Too Strict?????

I would contact the teacher and request that she miss recess and do her homework at that time. Walking laps is useless. She didn't do her work because she forgot, so she should miss recess and do it then. That actually makes sense - walking laps doesn't make sense.

I think it's too much. If she was going to be kept in from recess it would be to finish the homework, not walk laps. My 8 yr old is in 3rd grade and there have been a few times that he has forgotten homework at school and has had to stay in from recess to do it. I don't like the walking laps idea, it's just not productive and not necessary for a 2nd grade first offense.

I agree with Amanda, it makes no sense to have a young child walk laps at recess as punishment for not doing her homework. I can understand the teacher even saying that she would have to stay in from recess and do her homework then. But not doing laps. I think I would tell the teacher that I was not OK with that.

As a teacher, I might be able to shed some light on this situation. I think you guys might be imagining this to be a little more harsh than what it is. Back in the day, we made kids "stand on the wall" if they needed a consequence. As a teacher, I have to go to recess, so leaving the student in the room isn't and option and it's hard to complete missing work outside. So we would take them out and have them stand. Now, with the obesity problems our country is facing they tell us that kids need that recess time as a chance for physical acitvity. In an effort to still have them serve a consequence, but also get physical activity, we have them walk laps. It's not torture, it's just a controlled activity that allows physical movement. Now I will say, while it is a consequence, I'm not sure what it does to help kids remember at the end of the day!

So if you had picked up your daughter and then realized she had forgotten her work book, you would have driven back to school to pick it up?

This is one of those tough love times. Daughter made the mistake.. Yes it was the first time, but are you helping her if you save her? Or is she going to learn that
1. No one is perfect, and that is ok.
2. Everyone gets the same treatment, it is only fair.
3. Mom is not going to be able to save you all of the time.

I know it seems extreme, but is it really? If she says anything this afternoon, remind her she is not a bad person, not a bad student and that everybody makes mistakes,.

Our daughter was in 4th grade before she encountered something similar. She and 3 other girls all had "a star removed from the chart".and they had to "sit on the wall during recess". It was the first time for all of them and they all fell apart crying.. The teacher could not understand what the big deal was. None of them had done a homework assignment. The teacher pointed out to them that the rest of the class was able to turn it in, what was their problem?.. Come to find out, they were talking while this assignment was given..

I reminded our daughter that these things happen. I also was a mean mom that did not dash homework or forgotten lunches to school. But it very rarely ever happened, because daughter knew that school was her job and her responsibility,. After the 5th grade I NEVER asked her about homework or assignments. She knew it was her responsibility.

I have to agree with Laurie A.
And what makes your daughter special that she would be allowed to miss out on this teaching time.
If she's made to walk laps or miss recess then she might remember her book next time.
By this time in school it's her responsibility to remember to take her materials home that are needed.
It's not torture it's just walking around a track while the other kids are playing.

Edited:
ok ROFL people the teacher is not making the child work in a nike sneaker factory, It's not child labor , it's EXERCISE. no wonder why our kids are getting fat , their parents think running is "physical labor"

She forgot something, she got a consequence.

The consequence will, hopefully, be a nice little reminder for her not to forget the workbook in the future.

She's not making her run until she pukes; she's giving her time to think about what she did (forgetting the workbook) and reflecting on that so she doesn't err again.

I don't teach elementary school but I do teach high school and I see parents ALL the time begging for their 17 (17?!?!? really?!?) year old child to get extensions or making up excuses for them when they slip up. Do you want to be that parent who is always bending the rules for your child to the point where your daughter thinks that is your role in life - to get her out of a jam?

Just let this be a lesson learned for your child and move on.

This seems a little extreme, but the teacher does make a point. I was an elementary school psychologist, an elementary AP and now a special ed supervisor and find this to be a stringent, but appropriate response. Just b/c you emailed the reason doesn't make it okay. Your daughter forgot to pack her workbook. This isn't going to "tank" her grade and she will likely double-check her backpack more carefully in the future.

That "activity of choice" time is typically very short and it would have been up to your daughter to do her "morning routine" (unpack, turn in other homework, do her lunch count, etc) and still have time to get the work done. In all reality, it would not have been enough time to do an assignment which would have resulted in an incomplete worksheet and still having to walk the track.

This may also be a "school rule"- no homework? Walk the track during recess- it may not be a "teacher thing" so much as a "school thing". If your daughter is generally very responsible you may not be awary.

If I were the teacher, I would have thanked you for the email and explained more clearly why that is not an option. I probably would have also offered you the option of brining your child in before school to do the work, as long as YOU stayed to chaperone and help her with the work as I would not want this to become the "go to" option for any of my students. That time is for the teacher to get the room and the activities prepped, not for supervising and helping.

