proud moments in parenting
 

Along the same lines, I have a toddler who has become screwdriver fixated when we were recently doing some work on the house. We bought him his own screwdriver. He will now take it out of its drawer, walk up to me or Mrs. G3 and say "can we screw!"

Braces
 

Thanks for your comments. Actually, she does has a speech issue. I just need more info. My husband took her to the appointment so I wasn't there to ask the questions. Since she lives right next door, I'll just ask her next time I run into her.

Ear Thermometer
 

I've also found those ear thermometers to be completely useless, although I noticed that they use a commercialized version at my pediatrician's office. I asked the nurse whether they worked and she said, "not really." I should have asked "well then why do you use them?" but I thought that that might sound kind of rude especially since they are pretty gracious about answering my pages and pages (written) of questions whenever I go in for an appt. The under the arm temperature-taking method seems to work best - although when they really have a fever, you can pretty much tell just by touching them.

Serious issue, advice please?
 

redacted by request.

Serious issue, advice please?
 

All 50 states have passed some form of mandatory child abuse reporting law in order to qualify for funding under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5101 et seq. As a teacher, your friend is almost definitely covered by your state’s law. In other words, she'll be breaking the law if she doesn't report. As an attorney, you are almost definitely not (although some states require "any person" to report, it's an attorney-client communication). Indeed, you'll want to protect any communications you had with your friend, as you have most definitely undertaken an attorney-client relationship with her.

As I recall, the rules require that the report to be made to a law enforcement authority or child protection agency; merely reporting an incident to a parent or school administrator will not satisfy your friend's legal duty.

Never tell any client to tell a law enforcement official "my attorney told me . . . ." No good can come of that. It helps no one, and it hurts both your client and you. She can truthfully say, "I want to do the right thing here, and the right thing is to report it."

In short, there's some bad voodoo here. Whatever the rule is in your state, it doesn't fall into the realm of individual discretion. Good luck!

redacted by request

Just to be clear, it will be a waiver of any A/C privilege if she tells either her boss or the cops, "My lawyer told me I had to report it."

No sentence in the English language should ever begin with "My lawyer told me . . ." no matter who the audience is. If she wants to waive the privilege at some later point on the advice of (separate?) counsel, that's another matter, but she shouldn't do it by a mere slip of the tongue.


Edited to note this post was actually made around 8:00 pm on April 30. - Leagleaze

Serious issue, advice please?
 

You've received feedback on the law enforcement reporting issue, but not on the -- more important -- parental reporting issue. I think you are correct in your instinct that the school's (and your friend's) handling of the matter is something that will make a difference not only to the parents of the student who was directly involved, but also to other parents, who need to have confidence that the school will not cover up questionable incidents.

How your friend needs to respond depends to some extent on what her role is with respect to the child. I can't tell from your post whether she is the child's regular classroom teacher, an assistant in the classroom, a pullout teacher, or in some other role. If she is the classroom teacher, for instance, I think she has a responsibility to the parents to make sure that the school seriously investigates the incident, determines what happened, determines whether the (other) teacher's behavior was inappropriate, determines whether this is a continuing pattern with that teacher (and, if so, what needs to be done about it), and reports all of that to the parents. Even if your friend's connection to the student and the incident is more attenuated, it still may be the right thing to do to keep a fire lit under the investigation, both because your friend was falsely accused, and because of her suspicions that there may be a pattern of inappropriate behavior.

serious issue, please advise
 

you say "probably occured" which implies your friend hasn't seen any of this. this might (hopefully should) impact on mandatory reporting shouldn't it. schools today are ran by administrators who run from any potential legal threat. your friend raising this brings a threat, and the accused teacher could also bring some action. what I've seen in schools is that the administrators decide to support whoever brings in the scariest lawyer. It might be mandatory but I'd really be careful in reporting simply what she has heard.

Yes, there are two issues here. One is how I must behave as an attorney, because there is no doubt at all we have an attorney client relationship. The other is how I feel as a human being.

As a human being I am outraged at the way the school has handled this.

But, my research and the advice I have received makes it clear I legally have no obligation to report it, and of course, due to my relationship now with my friend as her attorney on this issue, I cannot just go and report it without an appropriate waiver, only after she has received advice from a different attorney on the issue.

I don't think I want to be any more specific about her role and what she has seen or hasn't seen on this board. I hope you understand. I feel I've probably already shared more than I ought to, though I tried to be general. But yes, one of my concerns remains the reliability of the information in the first place, at least in regard to this one particular complaint.

The Name Game
 

Which explains why my Little Fan sometimes calls me or the hubby "Honey," "Hon" or "Dear" -- as in "c'mere hon." The Little Fan has also been known to yell out hubby's first name in a shrill manner, but I don't for the life of me know where that comes from. :shrug:

ThrashersFan

Braces
 

Poke holes in pacifier and the Ritz Bitz will discard it b/c it is no longer pleasurable. If holes are not enough, cut the tip off. Not sure what to do about the tumb b/c the end of the "binky" in my house didn't lead to that.

Thrashers(Rhett Butler was told to put quinine on little Bonnie Blue Butler's thumb but I don't know if it works)Fan

Books
 

Thanks to whoever recommended "I Love You, Stinky Face"--Magnus at 2 2/3 typically only gets really excited about counting and alphabet books, but this one he loves.

tm

Happy Mothers Day
 

...to all you Moms and thanks so much for all your advice these past few months. Being shut in with the snow all alone with a teeny one, it was great to post questions and get all your experienced replies. Especially when I posted at 4 am and had a reply by 7 am! Do any of us sleep?

Vietbabe and I are doing great and I can't believe how things have changed from her 3rd month to her (almost) 8th month. I realize now that much of Vietbabe's behavior was because I didn't have her since birth and she wasn't used to her new home. She's gone from a weepy, frightened little thing to a giggly confident 8 month old. And I've gone from a weepy, frightened big thing to a giggly confident Mom (most of the time that is). I used to, in absolute exhaustion (and bad jetlag that seemed to last two months) count the hours until her naps and bedtime. Now I'm out with Vietbabe past 8:30 pm chiding her, "Oh, come on; you're not tired already are you?" What a change. And I also realize that I CAN do this again!!! (Though I may wait a year). Next up: a 3-8 year old boy from somewhere in Africa or India, depending on country need and consideration of language barriers.

Thanks again and enjoy your special day.

Vietmom

Swelled headed kiddy?
 

So, newly-teened Bagguette seems somewhat charmed. All the girls think he's heavenly, (he looks more like his mom than me, obviously), he excels in at least two sports per season, (top scorer in soccer, killer linebacker in football, top scorer in basketball), everyone wants to be his bud, the girls never stop calling, (like, five per night, plus his killer straight-A state-level-soccer player girlfriend), he's a straight-A student (except when he decides it's not important, which so far has included MATH!?, which he does great but thinks the homework is stoooopid), his relatives all coo over him because he's so funny and friendly and smart and helpful and . . .), but I think he's getting really good at living off of his rep.

He's turning into one of those winner kids I used to resent in HS, and I think he's picking up all of the traits that made me resent them. He's taking his popularity for granted, (well, yeah, dad, of course they all call me all the time) he's somewhat dismissive of those what don't have the same attributes (I love talking like the guy in The Alienist), and it just strikes me that he's taking his salad days too much as his natural due. I don't think he recognizes his charmed existence.

Am I being nutso? Too resentful of what I didn't have? I can't tell. I just don't want him to grow into one of those people who take everything for granted and discount the idea that other people might not enjoy the advantages, natural or not, that he has.