Hi, I'm trying to find out what the rules are in state schools in relation to children being able to defend themselves if another student hits them ?
My 10 year old daughter was hit multiple times by a 10 year old boy recently & she retaliated by hitting him back & she got in trouble for doing so. She said he only stopped hitting her once she started hitting him back.
The boy received the same punishment as her, which was nothing more than getting sent to the office & having the principal tell them that it is wrong to hit other people & they were made to say sorry to each other.
I have always told her to stand up for herself & believe that she was within her rights to defend herself & happy that she did.
Now I think that the school was in the wrong because none of the parents were informed of the incident & also think that not punishing the boy further was wrong because society says that boys should never hit girls & this showed him that there are no real consequences for doing so.
I realise that the punishment was next to nothing but the fact that my daughter got in just as much trouble for retaliating after being hit as the boy did for punching her first this also sets a bad example for her as she might get the idea that if you are in an argument with someone & you think they might hit you, she might as well hit them first because if she waits to be hit before hitting she could get hurt & it makes no difference because she will get in the same amount of trouble.
I don't want her growing up thinking it's ok to hit anyone at anytime but I also believe that every person has the right to defend themselves.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can find out more regarding the legal or education departments views on this ??
My 10 year old daughter was hit multiple times by a 10 year old boy recently & she retaliated by hitting him back & she got in trouble for doing so. She said he only stopped hitting her once she started hitting him back.
The boy received the same punishment as her, which was nothing more than getting sent to the office & having the principal tell them that it is wrong to hit other people & they were made to say sorry to each other.
I have always told her to stand up for herself & believe that she was within her rights to defend herself & happy that she did.
Now I think that the school was in the wrong because none of the parents were informed of the incident & also think that not punishing the boy further was wrong because society says that boys should never hit girls & this showed him that there are no real consequences for doing so.
I realise that the punishment was next to nothing but the fact that my daughter got in just as much trouble for retaliating after being hit as the boy did for punching her first this also sets a bad example for her as she might get the idea that if you are in an argument with someone & you think they might hit you, she might as well hit them first because if she waits to be hit before hitting she could get hurt & it makes no difference because she will get in the same amount of trouble.
I don't want her growing up thinking it's ok to hit anyone at anytime but I also believe that every person has the right to defend themselves.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can find out more regarding the legal or education departments views on this ??
