Leatherback sea turtle nesting season begins in SanibelA warmer Thursday start with stray showers this afternoon
FILE- In this Oct. 23, 2018, file photo, students walk on the campus of Miami Dade College, in Miami. The nine companies and organizations tasked with servicing the accounts of the nation’s 30 million student loan borrowers repeatedly failed to do their jobs properly over a period of years and their regulator neglected to hold them responsible, a new report finds. The report released Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, by the Department of Education’s independent Inspector General’s office shows some borrowers weren’t getting the guidance and protection they needed as they sought the best plan for paying off their student loans. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) School is quickly approaching, and a talk all parents should have with their kids is the seriousness of making school threats, even if it’s meant to be a joke. With the recent rise in threats towards schools, staff and law enforcement are taking every threat very serious and will act as if every one is legitimate. But how do you get a child to understand that a fake threat has real consequences? Dr. Steven Cohen, who is a psychologist talks about ways parents can have this discussion with their kids. “If you just tell them what not to say that doesn’t always help. We need to give them an alternative of they can say,” Dr. Cohen said. This is advice a Lee County mother could have used in 2018 when her son got arrested after bringing a gun to school. The mother became an unwitting accomplice when she dropped her son off at the south Fort Myers High School, not knowing he had a loaded gun in his backpack. Dr. Cohen says you have to teach your child how to express themselves without the threat of an action that could get them in trouble. “I’m really mad, they can even say I hate you…I would rather that than i’m gonna kill you,” Dr. Cohen said. He says in the split second they want to act out, their instinct should be to use words. If you want to show your child the consequences that come with using threatening language you can visit the Lee County school threat page here.