Q: My eleven year old kicked a teacher at school. They want to press battery charges on him. What should I do?
A:
In layman's terms, Battery is an intentional and unwanted physical contact. I'm wondering why an 11 year old would kick someone in the first place, as it seems he/she has anger issues. Therefore, if you want to help your child in this situation, and likely for his/her future, you should mitigate the damage and get your child into counseling.
The court will appreciate your taking a step to help your child in this matter with counseling before the case proceeds. Usually, courts direct counseling anyhow as part of the punishment for the crime. In this case, fortunately it was only a kick, so it appears there was no real injury beyond a bruise; however, it is a serious matter as to the child's anger issues that should be addressed now to avoid another kick or something more serious in the future by your child.
You should recognize this issue as a potential larger issue to a possible violent crime by your child one day if he/she does not get help now.
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