Boys behaving badly

I was sexually harassed. Not really. But if it'd happened today, somebody might have thought so, and Carl, a little boy in my kindergarten class, probably would have been kicked out. Carl, a little bald-headed boy, and I were in Miss Porter's afternoon kindergarten class, and he had a crush on me. He told everybody about it. And I was petty clear that I did not like Carl. But one day, during circle time when Miss Porter wasn't looking, he leaned over and kissed me on my cheek. I was shocked, and it was definitely unwanted contact. I don't remember if I said anything to Carl, but I didn't tattle. I did tell my mother, who certainly didn't think much of it. And so it was.

There's a difference between Carl and the boys in this story who face criminal charges because they ran down their school corridor, slapping girls on their butts. When you're 13 years old, you should know better. Slapping girls on their butts is not nearly as innocent as Carl's stolen kiss, even if everyone does it. But 13 year olds are still children who are learning. Any principal worth his or her salt should be able to come up with some pretty choice discipline to teach these boys and others that their behavior was inappropriate and will not be tolerated in the future. And I would expect their parents, preferably their dads, to have something pretty stern to say about this. The DA has backed down from the original plan for felony prosecution, but doesn't criminal prosecution that may result in the boys having to register as sex offenders seem like overkill? Hopefully the DA will re-think this.