It's one thing to say, I don't know how to cope with this, I haven't been trained or I can't handle this today. It's another thing to lie and cover her butt. It shouldn't be her against the children/parents. If she doesn't know how to handle a child having a meltdown then she needs to ask for help/training.

btw - why is the fake smoke significant? I know I'm ancient, but I'm pretty sure when I was 8 I used to pretend I was smoking HB pencils. I don't remember anyone batting an eyelid. Was it because it was in class and he was supposed to be doing something else? In which case telling him to put it down and get on with the task wouldn't have been too hard? Or was it because smoking is evil and playing pretend is just an insidious start down the dangerous road to smokes and drugs and all other kinds of anti-social behaviour? Isn't pretend allowed anymore?

I honestly don't know these things, so that's why I'm asking.