A mum has branded a school's decision to suspend her seven-year-old son over a threat to 'blow up' a teacher as 'heavy handed'.
The pupil was told on Tuesday to stay away from his Edinburgh primary school until a meeting to discuss his behaviour was had between his mum and staff.
Despite his mum's protests at the school's over-zealous approach, the Scottish Daily Record reports that city council chiefs have backed their stance.
The little boy was said to have argued with his teacher after being told he could not go out to play after a 'series of events' relating to his behaviour.
While his mum accepts his behaviour had been problematic, she told reporters that her son is distraught over his suspension.
"You hear of things going on in schools in America and if someone in their teens said it, of course you'd take it seriously," she told the paper. "But he's seven years old. He doesn't know how to light a match. I'm disgusted - they've made him out to be some sort of thug."
"I got a call from the headteacher saying they weren't prepared for staff to be threatened, and that he could do with a few days of cooling off," she continued, adding that 'kids say daft things sometimes' and that the school have 'taken it to the extreme'.
"He's never hurt anybody. He shouldn't have said it but there's been no need to treat him like they have. He doesn't understand why he said it - he just did it out of anger," his mum insisted. "He says it was just meant to be pretend like cartoons. I think he got the idea from a game on the Xbox."
A spokesman for the local council said that the school had acted appropriately, and that it would be supporting the boy and his mum and dad to help ensure the situation did not arise again.