Boys will be Boys??

[Bishka]

Boys Contaminate W.Va. Town With Mercury

(04-04) 11:18 PDT Clendenin, W.Va. (AP) --

A group of boys playing with mercury swiped from a dental office created an environmental headache for one small town after tracking it into their school, homes and church and up the steps of the public library.

Five of the 25 students who handled the poisonous substance showed high levels of exposure, but none suffered serious health risk, health officials said Wednesday.

"It was shiny and made interesting patterns when you drop it," said Dr. Kerry Gateley, director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. "From a 10-year-old's standpoint, that is fascinating stuff."

The fourth- and fifth-graders took about 4 pounds of mercury, used in some dental fillings, from the vacant and apparently unlocked office early last week, authorities said.

They played with the toxic substance for several days, with one student reportedly trading a pair of sneakers for some, before school officials learned about it Friday, said Clendenin Elementary School Principal Karen Scheer.

Health officials spent the weekend removing contaminated items from the steps of a public library, two classrooms at the school and a gazebo at a public park in the town of 1,400, Gateley said.

About 200 people were expected to be screened for exposure, Gateley said.

Short-term exposure to mercury vapors is not considered dangerous. Long-term exposure can affect the brain and nervous system causing behavioral problems, such as irritability, followed by tremors.

Mayor Bob Ore said the boys walked through an open door at the dentist's office, which had been put up for sale after the doctor suffered a stroke 18 months earlier.

"Boys will be boys," Ore said.

He wasn't sure if any charges would be pursued.

Link

Boys will be boys? What are you thoughts on this?

 

[Mister Emu]

Some kids saw some skiny liquid stuff and said "ooooooo"...

Whoever owned the office should have either taken out all the possibly dangerous things, or they should have at least shut the fricking door.

 

[ALifetimeToWaitFor....]

They were 10 years olds. Lol. I don't know if i would have done it at that age, but i did some pretty stupid things.

What are they going to charge them with? Ignorance? I suppose theft, but come on now. I guess "boys will be boys".

How would the saying "girls will be girls" be applied. Just in off topic question that I've often wondered.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Link

Boys will be boys? What are you thoughts on this?

It looks like the feller in charge of the old dentist's building needs to have a slap on the wrist.

 

[kateyes]

I would say if anyone could be considered at fault it would be whoever left the door unlocked and the mercury available. If they were my kids--they would get grounded-because even a 10 year old should know better to enter a building like that (even if the door was open) and take something away from it. If the door was open they cannot charge them with B&E, I suppose you could charge them with theft--but I think the burden falls more on the negligance of whoever left the building unlocked.

 

[jacquie4000]

Boys to me yes will be boys and they do stupid things. At 10 they should have known not to take something that was not their's. However I am sure they did not want to endanger anyone. MY son has done some stupid things as well and even though I was angry with him for doing them. It was pretty funny....because it seems they just don't think before they act sometimes.

 

[Aqualung]

Boys will be boys is a myth. Anybody will be a threat to those around them if they haven't been taught any better, and to disregard threatening behaviour simply because of sex is silly.

 

[jacquie4000]

Boys will be boys is a myth. Anybody will be a threat to those around them if they haven't been taught any better, and to disregard threatening behaviour simply because of sex is silly.

I quess that is all in the way you view it. I don't look at the statement as boys will be boys meaning they are being threatening. Just alot of time boys do stupid things without thinking. If it is causing serious harm or ill to others and done on purpose that is a different matter.

I don't think girls as a quick to act in this way.

Do you have any boys by the way?

 

[jamaesi]

I think they know better than to steal despite them having penises.

And I don't know if it's just because I was raised around the medical field- but I knew from an early age that mercury is very bad. I taught to be very careful with thermometers and if I should should drop and break one then I was to get an adult ASAP.


I really hate that expression, "boys will be boys." It's just used to excuse so many things that males know better than to do.

