4-year-old Sexual Harassment?

Did you see Glenn Beck this past week? He was commenting on a situation where a 4-year-old in Texas has been accused of sexual harassment against his teacher. Apparently her rubbed his face in her breasts while giving her a hug. The child's parents petitioned the school to have this label removed from his education record, and they were granted a reduction to "inappropriate physical contact".

Huh?

Are they serious?!?

Sorry, I just had to pause a moment while I picked my chin up off the floor. Are you kidding me? I have a 4-year-old. The closest he gets to inappropriate physical contact is touching someone's "private area" just for the negative reaction he gets (after all, a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all, right? So goes the logic in a preschoolers' mind...). As if I didn't already have enough issues, now I have this to keep me up at night? Lord, what is this country coming to?

What would possess someone to make such a claim? What kind of depraved individual would interpret a preschooler as capable of sexual harassment? You know, Andrew's preschool teacher wasn't allowed to hug him, even if he asked, until I gave her permission. Isn't it sad that now we'll have to think twice about that, lest something get misunderstoof (or grossly blown out of proportion) and trail him throughout his educational career. The teacher who made this claim should be absolutely ashamed of herself. What a pathetic way to get your 15 minutes of fame!

And the school not reneging this claim and adding this incident to the child's permanent record? Unbelievable! You'd think someone whould have enough sense to step back from this situation and look at the big picture. So much for our faith in the education system, too. I guess the "checks and balances" theory went right out the window.

The bottom line is we need to assume a new hat in parenthood. Well, maybe not new, but definitely underutilized until this last generation. Not only do we have to be mommies, chauffers, cooks, housekeepers, tutors, and boo-boo kissers, we now need to be advocates. Because, from the example this case sets, the world really is out to get us, and our kids. When will it end?