School bus driver, 72, slaps out-of-control 6-year-old, draws praise, criminal charges

Maybe the kids mom needs a slap in the mouth to.

Perhaps this kids mommy never told her 6 yo barbarian not to spit on people. It takes a village, blah-blah-blah, and if that village should raise a hand to a child so what? Spare the rod, blah-blah-blah and you get little meglomaniacs that have no compassion for others. I know I was not hit as a child, and yet somehow I also knew not to spit on adults or anyone else for that matter. In conclusion, yeah, mom probably sheltered her young one from the word "no'.

Kids don't learn that they should behave from watching that display. They learn that hitting is an effective way to deal with their problems.

Are you people serious? He got off easy? The mother is to blame? Should've hit him harder? Really? I weep for all of your children. He's 6!!!! Kindergarden! Kindergarden aged kids barely, just barely are begining to grasp the difference between right and wrong. My 2nd child just started kindergarden and, while he's a great kid, he's having issues due to the length of the school day, no snacks, no nap, etc. This 6 year old kid could have been having a bad day. Maybe he skipped lunch because he was given some attrocious slop like we got when I was a kid. Maybe other kids were picking on him and he lost it. Maybe he had a headache. All of you people projecting the world's ills on this kid and mom based on one bad day should look in the mirror. Then you should check out the reports linking spanking/hitting kids with drug use, addiction, and unheathy adult relationships. Being six ain't easy folks. If this 72!!!! year old can't handle a group of kindergardeners without resorting to violence, perhaps she should retire and let someone more qualified handle it. Would you all feel the same way if the driver were a 35 year old man? She didn't spank this kid, she gave him a bloody nose! You people do realize there is a difference between punishment (detention, grounding, extra work, lost priveledges, etc) and ABUSE. This falls in the latter camp. Assume for a sec that this is your kid, nephew, brother, etc....is what he did really worth the pain (physical and emotional) and embarrassment? This type of thing sticks with people. Violence begets violence. seconds ago

Are these people serious? He got off easy? The mother is to blame? Should've hit him harder? Really? I weep for all of your children. He's 6!!!! Kindergarden! Kindergarden aged kids barely, just barely are begining to grasp the difference between right and wrong. My 2nd child just started kindergarden and, while he's a great kid, he's having issues due to the length of the school day, no snacks, no nap, etc. This 6 year old kid could have been having a bad day. Maybe he skipped lunch because he was given some attrocious slop like we got when I was a kid. Maybe other kids were picking on him and he lost it. Maybe he had a headache. All of you people projecting the world's ills on this kid and mom based on one bad day should look in the mirror. Then you should check out the reports linking spanking/hitting kids with drug use, addiction, and unheathy adult relationships. Being six ain't easy folks. If this 72!!!! year old can't handle a group of kindergardeners without resorting to violence, perhaps she should retire and let someone more qualified handle it. Would you all feel the same way if the driver were a 35 year old man? She didn't spank this kid, she gave him a bloody nose! You people do realize there is a difference between punishment (detention, grounding, extra work, lost priveledges, etc) and ABUSE. This falls in the latter camp. Assume for a sec that this is your kid, nephew, brother, etc....is what he did really worth the pain (physical and emotional) and embarrassment? This type of thing sticks with people. Violence begets violence.

I think her slapping the kid was definitely wrong.....I know she is from a different generation and probably didn't see it as a huge deal, or maybe it was normal and what she did when her kids acted as outrageous, but there is no reason that she should have had the instinct to slap the kid.  What she should have done was pull the bus over, call the school and say that there was no possible way for her to keep driving with this going on.  Then the police may have had to have been called and the kid would have been disciplined by the school, the parent would have been notified that her child was banned from the bus and then the mother would have had to deal with getting her crazy ass kid to school everyday.  You can't go around hitting kids in this day and age (not that you ever should) and get away with it.  No matter how shitty they are.

Slapping the face of a 6 y/o  is wrong, Was the 6 y/o behavior out of control, YES. What would of happened if an older child on this bus would have beat up the 6 y/o?

I am familiar with this area, this is a minumum 9 mile sbus ride, that age are from kindegarten through upper grades.

What bothers me if the bus driver did what she felt was neccesary to take control of the situation, little aggressive I agree.

How would you have wanted the bus driver to take control of this situation if this was your child? I would be upset at first but honestly beleive I would not hold the bus driver criminally responsible.