I'm not sure but maybe if my twin step-sons had been made to walk laps they wouldn't be turning into the flunking classes, juvinile delinquents, possibly some illegal activity, definitely hanging out with the WRONG crowd kids they are becoming. It's never too early for a child to learn there are consequences to their actions. What I'm curious about is why you felt it was necessary to email their teacher instead of getting up early and having your kid complete it before school? I'm sure the gym or library are opened early for them to try to finish. I'm also thinking that they will not forget their workbook again soon.

Quite frankly, teachers' philosophies these days really irk me. My husband and I like to think of the bigger picture. What lesson will this teach? How will they learn and grow to make better choices for things that are more important in life later on. I am tired of teachers telling us parents what to do as if they are omnipotent. Teachers and Parents are partners in a child’s development. Each child is an individual and as such should be treated that way. What is the message doing laps sends? Sounds like humiliation to me. Has this teacher ever forgotten anything? Did she walk the darn laps? I say - advocate for your child. As parents, we have too! Insist that she can do extra credit at home to make up for the missed homework lesson. Your daughter probably forgot because she was super-excited that Grandma was going to pick her up – and that is pretty cool. Don’t let these teachers or anybody humiliate our kids – because some policy or procedure was written up and they have to robotically follow. Good luck

I think it would have been better for the teacher to have your daughter miss recess and complete her work - but, each teacher has different methods and as long as they are not extreme and follow school board rules, then that is okay. I don't know what the weather is where you live - but it is gorgeous here today and my son (14 in 9th grade) would love the chance for some outside time during his school day. So, if she has to walk laps outside, and the weather is nice, look on the bright side that she is getting to enjoy a beautiful day. If she in the gym - then she is getting some extra physical activity that is also healthy for her.

My son was infamous for forgetting things at school that he needed for homework. I fought the good fight and asked his teachers to be more lenient for awhile - then I realized that without a repercussion at school, he was never going to get it. So, I let it go. A couple of missed recesses and some extra essays and he got much better about bringing all of his materials home.

None of want to see our children punished - it is the Momma Bear in us - but just let this one go. She will not be traumatized by walking laps and she will double check her materials before leaving school.

Its okay.

Good Luck and God Bless!

My daughter is in the 3rd grade. Even her 1st time forgetting homework there was some sort of discipline. But not walking laps. Her punishment if she doesn't turn in homework is silent lunch where she is to finish her assignment. I'm ok with that. I don't know if I'd be ok with walking laps.

OK, I'm responding with my own 8 year-old daughter in mind. This is WAY too much for a 2nd grader and one missed homework assignment. My daughter (3rd grade) would absolutely die of embarrassment if she had to spend recess walking laps while everyone could watch her and know that she made a mistake. She has very rarely forgotten any homework at school, but it has happened a couple of times. She is able to make it up before or during school, or she asks for an extra day to complete it. The teacher is fine with this. One time she forgot to get a new copy of lost homework and she came home sobbing, she felt so bad about it.

She is a very good and consciencious student who enjoys school overall. One day of walking laps and she would hate school and not want to go back.

Even though you are irritated by this I'd let it go and try to see the positive. It's understandable you feel this way because it can seem knit picky. She's in second grade now and doing really well and has a good habit of doing her homework, cool. She now knows there's a consequence for not turning in her homework and this could serve her well when and if the day comes that she really doesn't want to do it. As far as humiliation I'm not sure that this punishment is.....unless she's wearing a dunce cap and others are taunting her as she walks laps.....

My daughter tests on the high end of her class. There are times though that she just won't do the work, can be spacy and she's always slow. When she was in 1st grade the teacher did assesments for report cards and my daughter didn't do the work for one of the sections. I saw the teacher after school and basicly told her, "Well, she didnt' do the work she shouldn't get credit. I'd rather have the lesson happen now in 1st grade than in middle or high school." The teacher ended up talking to her then keeping her afterwards to do the assessment which I actually wasn't too sure that was the best idea. When we get in the real world we have deadlines to meet and there can be severe consequences for missing them. (tax time is a good example - fines penalties interest). Jobs have deadlines that can't be moved sometimes. Better for her to learn now that late is late, no matter what the reason. Anyway, sounds like a circumstance got the better of you as far as routine but she will be back on track. I bet if Grandma picks her up again she'll remind her that she has homework to do ;-).

Edited to Add: LOL, I just saw Lynn's post. At first I questioned the punishment too, but for my daughter she wouldn't mind staying to finish the work so walking laps would be a good consequence for her. We also live in CA where the weather rarely makes it too uncomfortable to walk.

