美6岁男童因“性骚扰”被停课

据美国媒体12月11日报道，美国科罗拉多州一名6岁男童因亲吻女同学的手触犯了学校有关“性骚扰”的规定，被停课多日。

亨特•耶尔顿现年6岁，是“林肯科技学校”小学一年级的学生。他说：“当时我们正在上课，我靠过去亲了她的手……我做错了事，我很抱歉。我一直想在学校好好表现。”

这并不是耶尔顿第一次受到校方的处罚，他此前就曾因亲吻这个女生的脸颊和打闹而被停课。现在耶尔顿所在的学区给他记上了“性骚扰”纪录。

耶尔顿的妈妈珍妮弗•桑德斯认为不应该把“性骚扰”强加在一个6岁的孩子身上。桑德斯还为儿子喊冤：“小女孩说没关系，两个孩子是‘男女朋友’，是其他孩子看到后告诉了音乐老师。”她表示自己已经努力教导孩子，以改善他的课堂表现。

专门研究儿童性发展的科罗拉多大学教授、儿童临床心理学家桑迪•武尔泰莱说：“对大部分6岁的男孩而言，那是一种再正常不过的行为。我认为6岁的孩子无法理解骚扰的意思。”

Six-year-old Hunter Yelton, a first grader at Lincoln School of Science & Technology in Canon City, Colorado, was recently suspended for kissing a girlin his class on the hand.

Hunter spoke to KRDO Newschannel 13 and explained, "It was during class yeah. We were doing reading group and I leaned over and kissed her on the hand. That's what happened." The boy went on to take responsibility for what he did, "She sent me to the office, fair and square. I did something wrong and I feel sorry. I've been trying to be good at school."

Hunter got in trouble because his actions fit the elementary school’s definition of ‘sexual harassment.’ So now Little Hunter has a record with school district RE-1 as a sexual harassment offender.

It’s terminology that Hunter’s mother, Jennifer Saunders, felt was inappropriate saying, “'Sexual harassment.’ This is taking it to an extreme that doesn't need to be met with a six-year-old. Now my son is asking questions, ‘What is sex mommy? It should not ever be said, ‘Sex,’ in a sentence with a six year old."

This is not Hunter’s first run in with the school authorities as he’s been suspended in the past for rough-housing and for kissing the same girl from this most recent incident, on the cheek.

The female classmate and her parents have not come forward but according to Ms. Saunders, "She was fine with it, they are ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’. The other children saw it and went to the music teacher.”

Hunter’s mom says that she has made efforts to work with her son on improving his classroom behavior by grounding him and giving him “very big restrictions”. It does seem like there have been discussions at home because the young man has his own articulate explanation for why he does what he does saying, “I just have a lot of energy. I mean six-year-olds. They have a lot of energy."

KRDO spoke to Dr. Sandy Wurtele, a child clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, who specializes in child sexual development.

About Hunter kissing a classmate the psychologist said, “For most six-year-old boys, absolutely. That would be a normal behavior.”

She was surprised by the suspension and thinks that the term ‘sexual harassment’ could be problematic for children.

"I don't think a six-year-old would understand what harassment is... That has some longer term implications,” said Dr. Wurtele adding, “This part of development is just as important if not more than their academic subjects."

Instead she suggested that this could be a teachable moment and should involve the students, their classmates and their parents so there wouldn’t be a negative stigma attached to the behavior. “Move away from that 'we don't do this' to in what situations is it acceptable?...You may have different rules of showing affection than you do maybe at home."