Son Being Hurt at School

kids are kids and boys are especially rough and in this age group this is typical behavior. my niece gets in tussles with boys too because that's all she plays with. She gets hurt and lots of times won't tell the teacher because the kid that hurt her is a friend or if she falls down and hurts herself, she doesn't want to stop playing long enough to get attention. If your kid was the one "bullying" you wouldn't want him to be expelled. My 5 month old is already rolling around the floor tussling with others at school - it's so natural. I'm in the healthcare field too, but I work in rehab. Try talking to the other parents there and see if they are having similar problems.

ok so i am seeing this typical behavior being mentioned and why that is all fine and dandy a few times but as much as you are saying that is ENOUGH!! i would take my child and find another center for them to be in that is safe. That to me sounds like an unsafe environment and if they are not going to do anything you should. Personally i think that is a bit much and quite ridiculous! Constant behavior like that from other children is going to end up making him not want to be around people that he doesn't know and end up shying away from them. that is not healthy and that is my opinion.

i would also contact the state that you live in's health department and child care services...if they are running a day care then they fall under the state. I don't care what they are telling you that is WRONG!

Your statement of "today he had a scratch across his face that no on knew about" tells me this is not a safe place. If they were doing their job they would be present to intervene on your sons behalf. Accidents will happen, people can run to stop something they see happening and still not be able to stop it. But this is too many incidents for a 2 yr. old.

I have nearly 15 years in Child Care. I am appalled that your care provider doesn't have to be accountable to the state as a child care center. In Oklahoma if they are open more than 15 hours a week they are required to have a license and regular inspections, whether it's a church or not. Child care is child care. I would say contact the state at:

http://www.dhr.state.al.us/page.asp?pageid=255

Here's a web site for them:
http://nrc.uchsc.edu/STATES/AL/alabama.htm

The link to the state of Alabama regulations:
http://nrc.uchsc.edu/STATES/AL/al_all.pdf

#22 on page 10 defines supervision as "Responsibility for each child and accountability for his/her care by
giving direct and full attention to the children."

Your child is NOT being supervised well. I can guarantee that teacher knows who the trouble kids are and that she should be on top of this situation. Your child is being neglected by this teacher, your son should be able to be safe in this environment. I know if my Licensing worker got a complaint about the type of thing you are telling us about that I would have a visit the next day.

Pg. 99 gives you the address where you can get a written copy of this booklet.

Pg 105/106/107/108 Alabama Law-This explains what qualifies a Church, and why they may not have to be licensed. It still won't hurt to talk to a licensing worker and ask her opinion about the number of incident reports and the level of injuries he is receiving. I have dismissed children who I felt put the other children at risk for injury. One was 20 months old and huge. He pulled a 3 yr. old around by the hair while I was running to intervene and all my teachers were attending other children on the play ground. I discussed this with the parent and he thought it was cute. His "boy" was so strong...he only came a few days. He was not acting appropriate for my center.

As a final thought, you can always choose another facility. Tell the Director this level of care your son is receiving is not up to your standard and if it does not change that you will take him elsewhere.

I taught pre-school for 3 years, most of that time I had 2 year olds. While I was there we had lots of biters, hitters and some targets. It's possible that for whatever reason there is a kid or two in your son's class that are targeting him. When we had that issue we moved the child who was getting targeted to a different class where they would be safe, depending on the age and maturity of the child they would go to the 18 mo class or the 3 year old class and that was never a problem again. We also had the policy of not kicking a kid out of pre-school for that kind of behavior, therefore we got lots of kids who had been kicked out of 2 or 3 centers, with this in mind we would watch those kids very closely.

Understand, in day care, just like in parenting, you cannot watch every child every second of every day and scratches and bruises may happen without you seeing where they came from. It's a horrible feeling to see a mark on a child that wasn't there when they were brought in that day and not know where it came from, but it does happen.

If the director is not concerned and is not willing to do anything about it, I would consider going to another center. I know it's hard to find a good center with openings, but if the people watching out for your most precious possession is not willing to help you keep him safe...I would find someone who is. God bless.

Have you signed any type of contract before sending your son to this daycare? If so, does it mention anything about releasing the center from liability in case of an accident? If it does, I would definitely take your son out of that center immediately. The center should come up with a discipline/suspension/expulsion system. Depending on what has happened, the center and the employees could be held liable for injuries to another child. Also, what exactly do the incident reports say? Are they informational, a release of liability, etc. If it happens again, refuse to sign it and see what happens.

Another question is, are the same children hitting him or is it a different one every time? If it's the same child, I would ask for a meeting with the director and the child's parents and see if you can come to some sort of resolution. If other children are being injured, get their parents together too. If it's a different child every time, that probably won't help, because it might just be a one time thing. Even so, there should still be a system in place to give warnings, etc. I just can't believe that a daycare would not have some sort of procedure to handle children that are causing serious injuries. After what you've said, I'm not even sure it's worth it to try and fix anything. If the director and assistant director are not receptive to you now, I don't think they would enforce a policy that they felt they had no choice to create. I would probably just find another daycare and make sure that they have the policies in place that you are looking for. Good luck and I hope your son feels better!