Business over Biscuit not a Barrel of Laughs

[Ursa major]

The husband of a dinner lady who was warned that allowing a child a biscuit could be seen as grooming said she has had a "horrendous two years".

The local education body has been told to apologise for its handling of the investigation into the incident at the County Fermanagh primary school.

The woman had been asked by a pupil for a biscuit and she in turn asked a colleague to give one to the child.

Her husband said the school warned her that this could be seen as grooming.

From BBC News - Dinner lady's 'grooming' warning 'takes the biscuit'.

The dinner lady, who was a relative of the child, had to attend three meetings, firstly with the acting principal then two with the school principal.

One of the meetings with the principal lasted over an hour and he wanted her to attend a fourth.

[purple_kathryn]

It was in County Fermanagh though.

[HareBrain]

She was a relative of the child too. Prepare for a flood of cases involving parents who've starved their children to death so as not to be thought grooming them.

Artists discovered perspective as long ago as the Renaissance. One wonders when society at large is going to catch up.

[Dave]

Storm in a tea cup (with biscuits!) No, they were wrong and they have been told to apologise. What they thought they were doing, who knows? I think the real question has to be will this happen again and what steps have been taken to prevent that?

Harebrain - it is a fact that the majority of abusers are family members or family friends and not strangers.

I heard this on the radio, my problem was the overuse of the phrase "Political Correctness Gone Mad".

[Ursa major]

I understand - see BBC News - Gove to tackle schools' 'no touch' rules - that the government is looking at the actions teachers can take.

Added to this case, I imagined the following scene:

The headmistress looked at the boy cowering in the corner of the classroom, one of whose eyes was beginning to close, before returning her baleful gaze to the teacher.

"You seem to have been rather too enthusiastic about implementing the government's new policy," she said, "And just because he couldn't spell the word, business. The good news is that it's unlikely to be seen as evidence of grooming."

[soulsinging]

What is a dinner lady? And what is grooming?

Your British slang always sounds so prim and proper... I get the impression this is supposed to be a bad thing, but a dinner lady grooming a student sounds like the kind of quaint problem our schools would beg to have, hehe.

[Ursa major]

Are you suggesting that the activity may risk involving a brush with the law?

[purple_kathryn]

Originally Posted by soulsinging

What is a dinner lady? And what is grooming?

Your British slang always sounds so prim and proper... I get the impression this is supposed to be a bad thing, but a dinner lady grooming a student sounds like the kind of quaint problem our schools would beg to have, hehe.

Dinner lady = someone who serves lunch at the school canteen

Grooming = manipulating a child for (ultimately) sexual purposes. The phrase is normally used for child molesters who lurk in chat rooms pretending to be children to "befriend" kids

[Lacivetta]

It is horribly euphemistic though...

[Dave]

Originally Posted by purple_kathryn

Dinner lady = someone who serves lunch at the school canteen

Well not quite. Those would be cooks and catering assistants. The PC name for Dinner Ladies is now 'Mid Day Supervisor'. They supervise the children while the Teachers eat, make sure they behave and eat all their vegetables. They are mostly mothers of the children since the hours suit someone with young children at school. Many of them are also teaching assistants at the same time, and some of those may wish to qualify as teachers some day.

[J-WO]

Perhaps we should play it safe and turn everyone in Britain into Daleks.