At our school, they get "benched" for various infractions. I would rather have them do laps, and it would be more effective for my son.

Yes. I think that's too strict and I think it is humiliating to the child. Has the teacher ever forgotten anything? The natural consequence of forgetting in real life is that you usually have to give up something else because you forgot. So if you forget to buy something you want for dinner, you either have to give up time to go back or you have to give up on what you wanted to have for dinner. If you forget to set the alarm, you give up time, if you forget to pick up your dry cleaning..well, you get the idea. Your daughter offered to give up early morning time to do it before school. Or she could stay in at recess and do it. Those two make sense and are most akin to what a responsible adult would do to make up for forgetting - in other words, real life skills. Doing laps makes no sense. It seems it's more important to her teacher to teach fear of authority than it is to teach responsibility. Sorry for your daughter.

This kind of attitude makes me ill. Talk about overkill. My son was in middle school when without his knowledge I took one of his homework papers out of his folder to double check it. Well, stupid me forgot to put it back in! I drove it to the school that morning but the teacher refused to give him credit even though I explained what had happened. Exactly what kind of lesson does that teach a kid? Your daughter's teacher is showing her that mistakes will not be tolerated and will be treated with punishment. I'm not suggesting children get away with chronic irresponsibility but come on! Sorry, not my idea of a good teacher. .

Okay, I understand the teaching responsibility part of it, even for 2nd graders, but the walking laps during recess is too much! My son is also in 2nd grade. What his teacher has done is implement a behavior point system for the class. At the beginning of the week, each student starts of with 25 points and you can get a point (or two) taken away for various infractions like not turning in your homework on time. The kids who have 25 points remaining at the end of the week can receive a treat from the treasure chest. This seems to be a pretty fair and reasonable way of teaching children responsibility.

Way over the top-don't get me started-here's what may help-if your little girl had a homework buddy-she may have been able to get the assignment from them. Pages of workbooks can be scanned and emailed or copied and faxed, etc.

I know it sucks, but let the teacher do her job. It will teach your daughter a lesson that you respect the teacher's decision and will stand by her. So that in the future, should she try to manipulate you or the teacher, she can look back at this and think twice. You also don't want to send your daughter the message that if she doesn't like what the teacher tells her that she can call you and you will step in with an excuse to get her off the hook.

It is hard being a teacher. I am not a teacher, but when my daughter used to dance and I volunteered to keep the children quiet backstage a few years ago, I was frazzled at the end of the night. I wasn't the only parent either. We had some parents that didn't want anyone to shhh their child even tho their child was the one not complying!!! I figured the kid and the mom gave her teacher a hard time. I told my girlfriend that was a teacher, THANKS for all she does. It's a job I WOULDN"T do. I don't care ho much you paid me.

I do know how you feel as a parent to want to step in a protect her. I am sure next time she will remember to do her homework. My daughter had to write in Kindergarten 25X that she would be quiet while the teacher was teaching even though she was not part of the crowd that was talking. She and her buddy were in tears because they didn't think it was fair. Yeah, it wasn't, but life isn't fair. It wasn't that serious.

Walking laps won't hurt your daughter. She will be just fine.

Walk laps? I would think that if she didn't have it she might have to miss recess or would get a poor mark or something. Kids mess up. They miss homework, feed it to the dog, etc. I'm not saying the teacher should have to let her make it up, but walk laps? It just doesn't seem that the punishment fits the crime. If she allows an activity of their choice, why not allow her to use that time for HW instead of fun?

I wonder how recess is supervised. Is the laps thing b/c the teacher needs the whole class outside?

There were times in the past where my SD got poor marks or had to miss a treat because she didn't earn enough stars for the timeframe b/c she missed HW or something.

It also doesn't sound like a teacher who would work with you on real ways to help a kid remember, like encouraging the use of a date book or something.

Teacher crazy! That is all I can say. I would not be happy. There are
other ways to make the point. Staying in at recess and making up the work.
This is not something that has even happened once before; wonder what
the punishment would be if it happened on a regular basis.

At my kids' elementary school, if you don't turn in your homework, you have to stay inside at recess and do it then. I've never heard of making a kid do laps as a punishment for not turning in homework. It's counter-productive. That time would be better spent actually completing the assignment.

I'd call the principal and see if that was school policy.

I would rather have my child walk laps instead of missing outside time all together. My kids get so little outside time during the day that to miss it would be crazy for everyone. Our school does not allow ANYONE to enter after dismissal. You forget something, you wait until tomorrow.

1st time offenses should have a warning but after that I'll all for the lap walking!

I get the punishment idea, but to walk laps just seems crazy to me. If they are allowed a fun type of activity when they arrive, that should be the time to do missed homework or get caught up if children are behind on something. I can also see missing recess to do the work, laps is just nuts to me.

