badgersprite said:
A ten year old's first response is to violently shake a baby to the point where it died? Yes, that sounds like unsound behaviour to me. Saying she probably has some kind of emotional problems and could use some counselling sounds entirely reasonable and rational to me. If she were two, that kind of behaviour might be expected, but a ten year old does know better. If you need any proof, just hang out with some ten year olds for a while.
You're basically arguing that ten year olds should never be left alone even for a second because they're obviously all so stupid that they'll kill themselves or do something disastrously wrong like set the house on fire if no one is watching them. I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. That isn't true at all. Ten year olds are not two year olds. Seriously, five year olds take the bus and the train to school by themselves every single day. Ten year olds are not mentally incapacitated vegetables with no ability to think coherently or reason.
Seriously, how old are you? Were you ever ten? Because I seriously doubt that at nine or ten you or your classmates would have engaged in this behaviour, or done things like set fires or cut yourself because no one told you it was wrong to do certain things. Saying that children are creatures of instinct doesn't work either. Instincts exist to STOP kids from doing stuff like that. Instincts aren't just hunting. Humans are social animals, which is why we have social instincts that tell us it's wrong to walk up and bash someone's head against a wall, or violently shake a baby.
This is why I suspect this child might have some kind of untreated condition. Maybe her parents were violent towards her and caused this behaviour in her. Maybe she has an untreated personality disorder (and yes, children can have serious mental and emotional disorders at early ages). She probably HAS shown behaviour like this before. I don't believe this is an isolated incident, because ten year olds do not go around shaking babies to death.
I don't know what world you live in, to be honest, if this is your view of ten year olds. What were you like in fourth and fifth grade?
1. It was never mentioned that the shake was violent. Also, you never said why you believe she has emotional problems. Do you even know what emotional problems are? And I have hanged out with ten year olds. In fact, my cousin is soon to be a 10 year old and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt they the exact same as an 8 year old. Not much development occurs until teenagehood mentally wise. You're still doing what you're told without knowing WHY you're supposed to do so. She's still dependent on her parents to tell her what she should and what she should not do. I already offered an example.
2. Yes I do believe that. I do believe any child who has not yet undergone puberty should not be left unsupervised. They're curious by nature, imprevisible and act by instinct. How can you ever let such a being alone in a house? You don't know what might happen. If they were predictable, like everyone who has undergone puberty then yes, leave them in the house. As is stands, however, an instinct based action is never a safe or sound one. If you're a parent and you leave your 10 year old unsupervised then you truly are a bad parent. Mentally wise, children are badly trained animals.
3. Well no, I've never cut myself as a child. In fact no one has. You know why? Pain. There's a mechanism in place that deters you from doing so. There's no mechanism in place to deter you from doing stupid shit. No, me and my classmates did not engage in such behavior. We did on the other hand had loads of fights using milk and bread by throwing them around class. There was also the occassional broken chair for jumping on it. Then there was the spitting out the window since we were at the 2nd floor. Let's not forget lighting matches in the classroom just because. I also remember the time a kid bought a knife to school to show off and ended up cutting someone by mistake. You wanna know what grade this was in? 7th. And this was at a different school. During 1st to 6th grades I was in another school. You know what kids did there? Unsupervised, they basically did the exact same things except added "running around and breaking bones".
I'm going to ask you a question and please, answer sincerely. Do you even fucking know what an instinct is? WE DO NOT posses such "instincts". Right and wrong are merely social constructs that are being taught to us. There is no universal moral code all babies are born with. Hell, instincts themselves are socially defined as acting without thinking. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED HERE. Children do not posses reason. All they have to define what's "right" and what's "wrong" is their parents. Let me give you an example. What is your first thought when you see a hot woman/man? It's sexual, obviously. If you acted on instinct, you'd go up to that person and try and have sex with them, with or without their consent. The reason children don't bash other people's head into walls is because they were told violent behavior is considered socially unacceptable.
4. Oh, you mean like spanking? The physical effects of spanking tend to appear during teenagehood, not childhood. Abusive parents? No amount of abuse would make a child do that. The effects of physical abuse tend to be social isolation and depression which usually appear during teenagehood. Do you know what a personality disorder is? Did you know that personality disorders appear during teenagehood, not childhood? That's due to the fact that you can only have a personality once you're capable of logic and reason which is the age of 13 and up or rather during puberty. Everything a child does is based on what they've been told to do. This is why unless you tell a child, they'll go into a van with the stranger without thinking whilst teenagers stop and think about their well being.
Also, if she has shown erratic behavior in the pastthen she should have been taken to a doctor immediately. If she has shown erratic behavior in the past, the death of the baby is the fault of the parents. They didn't warn the babysitter and they sure as hell never attempted to help the child. They ignored the problem and now the child has to live with their mistake. In this case, the parents need to be punished, not the child. Still, parents usually are worriers. They would have taken their daughter to a doctor the moment erratic behavior started appearing.
