DS being kicked by another child, nursery failed to notice

[LexiLexi]

WWYD? I am so, so upset.

DS 3.5, came home from nursery with a couple of bruises on his shins on Tuesday. I asked him how it happened, he said he didn't know but seemed happy enough so I left it at that.

Yesterday came home with four more bruises on his shins. He said he wasn't sure what had happened, but he might have fallen over. I raised concerns with the Nursery Manager that someone might be kicking him & asked them to investigate how/when this could happen & also to keep a very close eye.

Today, I discover even more bruises. It turns out that some kid is repeatedly kicking him while they change their shoes, meanwhile, my son is asking this kid to stop 😥

I am heartbroken that they have failed to protect him & feel absolutely awful.

Oh poor you (and poor DS! But he will bounce back soon). On the one hand I'd say, little children do kick/hit/bite each other - it's part of learning and testing boundaries and managing emotions when growing up, and though it's most unfortunate that your DS is on the wrong side of it, he would be unlikely to escape a pre school setting without being the target of this in one form of another. My own DS (2.5) has been bitten badly by another child, on more than one occasion - the care givers can't be everywhere. He is now, I'm sorry to say, going through a hitting phase himself. We are trying to manage it and he is getting better (I expect it has a lot to do with recently gaining a younger sibling) but I'm sure somewhere some poor parent is feeling very bitter towards my son!

The other side to this is that now you know what is going on, you should tell the nursery what you expect, that your DS be separated/protected from this child at shoe changing times and that you hope the child is being told that you don't kick etc etc. You can let DS know that mummy has asked them to keep a special eye out and if it happens again he should tell a grown up immediately (and not kick back, if you think he might try to do this? It would be a natural reaction). Please don't continue to feel this bad. I know they're our babies but he will get over it very quickly I am sure.