 

[jacquie4000]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Boys most definitely should be allowed to be boys…and they could grow up more mentally and emotionally healthy…if government schools would stop trying to force boys – whether by the use of drugs, or the use of punishments – to act like girls. To better understand the destructive treatment of boys in today's society, I highly recommend The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers. Our culture is greatly harming our boys and creating problems that will germinate and grow to proportions unseen since Jack and the Beanstalk. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Jack. Remember him? Sent on an important errand to sell the family cow….which he did do…but for a handful of beans. Boys are sometimes like that, but fewer and fewer teachers appreciate boy-like behaviors, thoughts, perceptions and ways of approaching the world. What a shame, for boys are such fun. Boys are so refreshing. Boys, when allowed to be boys, are so unlike girls, and that is right and as it should be. Boys tend to be more loyal – less into tattling; more transparent – less into emotional game playing; more outspoken – less into pouting; more honest – less into manipulating. [/FONT]

This is part of an article from Linda Taylor
http://www.lewrockwell.com/taylor/taylor64.html

I think this is more what boys will be boys means.
Not that they don't always know better.
Girls will be Girls they have their issues too.
Thank God we are different.​

 

[jamaesi]

I completely understand the point about boys and girls being different, I recommend the documentary Raising Cain by PBS, but if allowing boys to grow up boys includes allowing them to break the law and poison the environment without any repercussion then that's very scary.

 

[jacquie4000]

Well as you see in my earlier post I said it was not right for them to steal, that should be punished however the parents see fit. But I highly doubt they were trying to posion the environment. Maybe you knew at 10 what this substance was. I find it highly unlikely they did.

 

[Circle_One]

Well as you see in my earlier post I said it was not right for them to steal, that should be punished however the parents see fit. But I highly doubt they were trying to posion the environment. Maybe you knew at 10 what this substance was. I find it highly unlikely they did.

I completely, 100% agree.

The chances are most definitely higher that they had no idea how dangerous Mercury is, than they are for a group of 10 year old kids to even know what Mercury IS, let alone how dangerous it can be.

As for the statement "boys will be boys"... I semi agree and semi disagree.

I agree, because, like Jacquie, I know for fact that boys do stupid things without thinking them through at all.

However, I disagree because, being a 25 year old female, I probably would have seen it and gone "Ooooh! Shiny! Pretty shapes!!"

 

[Mister Emu]

However, I disagree because, being a 25 year old female, I probably would have seen it and gone "Ooooh! Shiny! Pretty shapes!!"

Hahaha...

 

[Aqualung]

Just alot of time boys do stupid things without thinking.

A lot of time PEOPLE do stupid things without thinking. It's no better if done by a boy than if done by a girl.

I don't think girls as a quick to act in this way.

Interesting.

Do you have any boys by the way?

I have a twin brother. Comparing me to him is an interesting thing, being as we are the same age, have the same parents, were raised in the same manner, etc.

 

[jacquie4000]

A lot of time PEOPLE do stupid things without thinking. It's no better if done by a boy than if done by a girl.

If you would have read my above post you would see I do not hold them better than one another just different. Infact in this day and age alot of teenage girls are worse than boys.

But until you truely have children it will be hard for you to understand.
This is not an insult, Just the truth. Things change when you are a parent and many new things come to light.

 

[Aqualung]

Infact in this day and age alot of teenage girls are worse than boys.

Yep. Exactly.

But until you truely have children it will be hard for you to understand.

Being in the teacher education program, I get to see a lot of behaviour by more than just one or two or maybe even three children, children who are not under the watchful eye of a parent, who aren't checking their behaviour by their parents standards. I beg to differ that I don't understand. I think this is not the truth, but the opinions of one who has only dealt with their own children and not the children of others.

 

[jacquie4000]

Well I am not going to debate we just don't see eye to eye. But I hold teen groups every week with many teens so my views are not just from a parents eyes.

 

[Aqualung]

Well I am not going to debate we just don't see eye to eye. But I hold teen groups every week with many teens so my views are not just from a parents eyes.

Ah, so you admit that the parental view isn't the only legitimate method of gaining information about the way children behave. Interesting.

 

[jacquie4000]

I never did not admit that you just assumed that. I have been with teen groups, I have been a camp counsler. At any given time I can have 10 teenage boys in my house. We just view things differently and that is o.k.