction but a building block of its own for the brain development of the child.  

Kid's Health is more lenient than I am.  "Toddlers 18 months to 24 months old can start to enjoy some screen time with a parent or caregiver. Children this age can learn when an adult is there to reinforce lessons. By ages 2 and 3, it's OK for kids to watch up to 1 hour a day of high-quality educational programming.The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies younger than 18 months get no screen time at all. The exception to this rule is video chatting with grandparents or other family members or friends, which is considered quality time interacting with others."

                                               

As I thought about my behavior as a young mother-I used to watch "Mr. Moon" with my new son who could already cry out, "Mr.  Moon....Mr. Moon!"  It was a short program of only a half-hour.    

In a pre-school, 2 1/2 year old children are far more developed than at 2 years of age.  That 6 months makes a good difference.  It's a time where babes are learning so much, feeling so much, seeing much, using all their senses.  This time shouldn't be wasted.

In Jean Auel's book about Cave Man and their lives, mothers carried their babies and even nursed them to age 3.  I thought age 2 in our day was the most a mother could nurse a child.  They wrapped the baby on their hip or back and carried them;  as we know, you couldn't put a child down on a cave floor very well and expect him to stay fairly clean.  So a lot of our ancestors may not have had the environment to learn to crawl, another important developmental stage, unless they were allowed to do it in the grasses. Or, if crawling must come before walking, they had  pretty dirty toddlers.  No wonder many died very young.   

However, there is a subgroup of moms and dads who practice what they call “Paleo parenting.” Just as Paleo dieters assume a mismatch between human biology and the food culture of the postindustrial West, Paleo parents believe that modern parenting habits don’t support healthy child development. We can raise healthier and happier children, they argue, if we rear them more like early humans did 12,000 years ago. A growing repertoire of books, blogs, and workshops advise parents to feed their kids a Paleo diet, set their sleep cycles to the sun, nurse babies on demand, sleep next to them, and carry them around throughout the day.

But did Paleolithic peoples actually do these things? And are there benefits? “There is really good science to back up [some of the] claims made by people in the Paleo parenting movement,” says Alyssa Crittenden, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who studies the Hadza, a group of contemporary hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. Because the Hadza are isolated and mostly unaffected by modern industrial life, Crittenden says, they are a good model for what Paleolithic parents may have been like.

For example, caretakers probably carried babies much more than modern parents do in the developed world. Hadza mothers, Crittenden has observed, often carry their babies in cloth slings for most of the day from birth through weaning (usually 2-3 years). “There is a high degree of physical contact and an immediate response to crying,” she says, resulting in shorter crying bouts compared to Western babies.

And Paleolithic mothers probably shared the parenting load. In a sample of 69 Hadza children age 4 and younger, Crittenden found that only three babies were held solely by their mothers throughout the day. The rest were periodically passed to a relative or neighbor. On average, each child had two caregivers besides their mothers, freeing Mom to do other things, including caring for herself or another child. This kind of cooperative care also shows up in half of primate species, says Sarah Hrdy, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University California-Davis, suggesting that the practice has deep ancestral roots."  By gosh, Auel has this very practice even in her last book about the painted caves.  

Today,  6-8 year old children can dress themselves, catch a ball more easily using only their hands, and tie their shoes. Having independence from family becomes more important now. Events such as starting school bring children this age into regular contact with the larger world. Friendships become more and more important.

Most children by age 6:

• Still have fears typical of the preschool years, such as fear of monsters, kidnappers, and large animals.
• Want their parents to play with them. Parents are their main source of companionship and affection. A gradual shift begins, though. They will start to fulfill more of these needs with friends and other people they admire, such as teachers.
• Play in ways that include a lot of fantasy and imagination.
• Often like to be the "big kid" and feel as if they are taking care of a younger child.
• Usually like to play with friends of the same gender. Boys most often play with other boys, girls most often play with other girls.
• Start to understand the feelings of others, with the encouragement of parents and other caregivers. But they are still most focused on themselves.
• Are developing a sense of humor. They may like simple jokes and funny books and rhymes.

• Thinking and reasoning (cognitive development)-this child must be damaged in this area.  

  Most children by age 6:

  • Can tell you their age.
  • Can count to and understand the concept of "10." For example, they can count 10 pieces of candy.
  • Are learning to express themselves well through words.
  • Start to understand cause-and-effect relationships. "Magical thinking" typical of preschoolers quickly fades around this age.
  • Are learning to write.
  • Start to grasp the concept of time.

Do you think these parents would produce a 6 year old who shot his teacher?  She's on the verge of dying at this moment and if survives surely will have after affects, some sort of PTSD.  She may even quit being a teacher !  

Resource:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html, also excellent information;  with database

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-virginia-shooting/index.html

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/screentime-baby-todd.html#:~:text=Toddlers%2018%20months%20to%2024,of%20high%2Dquality%20educational%20programming.

https://gunsafetytrainingpro.com/do-i-need-a-license-to-keep-a-gun-in-my-home/

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle.html#:~:text=By%20this%20time%2C%20children%20can,become%20more%20and%20more%20important.