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Georgia Babies
myrall
member
A rock and a hard place.
myrall
member
Last night, I found more bite marks on Geneva's arm. I'm furious.
So, I get to school this morning for drop off and I show the bite mark to her teacher and a supervisor. Her teacher is VERY quick to say, "Well, it didn't happen while I was in there." Really? You're gonna pass the blame that quickly? The supervisor (who's really the only reason we've stayed at the school this long) says sometimes it happens so fast we can't catch it. Okay. Fine. But Geneva screams bloody murder when someone takes a cracker from her. Are you telling me she didn't make a peep after some kid sunk their chompers into her?!? Really?
To complicate matters, there is only one one-year old class at the school. There are currently about 12 children in Geneva's class with two teachers. Does that ratio sound right? 1:6?
I plan on speaking to the Director today. My choices appear to be:
1. Remove Geneva from the school immediately. I only have one other daycare option in my area. There are a number of pros and cons to the other facility - the main con being dumping Geneva into a completely unfamiliar environment. I also like that I can send her lunch with her and the other facility provides meals.
2. Ask to transfer her early into the two-year old class where the communication skills might be a tad more developed beyond biting. Her teachers constantly comment on how her maturity level (and verbal/physical skills) matches those of her older classmates (20 months and above). They transition children to the 2YO class directly after their 2nd birthday.
3. Leave her where she is, get over it, and thank God when she naturally move up to the next class.
What do I do?
Lil' G was born April 25, 2008!
Big C was born September 28, 2011!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: A rock and a hard place.
We went through this with Alec recently in the 2 year class room--we addressed it with the director and the teacher together. They acknowledged that Alec was bitten and they missed it.
This also occurred in our prior daycare in Atlanta.
I think that in the classrooms, there can be biting that can happen that they don't see and the teacher needs to acknowledge this and try and correct the situation.
Before you move her, I would talk to the director about the teacher's attitude. I know they can't catch 100% of the biting incidents but they should strive to.
I am so sorry you have to go through this.
How often has she been bitten and you don't know about it? I know that bites can happen, but if they are happening frequently and the teachers are seeing it that would be a problem for me. 6:1 ratio is legal and common at least where my kids have gone to MMO. (also that is how it is with Girl Scouts--not sure that is the same for teaching in a daycare).
If they won't do #2 and won't work with you on it then I would do # 1. I think trying to work it out is a good first step, but they would get a very short leash and if nothing changed than I would remove. She is little and will adapt. Maybe a little hard at first, but in no time she will love her new school. At least that has been my experience with new things.
Good Luck and I hope they work with you.
A little backstory. This incident marks the THIRD time she's been bitten and I was not notified. The first time, a teacher's child bit her while under that same teacher's supervision. The teacher violated protocol by not reporting it. The second time she was bitten, protocol was violated again because I was not called to be notified when it happened and I found the bite on her arm. The teachers both knew it happened. This third time, one teacher is claiming ignorance and I have no idea what the other one says (but I suspect it will be similar to the first teacher's).
Seriously what is wrong with these people at daycares. How can she still be working there? If the director doesn't do something I would report them and I would remove my child. If they are so willy nilly about this what else will they be so flip about? I am so sorry you have to go through this. Your child should be in the best possible care and if the director feels differently than I would find a new place. JMO I am having my own problems with my daughters 2nd grade class (it is a private school)
With this background--I would seriously consider taking her out.
If it was a one-time incident, I would say give it another shot, but 3 x and with the circumstances--that is not right.
I would still let the director know what's going on so it doesn't happen to someone else's child
I would get my ducks in a row and move her somewhere else. I don't like that this is the third time you've had to address the SAME problem. Those teachers should be watching Geneva like a HAWK at this point and I think it's absolutely unacceptable that this happened again without you being notified.
Is there really only one other option? I don't want you to move her to a place you aren't 100% comfortable with, I think you'd be trading one problem for another. I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. And I'm sorry Geneva keeps getting bit
As far as the other room goes...I have mixed feelings. Emma moved up rooms early and while her maturity was usually on par with the older kids I felt like at the age G is now she needed a different level of care than the older kids got. More hands on. But, I guess that varies from school to school. Does that make sense? If not, a specific example is when Emma was about 18 mos. they moved her up to the 2's. I finally figured out after a couple of days of her being cranky and starving to death when I picked her up that she wasn't really eating lunch. I stopped by the school one day at lunch time and she was so little that she couldn't reach the table to eat
And none of the teachers did anything about it. They didn't even notice. Totally unacceptable to me but the truth is all the other kids sat and ate without the teachers having to do anything and it just didn't occur to them that Emma needed to be treated differently. But that is one example of about 5 problems we had before things smoothed out in that room.
God, this is awful. I love everything else about this school except for this. I can't believe I have to yank my child because two teachers can't take it upon themselves to follow protocol (or just watch my kid properly)!
I fully plan on reporting them to the licensing board and, if I get in with the director today, I'll let her know I'm doing so. I feel like I've failed Geneva because this happened again. Guess I better start checking the other daycare...
If you do love the school, than maybe the other classroom is an option?
Just wanted to say that I HATED Alec's teachers in his 1-yr old class. They were checked out and we had lots of biting going on. Everything improved 100% when he went to the 2 year old room. They moved him at 21 months and he did great in the new classroom.
I'm sorry you are faced with this decision
I do agree with the PP's though that removing her is the right thing to do. If they have failed to see the bite or report it to you on three separate occasions I would highly doubt that they are consistent in responding to the biter and that is the real problem. We all know that you have to stay on top of issues like this with toddlers to correct them and if the biter is not being corrected it's just not going get better. It so stinks that your only recourse seems to be to move her, but I would not feel my DD was safe in that situation either
DD- 9
DS-6
c/p- April 2016
missed m/c- 6w5d; discovered 8w2d- September 2016
Buddy, you haven't failed her!!! Failing her would be to turn a blind eye and never even address the problem once, much less the third time. You are being persistent and thorough in making sure that this daycare and the teachers are doing the right thing by your child and thereby other children. You're a hero, not a zero
AGREE with K&P!!!!!!! You are a great mom and you shouldn't feel bad at all!
My 2c...
At our Preschool, the 1 year old classes both younger and older have 8 students and 2 teachers. The 2 year old and above can handle 15 students with 2 teachers.
I talked to my pedi about biting as I know its an issue for the age of the class I am "teaching"....the 1 year olds. From our conversation, its behavioral and developmental, some kids go through a biting stage others don't. As a teacher I just have to keep an eye out....but you know there are more of them than us, so its impossible to witness 100% of what goes on in detail, we do our best.
I think because this is the 3rd time its happened you should either move her into another class at that school or another. Those teachers sound too defensive AND its happened 3 times. I am so sorry, I don't have daycare experience, so I am not the perfect expert, I just think it sounds like those teachers aren't the best for your interest....especially if they are in denial. You def need to have a heart to heart with the director about your options. Maybe you need to give her a Iast chance warning.....I mean times are tough and I am sure they don't need to lose your tuition payments.
Good luck, hoping I made sense