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.

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Something very similar happened to my DS when he was in 3 year old preschool. His pants were too long for him, he tripped over them, hit the c or er of a bookshelf just right, and ended up needed stitches on his head.

Head wounds bleed like nothing else. These things happen. They could happen to him at school, a friend's house ... Unfortunately it happened on your watch. Hopefully they understand and think rationally about it when things calm down.

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I've been in business for 1.5 years and have only seen blood once - 2 year old dropped a toy record player on her toe and turned part of her toenail black underneath. I felt so bad!!! It was her first day back from a 2 month long vacation..!

Other minor incidences (tripping, bumping into each other) happen almost on a daily basis.

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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.

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I actually have arranged the furniture so there isn't a clear path for them to run, they have to run in and out and swerve around tables and other objects. That being said, it's still possible to run, just more difficult and doesn't stop him. He's very stubborn, has behavior issues, and any time I just want to talk to him about something he runs away from me (not sure if he got that from home or what). I'd be pissed too if this happened to my daughter, but she's always getting bumps and bruises (actually she has a nice bruise on her forehead and she has no clue how it got there). I'm around kids enough to know that as much as it sucks to see a kid get hurt, it's going to happen and there's no way for me to walk around with 10 kids at the same time to make sure everyone is 100% safe and careful all the time.

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Kids do get hurt and I'm sorry this one did. I also think its great that you have the room arranged to prohibit the running but I wonder if this little one may have some other issues going on if he is so wired all the time...??

It's also not fair or okay to justify it by saying you have 10 kids so you can't make sure everyone is 100% safe. all the time.

It's your job to do EVERYTHING you can to provide a 100% safe environment and if you have too many kids to do that, then you have too many kids.

If this child requires one on one supervision and you can't provide that, then you need to let the parents know you are not able to provide the services he needs and let them go.

I totally understand that kids get hurt. I do. But it's still our job to EVERYTHING within our power to make sure they don't....even if that means limiting the number of kids you have in attendance.

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It is your responsibility to provide a safe environment for the children you care for !! The child your talking about is not weird nor is he a behavior issues !!!!!! He is a child ! Who loves to run and play like other children !!! If you were truly having issues you should have made his parents aware ! Which you did not ! They inquire daily about his progress! The table that he was injured on does not met safety requirements for daycare setting it does not have protective covers on it ! It's a homemade table !!! As a license daycare you are liable !!!! If I were his parents I would contact legal aid ! For the injury and for your post you did admit you wrote ,And everyone knows what child you are talking about ! You are very unprofessional ! Hopefully no other children will be injured in your care! This child will carry a scar on his forehead for life !!!!!!! Tracey

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1. The environment is safe as long as the rules are followed (no running allowed)
2. I never said he was weird, ever. And he does have behavior issues with me. He doesn't listen, talks back, hits, etc. Which I know is normal with boys that age, but it is still an issue.
3. That table is from IKEA. We have had licensing as well as P2Q out to inspect both of our sites and we have been approved for all of our furniture the way it currently is.
4. Legal aid?! What? Because I posted on a DAYCARE FORUM FOR PROVIDERS AND EMPLOYEES a question I had? Because I wanted advice so I could get better? That's wrong?
5. Everyone knows what child I am talking about? Until this afternoon I doubt anyone in our town even knew this site existed. I don't know how it got found but I never once named names, nor has my business name been mentioned so no one should know what child I am talking about.

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dont bat an eyelashes with the unreg.....

You are doing the right thing. Coming to seek out help and improve. really at this point that is all you can do. you cant take back what has already happened.

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I've been open for 25 years and only had 3 incidents where someone really got hurt.

One was when a boy didn't grab onto the next rung while going across the monkey bars. He fell to the ground, landed on his arm and broke his wrist.

Another time is when a child closed the sliding van door on another child's hand and after realizing she had hit the girl's hand, she pulled the door back open. The hook of the door went halfway through the girl's hand and back out! Since we were getting into the car to go get the school kids, I rushed to get the school kids and then took the girl to the hospital. As many bones as you have in your hand, the hook missed all of her bones. She just had a deep wound in her hand that had to be wrapped up until it healed.

The third time was when a child slammed the sliding glass door on his own finger.

So, in 25 years, I had 2 major accidents and 1 smashed finger.

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If you have told the child not to run and he is old enough that he should understand that rule/command, it is HIS fault for not listening to the rule. No one can make rubber room for kids so they never get hurt. If this child has a habit of running inside even though you have told him not to, if he didn't run into the table, I'm sure soon enough, he'd run into the wall and bust his head on that. We can't remove all the walls, now can we?

The fact that a child doesn't listen to the rules which results in him/her getting hurt is the CHILD'S fault for not obeying the rules! When are we going to make children responsible for their actions when they misbehave??? When I was a child and I got hurt for not obeying the rules, I got a stern, "That's what happens when you don't obey the rules. Now, are you going to stop ...(running in the house, jumping on the sofa, etc. whatever rule I disobeyed.) I learned quickly to obey the rules! Of course, my parents tended to my medical needs, hugged me and told me they love me, but I definitely got that stern lecture as well. They certainly didn't say, "Gee, we're bad parents because we have furniture that the child ran herself into." NO! I was the one being bad for not listening to the rules, therefore I got myself hurt!

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THIS!! Everything THIS!!

In 7 years (and a full house of 10 kids), I've had only ONE boy get hurt (besides the ordinary scratches from playing outside). But, that ONE boy gets hurt almost weekly! You can never fully control your environment when a child is determined to not listen to the rules. It doesn't matter how many bumpers, pads, gates, or obstacles you put in their path. If they are determined to test boundaries (with their caregivers as well as themselves!), they will get hurt in the process.
You can't run around with bubble wrap hoping to catch every turn they make! I'm not even joking when I tell you that I caught him hanging from the playroom curtains... the SHORT kind on a small window.... 4 feet from the ground... I had my back turned for 10 seconds and I still have no idea how he reached them! Part of me thinks he has superpowers, but unfortunately not the self-healing kind. Luckily, his parents think the same!

It doesn't hurt to ALWAYS document every instance though. I take pictures (w/my phone) of whatever injury he did, and take pictures of whatever he did it with, as well as a description.

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I 100% disagree with this line of thinking.

As a provider who has also been in business for 2 decades, I have NEVER EVER blamed a child for his injuries.

How is the fact that the provider cannot provide an environment that is not a good fit for the child the child's fault?

OP stated several times that she has told the child not to run but the child doesn't listen......

There is a saying that I think fits this situation:




I do NOT mean that harshly but it is 100% the providers responsibility to insure that the child has a safe environment that meets HIS needs.

As a provider you don't get to simply say the child doesn't listen and call it good. That's a huge cop out!

You do whatever it takes to meet the child's needs or you let him go so the family can find an environment that does meet his needs. The talking back, the hitting, running etc is NOT "normal" for his age. He is obviously not thriving in the environment he is in and if he is causing this much trouble, then it's pretty clear that something is NOT working.

Whether that be the physical environment, the other kids, the structure of the day, the teacher-child relationship or the child himself I don't know but finding out and figuring out a way to meet his needs IS the providers responsibility.

If you can't figure that out, then like I said let him go but this continual string of excuses is concerning.

I totally understand that things can and do happen as the world is not perfect but in every post I've read so far there has been nothing but excuses as to why it's not the providers fault.

I said it before and I will say it again....it IS your responsibility to provide a safe environment for the children in your care and if caring for 10 children at one time is too much for one provider then you have too many kids!!!

You cannot continue to say "The environment is safe....as long as he follows the rules"
That is like saying "The knife is safe on the table as long as he doesn't touch it"

I'm sorry but that just doesn't cut it in my book. The environment is obviously NOT safe for this child. If he is not like the other kids in OP's care (NOT saying he is bad...just more physically active than the others) then he is NOT a good fit for the program. The OP said he DOES have behavior issues with her. She is acknowledging that he DOES have issues WITH HER.

We are talking about a preschooler here.
I think the expectations are off.....

They ARE impulsive, they talk out of turn, they have trouble controlling themselves both physically and emotionally, they have difficulty seeing the big picture, they are just trying to figure out how to make the transition between being a toddler and being a big kid.

I am floored that the finger is being pointed at this child.

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In 8 years I have had one bloody nose (from a playground accident), two with teeth through the tongue or lip (normal playing but lost their balance) and one serious bite (termed the biting child).

There have been some scraps, bumps and bruises from normal play as well but those are the 4 times I had to call parents and the children involved needed to see a doctor.

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Accidents happen...my enviorment is set up so it discourages running but of course doesn't complelty stop it from happening. I'm all for logical consequences, you run where you know you're not supposed to? You may get hurt. Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for him!

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I'm with BC for 100%.

Environment is not only stuff in your daycare, first of all, it's your actions as a provider. Any daycare environment can not be safe if a provider acts wrong.

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When I worked at a center I had a two year old trip and fall on a concrete curb outside and cut his forehead open (I could see bone, very traumatizing for me actually). Strangely it didn't bleed very much, and I went with him in his dad's car to the emergency room to get stitches. Luckily his parents were very understanding and realized it wasn't my fault (the fact that the school has a cement curb going around the whole playground is another story, and makes me cringe now that I know what can happen). Licensing came by and asked my account of what happened, and nobody got in trouble or anything. At my home daycare the worst that has happened was a girl slipping on a book that was on the floor while she was running, and she cut the bottom of her chin on a tabletop (had rounded corners but just the force of her bony chin hitting it gave her a little gash). Parents were understanding, and didn't hold anything against me. Actually another time my own son threw a train at another boy and gave him a tiny cut on his forehead, but it ended up leaving a tiny scar/indentation, which I would have been pissed about but his mom never mentioned anything. Maybe I just have really chill parents!

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I agree with both sides. Yes, we have to be vigilant and be sure our set up is appropriate and safe. But there are just some kids that if you are not constantly on top of them they are constantly running, climbing, throwing, etc. no matter how your daycare is set up. In these cases, at least for me, the parents would be aware and if it were a case where I felt the child would hurt himself or someone else with their behavior then I would have to let him go. I can not watch one child all day long and still carry out my day. Nor do I want to.

That being said I do also believe in logical consequences to a degree. I would never want a child to get hurt on purpose, but sometimes they have to see for themselves before they get it (for something minor of course)

Running in the house for some reason drives me up a wall! My dcks are reminded frequently to use walking feet, even if they aren't running to begin with. For example If I call them over to do a puzzle "Come on over and we'll do this puzzle together. Walking feet only". If they run they have to go back and do it again walking.

Right now I have one dcb that is here only 3 days/week. The only time he goes outside is when he is with me. He has so much pent up energy, he just wants to run. So when he is here we start out by putting music on and getting the wiggles out. It helps a bit, but I definitely have to remind him often of our walking rule.

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In my 21 years of child care I have never had an injury requiring a visit to a doctor. I have the same pack of band aids I started with in 1993. I have the same contents in my first aid kit.

The worst thing has been a skinned knee.

I'm a safety freak.

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