I just found out my 5th grade teacher is a convicted child molester

On a counter note, one of my fav teachers would say "I want to go to hell, that's where all the fun people are!"

 

I wonder about that. It seems the ones you have to worry the most about are the ones who are the most involved or the ones who kids might trust.

 

When I was in Grade 3 in a K-12 school we had an assistant principal convicted of sexually molesting a couple of high school girls. I know he served time, just can't remember how much.

We eventually moved twice more. In the village that became my home town, a few years ago a Grade 6 teacher was accused of molesting three, I think, female students. They eventually admitted to making the story up. They just hated him because he didn't take shit from the kids. It's shit like that that fucks over the real victims when there is a real problem.

 

Paraphrasing?

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company" -- Mark Twain

 

This.

My daughter just finished playing club soccer. She wants to move on to other pursuits because the game's not fun for her anymore. Even thought she's got a lot left in the tank, both her mother and I (we are separated) are 100% in agreement there.

Before she went to club, I coached my daughter for three years in AYSO and had the time of my life coaching soccer. Now that she's done and I don't have to worry about missing her games on weekends, I would like to coach again. I was good at it, I enjoyed it and I miss doing it. A writer at a nearby paper is on the board at one of the local AYSO regions and asked me whenever I'd like to come out to come out.

In otherwords, I'd like to think we're not all painting folks with a broad brush here, i.e. he has no kid playing = he must be a molester-in-waiting.

 

Couldn't they put the question on a coach's application:

Do you plan to molest your players?
Yes No


Seems pretty simple.

 

Our daughter's soccer coach sounds a bit similar to the situation Birdscribe described.

He coached his daughter who got older but loves coaching as well as being part of the soccer community. Coaching keeps him involved in the game.

 

Being a parent is overwhelming nowadays... you have to be vigilant about so much stuff: what your kids are watching, what games and music they're playing, who might want to take advantage of them. I'm not a parent (yet) and I can't even imagine the responsibility you all take on by having a child.

 

Yeah, it's almost become where being a parent is a serious responsibility.

 

I know I'm having conversations with my 6 and 7-year-old that my parents never had with me.

My parents had the kidnapping talk with me and my sister, this was back when it seemed like kids were getting grabbed all the time. The Kevin Collins case hit home because he was my age and from close to where I grew up. My aunt even served as a consultant to one of the anti-kidnapping groups that they did and she was quoted in the Newsweek cover story on Collins.

I don't ever remember being warned about child molesters or any of that kind of stuff. I think by the time I even became aware that people like that existed I was old enough to defend myself.

 

I never said it wasn't a serious responsibility, but the factors outside a parent's control are much greater than Mizzou and I were growing up.

 

I just don't get the notion that things are suddenly more dangerous for children today than they were 40-50 years ago. Is there evidence that child abuse and/or sexual abuse is some sort of modern phenomenon?