Is this "child abuse" or is it

"child safety"?

There was a case in the media recently of a young male teacher who was taken to court for "child abuse". He plead guilty to the action and was fined but not convicted because the judge ruled there was no intent to abuse.

What the young teacher had apparently done was run after a runaway child and grab him by the wrist to take him back to the classroom. The parents put in a complaint. 

I once did much the same thing at a pedestrian crossing. The child was about to dart out into the road. I just managed to grab him in time and, far from putting in any sort of complaint about me, the mother gave the child a dressing down and made him apologise for trying to do something so obviously dangerous.

Reading this though I wonder how I would have reacted if the mother had turned on me. I think and hope I would simply have ridden off and not engaged in an argument. She would not have had any idea who I was so the situation could not have escalated. 

It should not have escalated in the other situation either. There are times when there is no opportunity or possibility of reasoning with a child. I remember the issue of "corporal punishment" coming under discussion when I was doing my initial teacher training. It was still legal for the school principal or deputy to use the cane. 

A friend of the Senior Cat, another school principal, once pointed out, "If a young child is about to poke a knife into the toaster because the toast is burning you don't try an reason with them. You grab them." In other words there are times when the danger of a child harming themselves is so great that action rather than words is necessary. Yes, explain but explain afterwards because otherwise you might not be able to explain at all. 

The Senior Cat hated the idea of corporal punishment. He did it for two reasons. One was for throwing stones and the other was for gross insubordination to a teacher. In both instances it would be for a third offence. I can remember the two occasions on which he caned a child that I knew of in all the many years he was a school principal. On each occasion he came home with a headache so bad he had to go to bed. It upset him dreadfully. On both occasions the fathers turned up the following day and thanked him. I doubt they would do that now.

If the reporting is correct then I am sorry that the parents reacted the way they did. We have lost a teacher who was trying to do the right thing.