I'm a teacher and I think that using her recess time to complete the homework is sufficient and age-appropriate. Not allowing her to complete it and making her do laps seems pointless and excessive.

That's to much consequence. Can't believe she wasn't allowed to turn it in late with a reduced grade.
You tried to talk to the teacher. Time to go up a level. Don't know if your school has assistant principals. If so, they are usually divided up by grade. Call the office and ask to speak to the one in charge of your daughter's grade.

Teachers at our school have used laps at recess as discipline for behavioral issues. I don't think I've seen it used because of not doing homework. If this happened with us, I would not have e-mailed the teacher but would have contacted a classmate's parents to see if a classmate had the book and your daughter could have borrowed it during the evening. When my daughter forgot homework in 2nd grade (or her friends did), that's what usually happened. Or...we let them go in without the homework and explain it to the teacher themselves. A lot for a 2nd grader to do? I don't think so, since by about 4th grade they must be very self-motivated and responsible for various textbooks, notebooks, long-term assignments, etc. But the laps...not thrilling, but probably not harmful, either.

I taught 2nd and 3rd and I gave all my students one,"I forgot," every 6 weeks without consequence. I don't understand the walking laps during recess. I always had my students who forgot, to do their homework during part of their recess time. What's the point in walking when she could be getting it done? Maybe you should discuss this further with the teacher. Could be there is more going on here.

I remember a time when my daughter was punished at school for something she didn't even do and I shared this with a pastor friend of ours and he said something that I will never forget - He said "Even though this isn't fair, she will learn that life's not fair". And this has stuck with me to this day because I have found it to be so true.

I'm suprised that more people would want their child to sit during recess than be outside, or inside, getting some exercise. No where did it say that she couldn't walk with a friend. I work as a PT in the school system and we often recommend an alternative physical activity during recess, instead of being made to sit out as a consequence; that way they still receive the benefits of movement, but lose the free choice. These kids already sit for longer than most are developmentally ready for and they need to be moving. I do think that she should have been allowed to complete the assignment for a reduced grade, if she had time during the school day, but not at the expense of any other academic or social time. I also think that it may be a little severe, but some teachers and bosses are.

This sounds wrong and maybe illegal??? You can not force a child of any age to do physical labor as a punishment. She is not in military school!

I would call the principal.

Too much! I would be very unhappy with that teacher and she would know it. I mean, I guess I would try to be diplomatic and hear her out regarding consistency with all the kids etc, but in the end, I can't image letting my daughter be penalized for her first oversight ever. Mean.

The Christian school my daughter goes to is very strict on behavior and anti bullying etc, and they would NEVER resort to something like this. Way. Out. Of line.

I'm all for discipline, and have stood by the teacher before regarding classroom behavior for my daughter, but this is nonsense. If my daughter was in high school, I'd let her receive the lower grade for forgetting, but this is not a logical progression to that.

I mean MAYBE, MAYBE, I could assure her it's good to pay debts, it's no big deal to walk the laps, it's the rules, and make sure she doesn't feel bad...if all the kids know it and do it, and it's not a big heavy thing....but still I think....nope. Not OK.

Even so, would I put up a stink and try to change the rules? Not sure. I just read Laurie A's and think she's right...Ugh. Hope this never happens to us.

That's pretty bogus on the teacher's part! Everyone deserves a second chance...I'd have an issue with it.

I think that IF you got your daughter to school early so she could work on her assignment and it was completed before the start of their day, then it does sound too harsh for a first offense. If she worked on it in the am and didn't get it complete, I feel it is reasonable if that is what is standard (although I think a better alternative is to make her complete it during recess).

On the upside, she may not get her "play time" but she is still getting exercise during recess.

This might be late, but an email or sit-down with her teacher and principal might be appropriate just for clarification and explanation. Each teacher and principal, and therefore school is unique, but this was a bit much as you say.

In my opinion teacher is a little hard. Walking laps for not turning in homework, only if it was a PE class... Anyway, I'm sure your daughter will never forget again.
I do think I would have a word or two with the teacher, like REALLY, walking laps, Really???

You can't punish students by telling them to read/write and then expect students to love reading/writing. You can't punish students by having them walk laps at recess and expect children to love excercising. I am an elementary teacher, and I find it disgusting that other teachers use walking at recess as a punishment. First of all, it's useless. If it really corrected the unwanted behavior, then I wouldn't see "Johnny" walking laps at recess daily. Secondly, use your brain! Exercise = good! No wonder our society is so screwed up! Lastly, make the consequence fit the punishment. If a student is throwing food at lunch, ask them to help the custodians clean up the lunchroom. Get with it!!!