Did you guys see this article? A school group went to the Detroit Institute of Art on a field trip and a twelve year old boy stuck a piece of gum on a painting worth 1.5 million dollars! It damaged a place the size of a quarter in the corner of the work.

He's been suspended from school, and his parents are punishing him.

Could you imagine if you were his parents? This article was on the front page of yahoo news and probably many others. I would be livid. Of course, if this were my child, he/she would know better.

The behavior of kids just astounds me. Many of them have absolutely no respect for anyone or anything.

Here's a link.

Article

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 11:31 pm:

"Even though we give very strict guidelines on proper behavior and we hold students to high standards, he is only 12 and I don't think he understood the ramifications of what he did before it happened, but he certainly understands the severity of it now," said Kildee.

Only 12? My kids would have known, at 12, not to do that! They would have known, even in 5th grade, when they visited the Art Museum in Milwaukee, and I'm sure they would have been told not to touch the artwork on trips the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, here in Sheboygan.

Sheesh!

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 11:34 pm:

Ditto Dawn! When you give the rules to a 12 year old kid, he is perfectly capable of understanding them (Assumuing that he is a normal kid.)

Besides, every kid should also understand that gum belongs in the trash when you are done with it- and NO WHERE ELSE.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 12:33 am:

Yeah, 12 is old enough to understand and know better. I think this kid got off easy, and his parents should smack him upside his head for such blatant disrespect for property. What's next? Spraypainting buildings? Little punk...

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 07:43 am:

Ditto Dawn as well. 12 years old is DEFINITELY old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Heck, my kids would have known not to do that at half that age.

By Reeciecup on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 09:02 am:

At 12 my kid better not stick gum to the underside of a bench let alone a work of art. Didn't know better my a**.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 03:40 pm:

I just found this article on the website of my local news station.

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4575349&nav=menu44_2

Not that it matters much to this discussion, but the value of the painting was a bit exaggerated.

By Vicki on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 04:22 pm:

I have never been to a fancy art museum, but are the painting always that easily accessable?? I would think something that valuable would either be behind glass or at least have those rope things in front of it so you couldn't get that close!!

By Melanie on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 04:36 pm:

Come on guys, can you seriously not picture a normal 12 year old kid doing something stupid like this? They may *know* better, but it doesn't always mean they *do* better. LOL. My boys would certainly know better, but I've seen them do some things that make me scratch my head and ask, "What the heck were you thinking???" LOL.

Ditto Vicki.

By Tink on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 05:49 pm:

I'm with Melanie. It was a dumb thing to do but not completely surprising and I really don't think it has anything to do with parenting or respect. 12yo boys (IMO) are generally pretty thoughtless and completely oblivious to consequences until they've had to live with them. It sounds like this is one of those lessons he'll NEVER forget. There is a reason that most masterpieces are hung well out of reach of the museum visitors.

By Amecmom on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 06:41 pm:

No way! You don't have paintings under glass in an art museum - unless it's a heavy tourist destination like certain paintings in the Louvre (Mona Lisa).

I ran our arts program in our elementary school and took dozens of classes to museums. Not one of our inner city kids would dream of touching a painting! They were taught before hand that you touch paintings only with your "eyes"

I cannot justify saying that what the kid did was normal. Not in my experience.

Ame

By Luvn29 on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 10:00 pm:

Nope. Sorry. Not a "kid thing". And from my experience, at least when we visited the Toledo Art Museum in Toledo OH, the art was hung on the wall for you to enjoy, and it was expected for you to know not to touch it. And if you had children, then it was expected that you would keep your children from touching it. And rules were given to school groups. And those children were expected to follow the rules.

I'm with Ame here. Can't say this is something that a typical kid would do without thinking. Nope. A kid with any kind of manners or respect or good upbringing would know that this is not done. My kids are a bit younger and they know that gum goes in the trash when you are finished. They know better than to even place it under a desk or chair or something. This behavior is unexcusable, especially by saying it is simply "typical boy behavior".

Besides. We have artwork that the children hang in the hallways of our schools all the time and all of the kids know they are not to touch it or damage it in any way. It is not valuable in a monetary way, but no one ever bothers it. Wouldn't the same rules apply here? Just common respect?

By Melanie on Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 10:22 pm:

I am standing by my earlier comment. Maybe I am just careful not to throw stones since my boys are 10 and 8.5 and I don't want karma to come around and bite me on the backside for being judgmental when it comes to what my kids would or wouldn't do. I hope and pray everyday for them to make little mistakes to learn from so they will never have to face the consequences of big mistakes...like damaging a 1.5 million dollar piece of art.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 12:09 am:

My kids even from little on, knew you didn't pick your neighbor's flowers, just because they were within reach from the sidewalk and one day, we were watching the other neighborhood kids walk past the neighbor's house and one of them helped themselves to a flower. My kids were shocked! It would have never occurred to them to put gum on a painting.

By Cocoabutter on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 01:17 am:

I have to say that I am reminded of something my son struggles with. I try very hard to teach him the basic rules of common courtesy and respect towards others. The big problem is that he rarely ever sees that respect out of any other kids. He has a difficult time bringing himself to respect another person when that person never shows him any respect in return. Unfortunately my son is also prone to doing things that others are doing, even if he knows it is wrong, if it looks like it is fun.

Perhaps there is a bigger issue here than just what a 12 year old kid would or would not do. Perhaps the issue here is really that there aren't enough parents teaching their kids to respect other people, their property, and the rules that govern respectful public behavior. The article offers no explanation from the parents regarding why their son may have done this, so we don't know anything about their parenting, and I am not pointing the finger directly at them in this particular case. But whether or not this boy's parents teach him respect, there is also something to be said for the influence that peers have on behavior, especially infuence from peers who don't have parents that teach respect.

By Kaye on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 07:03 am:

Another thought. My kids do know right from wrong and really do a good job most of the time. But my 10 year old, will do a million things I would never think of to impress his friends. Toss a dare or a bet ontop of that and yep I can see him sticking gum on a painting. Because somehow in their mind that is mischievious, but not damaging (they don't get how bad gum is!)

By Karen~moderator on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 07:37 am:

It *is* a normal kid thing, but a 12 y/o should certainly know when it's *less* wrong to do something like that. I can see it being considered a normal thing to do in say, a restaurant, or a movie theater, or someplace like that. But in an art museum? Nope, kids that age should have learned to respect property, and though they *will* do things, at that age, they should know that something like that in a place like that is UNacceptable.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, March 3, 2006 - 09:38 am:

When I was in school, and when my kids were in school, gum chewing was not allowed. So I am wondering, among other things, what this kid was doing with a wad of gum in his mouth on a school trip.

By Annie2 on Saturday, March 4, 2006 - 09:23 pm:

Well stated, Karen. I agree with you 100%.

Ginny, our kids are not allowed to have gum on a field trip either. This child's teacher or chaperone should have noticed that he had gum in his mouth.