HOUSTON - A local mother is outraged by what she found on her 7-year-old daughter's body after she came home from school. The woman tells us her child received henna tattoos without her permission.
"Somebody tattooed my daughter without my permission," Tammy Samour said.
She was shocked when she picked up her daughter after school Monday.
"I asked what that was, and she said, 'Henna.' And I said, 'What is henna?'" Samour said.
Her daughter's hands were covered with an intricate brown design, known as a henna tattoo. The second-grader got the tattoos during a lesson on different cultures at Ed White Elementary School.
"Learning about culture is awesome, but I don't want it tattooed on my daughter, it is not our culture," Samour said.
The school did send an email as part of a weekly agenda to parents, informing them of the activity that would explore cultures from Spain, the United States, Australia, Israel and India. And in parenthesis, the email says, "will be doing henna."
"I didn't see the email, my husband did, but we didn't know what henna was," Samour said.
She said for the last two days she and the teacher have scrubbed her daughter's hands with nearly every cleaning product they could find.
"Especially that Christmas is next week. We have family photos, opening presents, church, and she is going to be wearing that on her hands throughout the holiday," Samour said.
The school district said they will take additional steps to inform parents in the future.
"We certainly will do a better job in the future to make sure that parents are informed of what this is and how long it will take, and again we regret that this family is upset about it," Elaina Polsen, Clear Creek Independent School District director of communications, said.
Post by orangeblossom on Dec 21, 2015 14:01:41 GMT -5
Give me a break. They got the notice, didn't know what it is, and didn't bother to look it up. Oh well.
Could the school have done a better job saying what henna was, sure, but outrage, is a bit much, IMO.
I don't have kids, so my perception is probably skewed. I certainly could see being upset that something that doesn't come off once home from school, but the whole "it's not our culture" is where the mom lost any sympathy from me. Um, no, it's not, but that's why your kid is learning about it.
Post by mrsukyankee on Dec 21, 2015 14:41:17 GMT -5
My guess is that it won't last that long - in order to have it last, you need to keep the fresh henna on the skin for multiple hours, wrapped up with a liquid mix on top. The kids probably got it done and then washed off the henna shortly after - it'll last a few days max and if they use lemon it'll come off quickly.
I love that the school used the words "we regret that this family is upset about it". If ever there is an appropriate use of the sorry-not-sorry you were offended style of apology, it's here!
I do think the school should probably secure written permission from parents for something like henna tattoos, since they last for a while. But there should be no outrage worth going to the media about, here.
Sounds like the mom should have had a little more cultural education when she was her daughter's age, huh?
Wow....she's acting like the school took out a tattoo gun and used it on the kids. It will wash off, give me a break lady. At the same time, I'm not surprised that the mother would flip out when she doesn't even know what henna is.
@@ - a similar story - our daycare took the kids to a salon (it's in the same building as DC). They did all the girls nails and my son wanted his done too. I don't know what they were doing on the boys, but M wanted his nails so his teacher decided to allow it, and hoped I was cool apparently. The salon sent him with some nail polish remover in case I didn't.
So I get to preschool and M is "mommy!! I have beautiful purple nails!!" And I'm laughing and the teacher tells me she was so worried i would be mad. We live in a hick town and I can see other parents caring but I thought it as adorable he wanted his done.
I think this mother is ridiculous, but yes, I could see segments of the population, particularly ones that have little contact with any other culture, not knowing what henna is.
@@ - a similar story - our daycare took the kids to a salon (it's in the same building as DC). They did all the girls nails and my son wanted his done too. I don't know what they were doing on the boys, but M wanted his nails so his teacher decided to allow it, and hoped I was cool apparently. The salon sent him with some nail polish remover in case I didn't.
So I get to preschool and M is "mommy!! I have beautiful purple nails!!" And I'm laughing and the teacher tells me she was so worried i would be mad. We live in a hick town and I can see other parents caring but I thought it as adorable he wanted his done.
Caleb always asks me to paint his nails when I do mine. He prefers red and pink, but I admit, I encourage the blue just to help avoid him being teased at daycare.
I am not surprised that some people might be upset by this. I am surprised by this story because that particular elementary school is in a rather diverse part of the city.
The aunt of the kid posted this on our Galveston county Mom's page on FB and got ripped to shreds. It was AWESOME.
What happened? I need more details.
Everything from "it is ridiculous y'all called the news over this," to "people like you are ignorant bigots." And lots of "the parents couldn't google? Really?" And calls for people to stop fearing other cultures. I'm not gonna lie--I was shocked at how many chimed in against her. I expected at least a 50/50 split. Instead, She had maybe 2 out of 50 or so on her side? It was beautiful.
Someone asked the aunt..she had none, but said the Dad did. It also sounded like it was the kids mom that was so outraged, and Dad was pretty ambivalent.