My next door neighbor told me today that her son (who is in kindergarten) is having to write an apology letter to a Mr. Palmer for scaring him with a lion mask. Mr. Palmer is not a real person; He is a one hundred percent fictional character who appeared in a play that the class saw after their art class. The character Mr. Palmer is terrified of lions and when he saw my neighbor's son with the mask, he ran off the stage and refused to return until my neighbor's son was removed from the audience.
Hearing this story reminded me of a similar experience I had in college. This time around it was an actor who was angry that a special needs kid I had taught had brought a drawing of flowers into the auditorium and as the actor's character was allergic to flowers he refused to go on stage because he claimed the character would spend the entire time on stage sneezing because he couldn't tolerate flowers, even if they were messily drawn by a special needs child. While I would get a two-week suspension (Though for a different reason) The kid who brought the drawing in was not allowed to attend the ice cream party at the end of the week because the actor claimed he purposely tried to sabotage the play and the people putting it on didn't want any problems .
So my question is should people (especially children) be punished for upsetting/making sick fictional characters, even if it was accidental/they didn't know it would upset them. I know in theater you have to be aware of your surroundings, but it seems pretty silly to me to get upset over things that can be ignored.
Hearing this story reminded me of a similar experience I had in college. This time around it was an actor who was angry that a special needs kid I had taught had brought a drawing of flowers into the auditorium and as the actor's character was allergic to flowers he refused to go on stage because he claimed the character would spend the entire time on stage sneezing because he couldn't tolerate flowers, even if they were messily drawn by a special needs child. While I would get a two-week suspension (Though for a different reason) The kid who brought the drawing in was not allowed to attend the ice cream party at the end of the week because the actor claimed he purposely tried to sabotage the play and the people putting it on didn't want any problems .
So my question is should people (especially children) be punished for upsetting/making sick fictional characters, even if it was accidental/they didn't know it would upset them. I know in theater you have to be aware of your surroundings, but it seems pretty silly to me to get upset over things that can be ignored.
