What to do about childcare centre???

[Oorki Galoorki]

Also very few ccc will ask for a child to be removed from the centre as they are all businesses out to make money which means they need the kids(and ABC esp need the money)

all you can do is talk to your dd that when this child comes near her to move away or to say very loudly STOP! that will get carers attention so they can diffuse the situation.

it will take time for you and your dd to adjust to how things happen in a cc setting. but talk to the director again but dont demand anything just talk about the issue

[misskate]

you can't punish a child in child care, how would you like it if someone was punishing your children???
i understand why you are upset at the situation but look at it from the flip side, if they are allowed to punish that behaviour at day care, are they allowed to punish your child for snatching a toy from someone or throwing a tantrum????
as for the other stuff, my child hasn't had any incidents at day care so i cant comment on that. but i would be mortified if i found out my child was getting delibeartely beaten up.
sorry if my reply seems nasty, it isnt meant to be...

[Visitor8]

you can't punish a child in child care, how would you like it if someone was punishing your children???
i understand why you are upset at the situation but look at it from the flip side, if they are allowed to punish that behaviour at day care, are they allowed to punish your child for snatching a toy from someone or throwing a tantrum????

Umm yes you can! I worked in all child care areas, centre, OSHC and FDC and each had a 'naughty spot/time out' rule.

I would hope that if my child was hurting other kids he would get punished! At the FDC they are at, if they misbehave they go on the naughty step.

At home I disiplin them for things, and I would hope that they weren't let to run amok when they are elsewhere. If they snatch toys, they go in the corner, if they throw a tantrum, they get left to scream it out, or they go in the corner.

They don't do these things usually, and have thrown very few tantrums in their lives (I can count on my hand!) and it is all because... they got ignored or went in the corner.

Let these behaviours go, and you will end up with problems lasting far longer then a couple of weeks until they learn that it's not ok to walk up and snatch a toy or bite someone. And 3 years old is DEFINITLY old enough to know better... I would be horrified to find my 3 year old still biting or snatching.

[Floweryfields]

Actually, that's not correct. They have to have policies, yes. They have to have parent info, yes. To cover the walls with pages and pages of brightly coloured paper and words, as many ABCs do, well, that's actually not in the Regs of any state.

Actually - I am the director of a childcare centre, so I DO know - some of it is state regs, alot of it is requirements to fulfill certain aspects of the National Accreditation process. I haven't actually been into an ABC so I can't comment on how much stuff they have up, I have quite a bit in my centre and yes we have biters, but it has nothing to do with over or under stimulation (or colourful pages in the foyer - mine are not in the rooms anyway). Some children are just biters.

[chel]

This is just my opinion, I worked in childcare - and have a son, so I'm seeing two sides of the situation.

Firstly, it would break my heart, I wouldn't put my own son in care because I wouldn't be able to control what was happening to him, I'm a hypocrit, but I just couldn't do it and I really admire mothers (and fathers) who have the strength to put their child in care.

Secondly, its really hard when on child is hitting/biting/bullying another - because its one persons precious baby hurting another persons precious baby - its a no-win situations for the carers! Its horrible, it was the worst part of my job filling out accident reports and explaining to parents that their child was hurt one way or another while in my care, but sometimes there is nothng the carer can do.

BUT LASTLY, I think you childcare center has handled it poorly. It sounds like they dont want to own up to whats going on because they dont want you to think its a poorly managed center - but like, when you came to them the first time, had they sat down and worked out an action plan, would you feel more confident with them? Honestly, I think its disgusting that they didn't have an accident report for her lip, and as someone else mentione they should have called you before you came to let you know so it wasn't a shock when you arrived to pick her up, and they should have done the same for any of the followig injuries, as when its an ongoing issue, you're stacking up evidence that says to you that the carers have no idea whats going on and they dont care - this might not be the case, but its definately how it appears.

Had they done all that, when accidents happen, mistake are made, children just be children, it wouldn't feel so much like the carers simply dont care. Yeah?

Anyway, thats just my opinion.

I think you need to talk to the director rather than the child carers involved and/or put your name on some other waiting lists and hope for the best.

Also, I like OlivesMummies suggestion - at my old centre we'd teach the children to put their palm forward and say in a big loud voice "stop, I dont like that" - too cute seeing a 2 year old say that to a 7 month old who's nicked their toy - but also useful for the older children, as when the child whos htting hears that, they often do stop and take note.

[Floweryfields]

I would say the majority of biting occurs in toddlers - as yes, by 3 they definitely do know better. In babies biting is often a form of exploration - testing things out with the teeth, toddlers often do it in frustration - not getting a toy from another child, etc. But by 3, the child will know they are doing the wrong thing.

[Visitor8]

babies is totally different. They often bite for the hell of it, or when they are getting teeth. They don't bite to hurt you. They might bite for a reaction (my son does and he is 6 months) but he smiles at me when I yelp. He is also teething atm.
Is your child in a mixed room? Or a 3-5 room? How old is the child that is hurting her?

[Crystalwings]

I think there is a lack of communication happening between you and the service your DD attends and that you need to organise a meeting with them to discuss the issues you have. Making assumptions about the staff and the biter isn't helpful to you and i'm sure you would feel much better to get this off your chest. These people look after your most precious possesion and you need to be able to talk openly with them. Ask them what strategies they have in place for dealing with the biter.
In regards to removing the child, this is a difficult thing to do in terms of equal opportunity and is an absolute last resort. The service may be trying to implement strategies to help the child which you are not aware of. As mentioned it would be a great idea for you to impower your DD to stick up for herself and to say "stop" in a big voice.

Snugglybean - I understand what your saying about overstimulaion on the walls in CCC. I have done inservice training in this area and am all to aware of the impact this can have on children. However, in my experience this doesn't mean that children don't hit, bite or hurt others. In the centre where I work we only have minimal art displays and the required policies etc on the walls but biting still occurs from time to time. As ausgirl said, some children are just biters. Often children who bite don't just do it in care but do it in other social situations as well.
I have issue with the negative slant you place on all private childcare. It is wrong to say that it doesn't attract as good a staff and often young staff are great because they have lots of enthusiasm and are up to date on best practice. There should be balance in any service with staff and as I have stated in another thread, the private centre I work for is overstaffed. I understand that some private services do give us all a bad name but I have worked in 2 community based centre's which had there own issues. Every centre needs to be treated individually. Independent private centre's are actually on par with community based centre's when it comes to quality. I am pretty anti ABC (also anti McDonalds)but thats just from the ones around where I live and maybe there are some good ones out there and i'm certainly sure that there are some great child care workers working in them as we can't all work in community based centres. I'm sorry to go off topic abit but I am very passionate about this. It's this type of attitude that gets childcare workers nowhere. We all need to stick together and acknowledge that we can't do without eachother and work together for better conditins instead of fighting.

[Floweryfields]

It's this type of attitude that gets childcare workers nowhere. We all need to stick together and acknowledge that we can't do without eachother and work together for better conditins instead of fighting.

Yes I agree totally. I get really tired about the negative spin that is always put on childcare in the media - I am sure you could all understand just how hard it is to do your job on a daily basis when you wake up and there is yet another negative report on childcare in the media - whether it be some silly old bat who thinks writing excellent children's stories qualifies her to have an opinion, or some other report about how damaging childcare is to infants. Until childcare starts getting some positive support, how is anyone supposed to have the courage to improve it?

I also took a particular dislike to the feeling I took from this statement:

the next level of management involved (they hate this)

Yes we hate it, does anyone like having management breathing down their necks? But we hate it because we'd much prefer to work with our families to solve their issues. The feeling I get from that statement (and I may be wrong), is that centres have something to hide and deserve to get management in to check up on them.