Daycare Drama

You can’t always protect your kids against everything. I put Bronwen’s health, wellbeing and character building into the hands of a relative stranger every morning when I drop her off at daycare. And every evening when I come to pick her up I am relieved to see that she is fine, well fed, and happy. Yesterday evening was different, however, and the experience has left me a little nervous about dropping her off this morning.

I arrived to pick her up around 5pm and I walked the long hall all the way down to the end where her classroom is located. I usually stand outside the window of the door and try to observe her before she sees me. Usually, she is playing with the other kids, fighting over toys and riding around on their little kid scooters. I stood there scanning the room and was unable to find her. This is not terribly unusual as sometimes she is playing behind the changing table and is therefore obstructed from view. I opened the door and walked into the room. The woman working said hi and told me that Bronwen had been taken down to another room with some of the older kids (14-24months).*

I walked all the way back down the long hall to the first room and did my usual peek into the room. To my absolute horror, here is what I observed. Like wild dogs circling their prey, three 2 year olds were circling a seated Bronwen. Two of the kids were poking her in the eyes, and one little boy was pulling her hair. She was just sitting there looking resigned, like this happens all the time! I looked around for the teachers, one was vacuuming, hence drowning out Bronwen’s cries, and the other was straightening up around the room. The boy pulling her hair grabbed a huge handful and tugged so hard she fell backwards. It was then that I burst into the room, which made one of the teachers look over to see what was happening.

“What is going on?” I asked rushing over to pick up my screaming child.

“No pulling hair!” the lady yelled at the little boy, pulling him over to the corner, I think to avoid my question.

“All the big kids are picking on you Bronwen!” I said loudly, “let’s get out of here.”

I turned to the no longer vacuuming teacher and said, “When is Bronwen scheduled to move into this room? I don’t think it should be anytime soon.”

“No, she is far down on the list,” the teacher said looking sheepish.

“Good.”

Little kids are pretty resilient. Bronwen had stopped crying soon after I picked her up and was not injured. When we went to leave, I put her down next to the little boy who had pulled her hair and told to say “bye bye!” He seemed to be feeling sorry after the teacher had yelled at him and he was trying to reach out and pat her. She leaned over towards him and punched him in the chest. I had to reprimand her for hitting, but it was pretty great. I won’t have to worry about her too much.