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     An interesting story appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press over the weekend that outlined some of the kinds of problems that we have in our very liberal society today. The little story below is illustrative of problems that face schools and daycares across Manitoba. It’s not just daycares and schools that have this kind of problem, its hospitals, workplaces and retail stores. It seems that every bad behaviour by children or adults has some kind of excuse behind it. Please read the quote below.

    “A Windsor Park child-care facility is weighing a five-year-old’s right to care versus the safety of other children who have been choked. Little People’s Place expelled a preschooler in the spring in response to his aggressive behaviour toward other children and staff. The child’s family has appealed to the province for him to be reinstated. The case is raising concerns about inclusion support resources and measures to protect everyone at the Cottonwood Road daycare. “In days gone by, a child who acted up like that would’ve been taken over somebody’s knee and given a paddling on the bum. Apparently, you can’t do that anymore, although if I had been in the presence of this incident, there would have been an overwhelming urge to apply some sort of discipline and maybe there was. But I doubt it because you’re not supposed to ever, ever speak sharply to a child or God forbid smack them on the bottom. I am actually surprised that another child didn’t walk over and punch the offending kid in the nose. I actually have heard of and seen that happening. I have not witnessed this type of response lately. I know this will offend all the liberals greatly but a punch in the nose by a peer, that is someone close in size and age, is a time honoured tradition to bring about

discipline within a group. In the above quote, the word inclusion jumps off the page at me. It seems that everything today is framed around inclusion. I am a big supporter of inclusion. I don’t like discrimination against people for faults or shortcomings or race or creed or age or sex, but  I do draw the line at bad behaviour.  There is no excuse for bad behaviour, I know that some people have had very traumatic experiences. I know that with some people including children, maybe especially children, how bad things can happen to them that have caused them a lot of grief. Sometimes, it’s a learning disability, sometimes, it’s bad parenting sometimes, the problem is unknown but for the life of me I can’t see how the teachers, daycare workers or the daycare owners are responsible to include a child that is behaving in the way that the story describes. Trust me, I don’t think my children would’ve gotten away with that kind of behaviour if it had been brought to our attention or to the teacher’s attention. It seems that in today’s world everything that turns out bad has an excuse.  Not every behaviour has an excuse or reason behind it to make in OK. It’s true, there are causes, but bad behaviour, harmful, destructive, dangerous behaviour has no place anywhere in our society.  In the adult world we

often hear about people who rob, assault or even murder and the excuse is that they had a tough childhood or they are of a certain ethnic or cultural background.  I say nonsense! There is no excuse for bad behaviour and certainly no excuse for bad behaviour on a repetitive basis.  If the quoted account is accurate, then this child should not have been surprised, nor should the parents have been surprised if another child had punched the kid in the nose. According to the report, that didn’t happen, but the daycare, the staff and I’m sure that provincial lawmakers will be wading in on this issue to try and figure out what to do. Without a demonstrated change in behaviour, that kid should not be in a daycare. It will be interesting to see how all this turns out as the child’s parents are asking for him to be reinstated. That would be great, but only if the boy learns how to behave. Until he learns good behaviour, he belongs in his own home or in a facility that can deal with his issues, and the parents can deal with that however they need to do.

It should not be the responsibility of the daycare, the province or the taxpayers to solve the problem. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff