My nephew was hit in nursery, what can I do?

Question

My sister picked my nephew up from school and was shocked to learn that he had been attacked by another child. Hes only 2 and 4 months old and they were left in a room unsupervised. Can anyone advise me on what i should do or more info on the law?

Answer 1

"attacked" is not so descriptive.. please clear this up, what exactly happend?

I am sure a lawyer's opinion should be taken into consideration too.

They really start young nowadays! Even  2 year olds are desensitized to violence.

We need to teach our children to defend themselves.

Defense againts bodily harm is a legal right. Teach him to do so! Karate, Taekwondo maybe?

It is good that he has expereinced this early on. Now he and you can do something about it, learn and move on!

Answer 2

Your sister needs to go to the Director or whoever is in charge and set up a meeting. Stay calm and by the way how do you know they were left unsupervised. If she has proof than mention that. Let the Director then take care of the problem. The Teacher that was left was in charge needs to be reprimanded on why she wasn't nearby. Now mind you children will bite and hit even if you are standing right next to them. It happens all the time and is a normal way of children dealing with their emotions at this age when they cannot express or not taught to express them in the proper manner.

You let your sister deal with this. You can sit with her for support, but this is her child.

Answer 3

Hitting is very common among toddlers. They love to get a reaction out of someone. And when they do, they'll keep doing it.

There was a toddler in my daughters class that would hit her. Then one day, she shoved him back and he fell on his bum and cried. He never touched her again.

I wouldn't use a daycare that leaves children unsupervised, that is a poor quality daycare!! You get what you pay for

Answer 4

good grief -they admitted he was left unsupervised?  Have your sister call your local job and family services and report this - that is inexcusable and why daycares have such a bad name anymore.

Answer 5

tell the other kid's mom about it.

Answer 6

Think mattfromasia has hit the nail on the head with this one!  Might also be useful for your sister to look at the information she received when your nephew started at the Nursery; most have policies/home-school agreements that relate to situations such as this, and it could be useful to know about policies relating to supervision/behaviour management for this specific Nursery if you want to discuss how the situation was dealt with.

Answer 7

YOU should do nothing. It is up to your sister to talk to the supervisor at the nursery.

Answer 8

Hence the "terrible" twos, they don't know the right thing, but you could talk to the owner, about who the teacher was, and what happened, he can help you out, but I would clarfiy it, he probably wasn't attacked just struk. I'd leave this to my sister. After all it is her child.

Answer 9

I wouldn't be concerned about your child being hit, so much as I would be VERY concerned that he was left unattended in a room of other children. Toddlers should NEVER be left unattended even for a few minutes. You should contact the supervisor there and if this is a recurring thing, the police. This is a bit drastic but read:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...

and:

http://nrc.uchsc.edu/

Answer 10

the parent might want to ask the provider what she did about the hitting...thing is...kids will be kids and no matter how closely you watch them hitting does happen and its all in how its handled that will make a difference...redirection is key...good luck!

Answer 11

ur sister probably should contact the supervisors to tell them what happend so they can contact the other child's parent/gardian. it isnt ur problem...ur  sister is the one in control.

Answer 12

I do agree that this is your sister's responsibility.  

Let's consider the child's age:  Two.  At two years old hitting is very common.  These children are feeling many new feelings and really just starting to understand about sharing and other children's feelings...and usually they have a limited ability to verbalize their feelings and problem solving is just being learned.  I'm interested in the term "attacked".  What really happened?  I would go to the teacher first and also the director with the proper attitude.  Please do not just assume.  Find out if they really were unsupervised or if this is just an assumption?  Even when I'm in the same room with the children I have...and I have only 6...there are times that I'm unable to get to the two toddlers before one decides to take it upon himself and hits the other or takes the toy.

Just some thoughts for you to ponder.  If this hasn't happened before...please consider if it is necessary to bring the law in.  If this is a common place...that's a different matter.  Go to the school and teacher first!!!

Answer 13

Hitting is common among toddlers, but it's usually not because they need to get a reaction out of people.  It's because they lack communication skills necessary to talk.  That's not to say it should be tolerated.

What do you mean by "attacked?"  

The question here is not that he was hit by another student, that is going to happen and you teach children how to touch gently when that happens.  The question here revolves around the sentence, "they were left in a room unsupervised."  This should never happen with children at a day care, especially toddlers.  Your sister needs to first talk to the school to be clear on what happened and what steps are taken to insure it does not happen again.  If she feels like they are taking steps, then she can have the decision to leave or stay.  If they are not taking steps to stop this from happening again, I hope she leaves.

As far as legalities, children need to be within sight of the teacher at all times.  This doesn't mean the teacher is looking directly at them 100% of the time (which would not be possible in a good day care).  It means that you can't, for example, have them in another room (which is the case here).  Your local health and human services department is likely to be in charge of licensing day cares.  Your sister should contact them to discuss the issue.  Be sure you have good details as to what happened.

Answer 14

I would suggest hiring a lawyer to represent your nephew in a lawsuit against his parents for neglecting their parental duty to raise him and leaving him in an unsafe enviroment under the care of strangers.