Yesterday when I was standing in the hallway, he tried to rub my neck. A former female student of my partner teacher was rubbing her neck, so I guess he got the idea from watching her. But I felt waaaaay uncomfortable with that. told him he needed to hurry up and get outside so he didn't miss his bus. I don't have a problem with a quick hug. I mean, I have kiddos who hug me on the way out of the door, but this is going over the line and making me uncomfortable. Yesterday he tried to walk with his hand around my shoulders, and I said, "This makes you walk too slow, and you're going to be late. You better hurry up and walk ahead of me." I don't know what to do about this. He's been coming up and giving me a hug after he gets in trouble. I guess he feels bad about getting in trouble?? I don't want to hurt his feelings, but this needs to stop. Advice? Beth
I think it would be best to report this to his counselor and your supervisor, just to keep everything transparent in case something else develops in the future. If he tries touching you again, you really need to just be frank and honest with him. "Please don't do that. I'm not comfortable with it." Don't beat around the bush.
I had a 3rd grader at the beginning of the year who rubbed my back. It seemed really weird to me! I asked him to stop and told him that he shouldn't do that to a teacher. While I have no idea if I handled it correctly, he doesn't do it anymore. I did hear from his grade level teacher later that she had the same problem with him. That made me feel a lot better!
I always make a joke that I have a hula hoop around me and you can't pass through it. Works 99% of the time.
In 5th grade to hug his teachers. For him, it is part of his ADHD. He needs constant assurance that everything is OK. For him, a hug was very reassuring. It took a lot of explaining that it was not okay to hug people outside our home.
You definitely need to explain it to him directly, rather than coming up with excuses to get him to stop. Tell him firmly but kindly. Personally I'd tell him it's very sweet that he wants to do that, but it's really inappropriate for a student to be touching a teacher. Perhaps some other elementary ed teachers could chime in on what reason to give him if he asks WHY it's inappropriate. I work in high school and the reason I'd give them isn't going to fly with a 10 year old. :lol:
It's inappropriate because it is inappropriate. People like their personal space, and so we don't touch unless they ask us to. I wouldn't involve the counselor at this point. Tell him directly that he needs to stop touching. This is a lesson he needs to learn. If he proceeds to touch inappropriately, then I would involve the counselor.
