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Four boys, aged between six and 11, have been arrested in Queensland over a fire which destroyed part of a school.

Police allege the boys, aged six, seven, nine and 11, set fire to a building at the Cherbourg State School, near Kingaroy, yesterday afternoon.

The 11-year-old boy has been charged with arson.

The other three boys will be dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act, police say.

Anyone with information which could assist with this matter should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000.

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  • i would throttle my kids if they even thought about doing something like this

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  • Oh my gosh, what on earth were these kids thinking? And where are the parents?

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  • Unfortunately more and more young kids seem to be getting into trouble these days… and when I say trouble I mean really serious offences. It is scary. I personally really worry about my kids and if I am making the right decisions in their upbringing.

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  • Wow ! What concerns me is the age of these children !!
    Who would even let a 6 year old go on the street to do whatever it likes with a group of older boys ?? As parents we should know where our kids are, what they do and what type of friends they hang out with !
    To be honest, I think this comes from bad parenting.

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  • What a terrible thing to have happened, and by kids that are so young. I will never understand arson, a hideous crime, let alone by kids as young as these.

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  • These children are so young… where are their parents?


    • In SA (could be Aust. wide) unless the laws have changed since the 1980s children are taught in the 1st term at school that “children have rights”. Yes, I kid you not, I have 2 relatives, now adults who were told that within a few days of starting school. :Literally where are the parents’ rights??? I know for a fact the parents of these and other children had plenty to say to the school principal and teachers. Fair enough explain physical and sexual abuse, but to tell a child that if anybody yells at them even if they don’t swear or similar is verbal abuse. As most parents are aware some children have “selective hearing” and ignore their parents or other adults until they yell at them to get the full attention and response. One that really annoyed me was they told the kids that if they didn’t want to do what their parents ask them to do they don’t have to…..they have rights. Kids aren’t stupid – they know parents are adults…and so are teachers. Some worked it out that they didn’t have to do what they tell them either. You can imagine the problems it caused in classrooms…..Parents who make huge efforts to teach children right from wrong, teach them good manners (and I have relatives who are doing just that no “please” their request is denied and if they refuse to say “thank you” there is a good chance what they are given may be taken away from them). As they say, children have to learn to respect their elders (not just their parents), do as they are asked and use the good manners they are taught. Once they go to kindy or school and repeat things other children say parenting can get harder. My Mum would ask who did you hear say that. When one of us replied with the child/older person’s name, we were told “just because ….says it doesn’t mean it’s nice, it’s naughty, please don’t say that again to anybody”. She taught her grandchildren the same, as did their parents…and I as an Auntie. Another thing that in some ways annoyed me even more was they were told that their parents couldn’t stop them from walking outside and going where they wished…you can’t physically hold them against their wishes…..it’s abuse. People ask, “where’s the parents?” Some don’t care, I know that….but please thnk of those who are distraught because the kids know their parents can’t stop them. I personally know of a teenage girl who back in the late 60s used to wait awhile after her parents had gone to bed, take the screen off her window or another one and go down the street and meet up with her friends of both sexes. Many times her Mum got up during the night, discovered she had made a lump in her bed and had gone. Her parents knew exactly where she had gone…they were right 99% of the time and virtually order her to go home with them. Their guess was wrong a few times but the others knew where she was. I would hope the law has been changed. Only in the last 2 years I saw a teacher poke her tongue out at a young pupil. Lucky the child wasn’t mine or I would have had something to say to the teacher and reported it to the school principal…..and it was at a Private School. I don’t have photographic proof or I would name the school….and I might be accused of “photoshopping” it too……What hope do parents, guardians and other adults have? Somebody, please tell me, have the rules been changed?????

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  • There is no longer any respect from children because parents don’t bring them up in a respectful manner. I cringe when I hear my grandchildren to their parents – there is no respect there at all. It seems that because they had to miss out on things as they grew up because money was short, they decided to give their children everything, and somewhere along the line they started treated their children as friends, so discipline went out the window. To hear them swear at their parents and their parents laugh just amazes me. Children are not you friends that you will put up with idiosyncrasies because they are your friends – they are you children who you are supposed to teach how to act in the real world, to be good citizens, to help other people, to not think of me, me, me. But to think of others, to be caring and loving and treat elders with respect and to occasionally listen and learn how to give back to this wonderful world.

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  • Makes me wonder what back ground these boys have! What is the reason and who was the main culprit that majority influenced the boys to do something like this, was it one of the boys? Was it tv? Video games? Or just plain old bad parenting???

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  • the world is falling apart! So many kids with no respect or discipline, it is ridiculous

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  • Gosh they’re getting younger and younger! I really think parents need to step up and watch their kids closer

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