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What Can We Learn from Joanna Ramos’ Death
February 29th, 2012 | 
Author: After a fight with another 11 year old girl last Friday, 10 year old Joanna Ramos passed away as a result of blunt force trauma to her head. Why? How did this happen? What can we learn from her death?
A pre-planned fight between the girls that lasted less than a minute with no weapons involved and no obvious signs of trauma, took the life of Joanna Ramos. Seven fellow students watching the skirmish never suspected it would end so tragically. Just minutes after the fight Joanna returned to her after school program with only a minor obvious injuries – a little blood on her knuckles and some coming from her nose. Friends reported that she seemed fine. CBS reports
Later that evening, Joanna complained of a headache and started vomiting. Her mother rushed her to the emergency room, where she underwent surgery to remove a blood clot in her brain. By 9pm she was pronounced dead.
Senseless death!
Her family is left with many questions. Joanna told her mother that she was only punched in the face once, which the Doctors didn’t feel was enough to cause such trauma. Although her death has been ruled as a result of blunt force trauma to her head. I am shocked that an eleven year old girl can hit someone hard enough to cause head trauma.
Why did this happen to Joanna?
So, what really happened? Why did this senseless tragedy happen? Why are these things happening in our schools **Gasp!** Elementary schools nonetheless! What is a parent to do? How do we protect our children?
In my opinion, only one thing would have prevented this senseless death – anger management for children. As parents we are the change agents and role models, our children watch and learn from our own behaviors. If we are punishing them for their anger or telling them to not be angry, we are sending the message that anger is wrong. Essentially we are causing them to bottle it up inside and not expressing their emotions. Anger is a normal human emotion, and like any emotion, it needs a release. Violence is never the answer, but we need to teach our children how to be angry and communicate it effectively.
We need anger management for children!
Teaching anger management skills to children as young as five years old, will lead them down a path of success. Creating a safe environment for children to express their feelings, allows for a view into the mind of your child. This type of information is valuable and needs to be nurtured. By understanding their emotions we become more aware of what motivates them and what they need to be happy. The most successful people in the world are great communicators, they understand the importance of constructive dialog. Just imagine being able to discuss issues with your child and coming up with answers together – instead of slammed doors and long hours of silent treatments. I feel that an anger management class in schools would prove to be a giant leap forward in controlling bullying.
I am so sorry for Joanna’s family, I can’t imagine how they feel right now.
What do you think the punishment should be for the other girl? Of course, she didn’t intentionally murder Joanna. What do you think is the answer to end the violence and senseless deaths of our youth?
By Shannon Henrici, a mom who cares about the future generation.
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Posted in Confessions | 
Tags: anger in children, anger management in children, Bullying, bullying in schools, girl bullying, joanna ramos, moms, Parenting, young girls death
Honestly all I can keep thinking is WOW– how could something so senseless happen? I agree that kids need to learn that anger is okay and part of life. They also need to learn how to deal with it appropriately and we definitely need to find ways to teach all children that. I hope that everyone can learn from this tragedy.
As for the other girl- well I would punish her with whatever punishment the school has for fighting. I cannot believe that she had enough force to hit Joanna hard enough to cause such trauma but something happened. I am hoping someone sits down and discusses what happened with this other girl.
I found your blog through the blogger comment club- thanks for letting me visit
Thank you Kerry! I agree. I first heard about the story last week, but it really stuck with me. I wanted to know the outcome and what happened. I just can’t imagine a girl fight in an elementary school, then to have a girl die from it! Something has to change soon! Thank you for checking out my blog, I look forward to connecting with you!
Wow! I didn’t know this story. i completely agree with you about teaching children to manage their anger. Kids these days seem to be searching for something-I see it all the time with my son’s peers. They are continually looking for ways to up their profile, get attention, feel important. Maybe that’s nothing different than from the past, but what is different is their exposure to violence in media as well as a changed parenting style that is more concerned with feelings and self esteem than rules, boundaries, limits, and morality. I hope that the children who hurt this little girl and her family get the help that they need so future incidences like this can be avoided.
Absolutely! I agree. I can’t imagine going through what this family is right now. I think we are even making drama more acceptable with all of the reality TV shows, making the drama entertaining. Real Wives …… etc. I don’t think children are the only ones looking for a reason to get angry, I have experienced it in adults too. It has become a sort of entertainment, something to do when you are bored. Craziness. I have too much of my own drama to even begin worrying about someone else’s. We set the example for our children. We owe it to our children and ourselves to learn anger management, don’t you think?
I just can’t imagine that a punch from a child would cause that type of head trauma. There must have been some underlying factors no one was aware of.
Regardless of that, it is kind of crazy to hear about children scheduling a fight to beat up on one another. What was going on to cause something like that and why did neither girl go to her parents or the school? So sad.
Sad, huh!? It has everyone confused, because they don’t know how the one punch could cause a blunt force trauma that ended her life. As far as they know, nothing else happened that would have caused it. Although I have been volunteering with the CDC on concussion awareness, based on my understanding it is completely possible to happen. They are are putting messages out to parents to be more aware of concussions and the symptoms. The vomiting and dizziness this little girl complained about after the fight are signs of a concussion. Definitely something to be aware of.
By the way, the fight was over a boy. I just can’t imagine.
Thanks for you input!
This hurts my heart.
My daughter is 9. I am presenting a speaker to my high school softball team this spring to address bullying, suicide and accountability. Ugh, perhaps I should include the youth league as well?!
So young. So senseless.
I know! It breaks my heart. Great job on addressing this issue with your high school team! It is so important that we talk about it. Would love to hear more about what you are doing with bullying. I am putting together a group of bloggers to share info with, so we can help spread the message. Would love to add you to the list!