The BEA school district is at fault, they did not have a bus chaperone on this bus, the bus driver shoul dbe focused on driving / safety of the cargo, not managing the behavior on the bus. That should be done by another person.

BEA went cheap, and now the bus driver got "thrown under her own wheels"

Sad for all involved

I'm going to venture a guess that the mother of this child isn't exactly a stellar example of humankind herself.  Just a guess. 

From the mom's comments, I'd say maybe Jane should slap her for good measure.

Dude, how many people have ever become better people by having someone in authority hit them? No one. All it does it reinforce the notion that people in authority are not to be trusted. If this kid has behavior issues, then he needs help, but this isn't a "bratty kid." And, come on! Blood? If any ANY of your kids came home with a bloody nose given to them by a teacher or bus driver, there would be hell to pay from your end and you know it.

No he won't. He'll become even more angry and more violent. The prisons are full of very pissed off adults who were beaten as children. And let me be clear, I am not in any way advocating letting this child run around the bus terrorizing other kids, but having an adult hit him is not the solution.

@Phil...when said 6 year old is kicking, spitting and not listening to authority - you betcha! He'll think twice the next time he's told to sit down and be quiet and so will every other student who was on that bus!

just sayin, the majority of kids are fuckin brats these days. medications have become a replacement for parenting.

were kids that much worse off when it was alright to do so?

Wait a minute; are we seriously advocating for bloodying a six-year-old's nose? Seriously?

Bet that route will be smooth sailing from now on.

But how do we know that his behavior is unchecked? There isn't enough information provided in this story to be making all of the assumptions that are being made here. There are two separate issues here: 1.) This woman physically assaulted a 6 year old child, and that is absolutely not okay; and 2.) The child's behavior was not okay and needs to be stopped. Whether or not his parents are doing that, if this was an isolated incident or an ongoing problem, etc., etc., we don't know.

There is a problem here that most seem to be ignoring--the behavior of this kid toward his peers. This is the kind of behavior that leads to bullying down the road and much more serious issues like that if just left unchecked by parents and by the school.

Take the kid back to school and they never get to ride the bus again. Monitors on the bus too. This problem obviously needs a solution.

no matter who's to blame... slapping a child that is not yours... is absoluetly wrong! hitting is not the answer!

If this was my kid, is thank the bus driver. Kids need to know that they are NOT in charge. Face it, all of us. Would've suffered the same wrath if not worse for actions of much less magnitude. I took at yard stick to the arse several times in first grade, I'm not broken, but I learned how to respect my elders.

Take it from someone who came from an abusive home that wasnt abuse. Im sick of the people who think that a couple of swats on a kids bottom is abuse. Heah i think that the bus driver shouldnt have hit the kid only because u dont want to loose ur job over stupidity ignorance and poor parenting. Me personaly i would have went back to the school and droppd off the kid and if the mothers personilty is how it seems from what i read i probably would have told the parents of the kids where the boy stayed so they could have a talk with her themselves...

I don't see the mother as condoning her child's behavior. I see her as defending her child against an adult who assaulted him. I imagine she is dealing with the behavior on the part of her child, as she should, but I agree 100% that the bus driver was out of control and should be at the very least fired.

That's why I no longer drive bus, I wanted to slap the $hit out of several of those kids. ;)

I'd smack that kid hard. little b.

I would not have slapped the kid..but I surely would have whipped his ass!!!...Bus drivers are not there to discipline kids..their job is to drive the bus safely..It’s the parent’s job to teach their kid how to act in public. Perhaps the mom should be the one getting slapped for unleashing a monster on to society!

I blame the parents in this case, but yeah I would have slapped that kid twice. Spitting on other kids? A bloody nose is letting that little piece of shit off easy.

He deserved it! Parents are WAYYY to worried about being friends with their kids today...what's up with that??

perhaps bus monitors to ride with bus drivers would help. dont condone the actions of the lil guy nor the bus driver

Who was the one out of control there? She gave the 6 year old a bloody nose. That's assault if you do it to an adult, and it's abusive when you do that to a child.

THAT IS WHY I HATE OTHER PEOPLES KIDS!

I don't care if he's 6 or 16! I woulda slapped him too.

After reading the mother's comment, it becomes clearer why her child is out of control in the first place.