Apologies if this has already been answered in another thread.. and also about the length of this thread..
A few weeks ago, my son got scratched by another kid in daycare. I can't include attachments here, so here's a link to the images:
The scratch by his jaw was there from a few weeks ago, made by the same kid. Still healing. The ones by his nose and mouth are from the day prior. Same kid. The "V" above and below his eye are all from that day. Same kid. It looks to be scarring.
He's gotten minor scratches in the past (again, by the same kid). I am aware that daycare injuries happen, so it wasn't really a big deal.
These recent scratches disturbed me, however, and how the daycare director responded hasn't sat well. When she called me to say that it happened, her first words were how my son tried to take another kid's toy and the kid just retaliated because of that, saying it was *his* fault. He was under care of the morning teacher at the time (who I usually see on her phone), and that teacher said she didn't see what happened or hear him cry.
I didn't know how bad it was until later that day when I picked him up. But, on the phone, I told her that obviously my kid has issues with sharing and we'll work on that, but I also asked her what we can do to prevent this in the future - as it seems like its been happening often.
Here's some of the Q & A:
Q: What can we do to prevent this in the future?
A: Well. We notified the parents, and mentioned to make sure the child's nails are clipped. There's not much else we can do.
Q: So.. Whenever my kid is congested and coughing up green phlegm, I get a call to come pick him up. And I do. Can't his parents be notified of the same with his nails, especially since it is a problem?
A: Sickness is different. Sickness calls are mostly for *our staff*. If a staff member is out, I have to go cover down on that staff member's group of kids.
Q: Can teachers check their kids once in a while and notify parents that their kids' nails are not to standard for daycare?
A: You just parents don't understand! You expect teachers to have 12 different eyes and we just can't see everything that goes on. And me, I wear 50 different hats during the day. We can't always be on top of each and every kid all the time.
Q: Can we separate or terminate the other kid?
A: No!
Q: Look, I don't want to have to pull my kid from your daycare, so what can we do about this?
A: I'm not going to tell you what to do or anything, but if you feel you need to pull him from here, then we can certainly do that.
Q: So, our only options are pull him from your daycare or continue to submit him to possibly getting scratched and scarred like this?
A: Look, all we can do is our best and that's all we can do.
There's more to this dialogue. It included lots of rudeness, interruption and yelling from this director. Also, it took a week, but I was able to get off the waiting list for another daycare and move him there.
There are cameras up. For this occurrence, and the past few, I've asked to see footage. She would tell me that hasn't had time to look, or she forgot the password to the system, etc. Obviously, she would have had to see footage for this instance if the morning teacher was the only one there at the time and "didn't see what happened", and claim that it was my son taking another kid's toy. Last year, by the way, I helped her pull footage for not just my son but other kids as well, since she isn't tech savvy.
Is this all just acceptable? Worthy of a complaint to the licensing agency, or just a bad review?
A few weeks ago, my son got scratched by another kid in daycare. I can't include attachments here, so here's a link to the images:
The scratch by his jaw was there from a few weeks ago, made by the same kid. Still healing. The ones by his nose and mouth are from the day prior. Same kid. The "V" above and below his eye are all from that day. Same kid. It looks to be scarring.
He's gotten minor scratches in the past (again, by the same kid). I am aware that daycare injuries happen, so it wasn't really a big deal.
These recent scratches disturbed me, however, and how the daycare director responded hasn't sat well. When she called me to say that it happened, her first words were how my son tried to take another kid's toy and the kid just retaliated because of that, saying it was *his* fault. He was under care of the morning teacher at the time (who I usually see on her phone), and that teacher said she didn't see what happened or hear him cry.
I didn't know how bad it was until later that day when I picked him up. But, on the phone, I told her that obviously my kid has issues with sharing and we'll work on that, but I also asked her what we can do to prevent this in the future - as it seems like its been happening often.
Here's some of the Q & A:
Q: What can we do to prevent this in the future?
A: Well. We notified the parents, and mentioned to make sure the child's nails are clipped. There's not much else we can do.
Q: So.. Whenever my kid is congested and coughing up green phlegm, I get a call to come pick him up. And I do. Can't his parents be notified of the same with his nails, especially since it is a problem?
A: Sickness is different. Sickness calls are mostly for *our staff*. If a staff member is out, I have to go cover down on that staff member's group of kids.
Q: Can teachers check their kids once in a while and notify parents that their kids' nails are not to standard for daycare?
A: You just parents don't understand! You expect teachers to have 12 different eyes and we just can't see everything that goes on. And me, I wear 50 different hats during the day. We can't always be on top of each and every kid all the time.
Q: Can we separate or terminate the other kid?
A: No!
Q: Look, I don't want to have to pull my kid from your daycare, so what can we do about this?
A: I'm not going to tell you what to do or anything, but if you feel you need to pull him from here, then we can certainly do that.
Q: So, our only options are pull him from your daycare or continue to submit him to possibly getting scratched and scarred like this?
A: Look, all we can do is our best and that's all we can do.
There's more to this dialogue. It included lots of rudeness, interruption and yelling from this director. Also, it took a week, but I was able to get off the waiting list for another daycare and move him there.
There are cameras up. For this occurrence, and the past few, I've asked to see footage. She would tell me that hasn't had time to look, or she forgot the password to the system, etc. Obviously, she would have had to see footage for this instance if the morning teacher was the only one there at the time and "didn't see what happened", and claim that it was my son taking another kid's toy. Last year, by the way, I helped her pull footage for not just my son but other kids as well, since she isn't tech savvy.
Is this all just acceptable? Worthy of a complaint to the licensing agency, or just a bad review?
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