Originally Posted by Christina72684:
Besides little things here and there that are bound to happen, how often do kids get hurt at your daycare? We've been open 3.5 years with 2 locations and I can count on one hand the number of times a kid has gotten hurt enough to be worried about (like one kid who was 9 months and walking lost balance and fell on a round table, giving himself a really bad black eye, and one kid walked into a room that he wasn't supposed to be in and came out 30 seconds later with his mouth bleeding but we never found out what happened). No one's broken a bone or anything like that, so I think we're doing pretty good.
I ask because yesterday one of my preschoolers was running (which I tell him over and over to stop) and he tripped over his own feet and fell on a low table, the ONLY table in the whole place that doesn't have rounded corners. He hit the corner straight on, right on the middle of his forehead. It was bleeding EVERYWHERE!!! The cut is probably 1-2" wide and might need stitches but they're trying glue right now. Of course the parents blame me (not directly but I can tell they're pissed), even though they know he runs and I tell him to stop. Accidents happen and I think we've done pretty good in the past 3.5 years.
I'm sorry this happened to you.
Please take what I say with a kind heart.... but as the parents, I'd be pissed too.
You yourself said he runs and runs and you've told him a million times so if you KNOW he runs, you need to either change the environment to prevent the running or have someone walk WITH the child to prevent him from running.
Kids have a hard time with impulse control and running inside is often impulsive and not something they do purposely. Even if it was purposeful, the environment also lends to this and if it is set up correctly with no wide open spaces in which to run, the running is usually eliminated.
In cases where it isn't something fixable by moving around the furniture, then you need to provide assistance to that child. Have an adult hold his hand when moving from one activity to another. Have him sit until he needs to move to the next activity and then either assist him or supervise him so that he does not run.
Ultimately, it IS your responsibility to make sure the children do not get hurt and to do everything in your power to see that it is a safe place for them, REGARDLESS of what behaviors the parents are aware of or not....especially at 3.5 years old. He is really old enough to understand but too young to be the only one responsible for it. kwim?
Hopefully, the parents will come around and not be too upset and hopefully the daycare boy connects his running inside to being hurt so that the experience has some impact on him.
