Bus Driver Slaps Cheeky Kid....

[Spicerack]

I know who's side I'm on but I'll wait and see which way the thread goes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-45590024/french-bus-driver-sl

[andy-hughes]

The Chair - // It's strange world we live in where kids are expected to be wrapped in cotton-wool, and allowed to get away with anything up to a certain age, and then they reach that age, and suddenly the can be tasered, jailed for years, or harshly punished in various other ways. Perhaps it would be kinder to them if some discipline was introduced into their lives at an earlier age, as it used to be when I was a kid. I'm with the bus driver. //

I am at the grandparent, and great-grandparent stage now, but my belief that discipline is an absolutely essential aspect of child development has never varied one iota.

However, try as I might, I can't see that any of my grandchildren being assaulted in the street by an unknown adult is actually going to enhance their understanding of right and wrong behaviour.

[Baldric]

// The driver has my full sympathy under the circumstances //

Ok Eddie, hop off the fence, do you support the driver or not?

[andy-hughes]

EDDIE - // Yes, the bus driver was wrong,but he was also shocked and scared about what could have so easily have happened. It was in 'the heat of the moment' . The driver has my full sympathy under the circumstances. //

It was, as I said in my first post, a 'heat of the moment' reaction - but that merely explains it, it does not excuse it.

[ummmm]

Why do people think hitting kids works?

I don't hit my kids....but I punished them if they were naughty.

Hitting kids is lazy parenting imo.

[ladybirder]

I don't think he should have sat in the bus, calmed down and driven away. He should have had very strong words with the boy and told him he would be telling his parents. It was a very dangerous thing the boy did. He could have been injured or killed if the driver had not reacted so quickly.

[Spicerack]

Sort of worked for 30,000 yrs, ummmm. We now have a generation who behave like spoilt brats if they don't get their own way.
Still, you know best.

[Mamyalynne]

It's not a case of whose side one is on, we aren't in the playground now - the Driver has admitted he regrets it and that he acted emotionally.

I'd be interested to know what the boy's Parents think.

Were the boy one of mine, I wouldn't like the driver to lose his job for example as he has admitted regret.

[andres]

Or he could have steered the bus away from the boy and hit passers by or worse gone into a building killing some of the bus passengers . There are endless scenarios . Maybe he should just have shouted at the boy or not given such a forceful slap. Who knows what they would do in a situation like that?

[Baldric]

// and told him he would be telling his parents //

Sorry LB, but how would he know the Parents?

[Spicerack]

The boy's mother has made a complaint. You have to to get compo.

[Mamyalynne]

Does she?

Has she?

Well, it's not a path I would take in this scenario.

[sanmac]

"...However, try as I might, I can't see that any of my grandchildren being assaulted in the street by an unknown adult is actually going to enhance their understanding of right and wrong behaviour."
Well, they're surely not going to be slapped for engaging in 'right behaviour' are they? I'm certain that if they were slapped, they would be capable of understanding that they were engaging in wrong behavior.

[naomi24]

Spot on, sanmac.

[cassa333]

What this boy has or will learn from a slap from a stranger is that mummy will be outraged and make all sorts of fuss, he will get lots of attention, an apology, probably some money and an understanding that if you do stupid, dangerous things it’s OK because you can deflect your bad behaviour onto someone else with indignant outrage and everyone will forget you are a little shyt.

[sanmac]

Well said, cassa333!

[Mamyalynne]

Well this particular Mummy is handling it badly in my view.

[naomi24]

Ditto sanmac.

[Ellipsis]

Did the kid do wrong? Definitely.
Did he deserve punishment? Definitely.
Am I comfortable with the idea that a guy who drives a coach for a living can have the red mist descend for long enough that he can have a near miss, park the coach, get out, cross the road and still be angry enough to lash out at a 12-year-old? Definitely not.

There was a case the other day of a bus driver, who was still allowed to drive after many accidents and near misses, ultimately killing two people. He should have been let go long before he got the chance. When there's evidence that you are not cut out for such a responsible job, action has to be taken. In the Paris case that doesn't mean sacking the driver, but he clearly has anger management issues that his employer should help him to address.

[jno]

yes, the idea of a bus driver losing it is not a pleasant one; I'd be worried if it happened on any bus I was traveling on.

[retrocop]

In the Paris case that doesn't mean sacking the driver, but he clearly has anger management issues that his employer should help him to address.

Vive le difference. Celle la vie!