Expulsion for profane Tweeting Tugs at a Mother’s Heart

I can’t stop thinking about this article since I read it yesterday.  Expulsion for profane tweeting thrusts Indiana teen into center of wider free-speech debate. Could it be true that a child can get expelled for tweeting the “F” word several times from his home in the middle of the night?  As I read the article, I can’t help but think, there’s got to be more to this story. It appears the child had other incidents, he was labeled as a “pain in the butt.”  But to get expelled when you are not on school grounds and not using school property seems so extreme to me.  Are we doing this child any justice by expelling him?  A decision that will have consequences for the rest of his life.

This story really tugs at my heart because as a mother of four children, I can relate.  Two of my children are teenagers and one soon to be teenager.  While I would love to believe that my kids would never use this kind of language when sending out a tweet, I can’t honestly answer that.

I am not a “Kids will be Kids” kind of mom but let’s be honest, can any of us truly say that our teenagers would never use that kind of language?  I can tell you that had my High School listened in on some of my phone conversations when I was that age, they may have heard a few choice words.

That is the reality of the world our children live in today.  The real question becomes; how well are we preparing our children to live in a world where almost everything they do goes record?  A world where every post, tweet and text is an permanent indication of their character.

Remember the days when you were horrified that you had left a note in your pocket and your Mom found it in the wash.  Our children must realize that their “dirty laundry” can be aired at any time!

What are your thoughts?