Treat Kids Like Kids

On cnn.com there's a story about a 6 year old boy who has been accused of sexual harassment. He allegedly put his fingers inside the waistband of a female classmate and was suspended and has since been transferred to a different school.

The boy's mother exclaimed that she couldn't even explain what he had done because he is too young to understand. (How is it that sexual harassment is supposed to be explained to a 6-year old?)

This is ridiculous. Great, the school has since apologized. The issue remains of how this went so far? There is a strict sexual harassment policy at that school -- fine, but for a 6-year old? Didn't anyone involved stop to think for a second? This boy, at the age of 6, was basically branded a sexual predator. Wonderful.

There have long been many considerations for children because of their decreased capacities as compared with adults. There are many restrictions on them (I bet this boy isn't allowed to stay home alone), and many protections for them. How is it that such an adult offense was pushed upon a boy who was playing with a friend? How did this get so out of hand that a tiny incident will probably be ingrained on both the boy and the little girl "victim"?

Someone really needed to stop, take a step back and think for a minute.