3-year-old boy punished at school for ‘shooting’ his friends with his fingers

When a Jenks, Okla. mother brought her three-year-old son home from preschool, she looked at his daily progress report, as always, only to be shocked at the notes about his day, which stated that he had been put in time-out for “shooting” his friends. On Tuesday, March 12, the Little Rock Gun Rights Examiner had a chance to talk with the busy mom to discuss the details of the incident.

Leah Dobbs describes her three-year-old boy as helpful and playful. Although she states that he is “all boy”, she assures that he doesn’t have a violent bone in his body.

So when the young tot returned home from preschool after being punished for “shooting” his friends, Dobbs was more than shocked. She states that she “was pissed”, immediately took a photo of the report, and posted it on Facebook, where it stirred quite a bit of controversy.

Unfortunately, the incident happened on a Friday, so it was not until after the weekend that she was able to talk with anyone in the school. However, her correspondence was not returned on Monday, but rather Tuesday.

Dobbs was able to talk with the second in charge at the school. She asked about the school’s policy on guns, not real guns, but fake guns, like those made from the imaginations of little boys. The answer was simple: “We don’t tolerate it.” She also assured her that their intolerance of “violence” is “including superheroes.”

Dobbs was not satisfied with the school official’s answer. She states that she does not feel that the crime fits the punishment. The conversation reiterated that he was not being disruptive or disrespectful in his actions. His “crime” was simply “shooting” at his friends with his fingers during playtime.

In addition, the mother told the school official that she wanted to speak with the official above her, the one in charge of the entire school. That school official has yet to return her phone call.

Dobbs then goes on to explain where the “shooting” incident stemmed from. The 3-year-old boy is the younger brother of a 13-year-old brother and 9-year-old sister. They all play together, rough-house and have fun. The evening before the incident, the older brother was playing with his younger brother in the back yard. They were “shooting” at each other with sticks, playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, the same as the generation before theirs and the generation before that. Incidentally, violence was never an epidemic in those generations like it is now, and that violence can certainly not be attributed to something as silly as playing cops and robbers.

The young boy was merely sharing the happy playtime with his friends at school that he had enjoyed with his big brother the night before. His intentions were never angry or violent in any way. As a matter of fact, the same report shaming him for “shooting” his friends, also indicated that he was happy, playful and helpful throughout the day.

Dobbs states that all three of her children have attended the school and she has never had any problems with them before. While she is obviously upset at the incident with her three-year-old, she didn’t have anything negative to say about the school and has been completely pleased with them up to this point. However, after the incident, her and her husband decided that it is time to take the child out of the preschool and seek other options for him.

When asked about her stance on gun control, she states that nationwide, she is not a fan of it and that she believes stricter laws will in no way reduce violence or crime, nor does she agree with disarming law-abiding citizens.

“I don’t believe we should be taking guns from current gun owners.”

Dobbs then goes on to discuss another side of violence: The broken system, specifically DHS, which she describes as “horrid.” She emotionally talks about the first murder within 10 years that occurred in Jenks, which happened a mere 500 feet from her home. The suspect was a 14-year-old boy, who rode the bus with her 13-year-old son. The troubled youth had been in and out of DHS four times.

“I don’t think the government-funded facilities are doing what they should be doing.”

In addition, she talks about the natural instincts and feelings of boys that are being suppressed. She describes it as a hindering of boys, stating that we are taking away from boys what God has made naturally and they are becoming skittish, not understanding what has come to them naturally.

The epidemic of violence in our society is a multi-fauceted problem, one with no specific one cure-all.

Dobbs states: