Point it out in class, do a friendly dressing down how none of the other students want to use the chewed on eraser.
Seems like a great way to get your own private eraser!
Comment on How do I keep a 9 year old from constantly licking erasers and putting them in his mouth
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 3 weeks ago
If the parents don’t support you, and you can eliminate the existence of mental issues that require treatment or special attention for chewie, and you can’t use a spray solution, I would go for gentle peer pressure. Point it out in class, do a friendly dressing down how none of the other students want to use the chewed on eraser. If he won’t stop if you say so, maybe you can get other kids to do the trick. The unwanted public attention from his peers might be enough. Would your principal be up for a bad cop routine where you can be the good cop?
remon@ani.social 3 weeks ago
blargh513@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
They sell stuff called Chewelry; it’s a necklace or wristband you can chomp on.
Maybe get the kid one of those? If not, maybe make one out of a piece of string and eraser?
This one’s for chewin’, this one’s for undoin’.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
This is something the parents should do - along being in the driver’s seat of correcting this behavior in their 9yo. In times of teachers crowd funding classroom supplies, I don’t think it’s fair to suggest “throw money at it” to a teacher. It’s not going to cost $5 just once and that’s it. If you have to beg for boardmarkers in general, this will be a line item that matters.
howler@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Talked to the parents because this kid is known for doing weird/illogical stuff. They say that they know that something is not right and that they are trying to figure out what it is.
So till we know if the student has an issue or of he’s simply the Herald of Chaos, I will keep coating the pencils with bitter stuff.
Also, yes I have to beg for board markers and all the materials in my class have been paid by me, and I’d like them to last.
howler@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Peer pressure would be a disaster. Kids are vicious creatures when they have the chance, and I know that several of his classmates are certified brats with a taste for blood.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 1 week ago
In summary: you have the cooperation of the parents, you cannot exclude the existence of a mental issues, and you are allowed to spray the item then. These are conditions I put ahead of any other suggestion.
voracitude@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I don’t think it would be a good idea, that seems like it would only open up opportunities for bullying, without doing anything to address the source of the issue.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
I want to highlight again that this suggestion was preceded by a lengthy checklist.
I think you and I have a different idea of what bullying is. I remember kids picking their nose in class and eating it in elementary school. I don’t think it took an intervention from the teacher to get that to stop. Just some kids going “ewww, that’s disgusting” got the message across. This is how society corrects behavior. I wasn’t suggesting a teacher goes before class, does a Nelson Ha-Ha, “look at that loser, go beat him later and take his lunch money.” Just something like “Kevin, the other kids need to use this eraser as well and they don’t like it full of spit. Please don’t chew on it. Thanks.” It signals to the kids this is not okay and I don’t think they will go full Lord of the Flies on him - keeping in mind the preconditions I had outlined above.
voracitude@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I read your checklist, and I think you missed the bus where I said “when it seems like all other options have been exhausted”. There’s absolutely no need for the “peer pressure” component, it’s unnecessary to call out a kid on front of a class like that when you could just add easily have a private conversation with the kid about it, and I suggest you think about what it means to enable bullying without actively participating in it.
You have no way of accurately predicting this, because it’s children we’re talking about, and they are famously agents of chaos.
I can’t think of a single office I’ve worked where it would be considered professional to call someone out for minority problematic behaviour in front of all their colleagues, and I don’t see any reason it would be considered acceptable with children either.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
It’s an enumeration of if-phrases. “If the parents don’t support the teacher” is just the first condition of many. And some things you may have to infer, like if the teacher had to talk to the parents and got cold shouldered, I think you can presume the teacher has already talked to the student too. I’m not gonna go as far as saying my post was immaculately written and presented. I would go as far as saying the options presented were at the bottom of the list. No support from the parents, maybe not even school leadership, cannot use bitter taste spray for insurance reasons, etc.
If a teacher telling a kid to get their feet off the table, to stop shooting spit wads at the row in front of them, to stop rocking back their chair because they might tip over and fall - if all these situations are okay for a teacher to say out loud in front of the class: “Kevin, stop it!” - and I think they are - then telling the kid not to chew on communally shared erasers is no different. Claiming this will immediately lead to bullying or just the threat that it might do is to an extent quixotic to me. If teachers will not assert their authority ever for fear of what the chaos kids will do, they might as well pack it in then.
Your office comparisons are insignificant here. Elementary school is a different sport entirely. There is a difference between coworkers sharing an office hierarchy and the power, responsibility, and maturity differential students/teacher, never mind the fact that offices shouldn’t employ 9yos.
OP has weighed in against the suggestion anyway. I’ll defer to them because they know more about this case than you or I.