to feel that I didn't react quick enough?

[fatoftheland]

I was in work today (work in a tough, inner city secondary) when I saw a young lad get hit in the head. I only saw out of the corner of my eye. I ran up to him as soon as I saw it but he was already crying by then.

Feel absolutely distraught that I didn't do anything to prevent it (not sure I could have).

Reported it but the scenario keeps playing in my mind. Feel so sad for him, why should children have to put up with this?

He was devastated and shocked as he clearly wasn't expecting it.

Can't help thinking that if I would have been chit-chatting with him this wouldn't have happened.

How could you have reacted quicker?

Shitty day but you did your best.

Thanks Ear, just seeing him so distraught has upset me. Never been this upset since I started working there.

Bloody hell, you are going to be a complete wreck working in this environment if you take every little thing to heart. All you can ever do is your best, you only have one pair of eyes and can only be in one place at once - sadly you cannot pre-empt everything - as much as you would like to.

Aw, you have a good heart. Kids are bloody horrible to each other.

How could you have made it any different?

You can only be responsible for your actions, not those of others.

You sound like my teacher sister going over things that happened in the day for hours.

How was the child in the end?

You can't be omnipresent. Don't for one moment blame yourself for chit-chatting. Your eyes can only point in one direction at a time.

It's a good thing it happened whilst you were there, I assume another pupil assaulted him?
Now you can report it and the circumstances and get some action over the incident.
Of course it wasn't your fault.

Ah what a horrid thing...poor boy. I often wonder why children have to go through this kind of thing too. So many prents on here have terrible concerns about sending kids to school each day when they face violence and bullying....peraps you should talk to someone in the school about it...it sounds bloody tramatic working there!

Thanks all. No I don't think there was anything I could have done to stop it, I have seen a lot worse and have never taken it to heart before. I think it was the young boys face that made me so upset, have never seen a child cry like that in work.

What pisses me off is the head walked past and didn't even stop to ask if everything was ok or offer any support to the boy.

I'd report the Head to the LEA (or whatever governing body you have). Twat.

YANBU. It is totally normal, and extremely commendable, to want to protect every child in your care.

But, and I say this from deep personal experience, you MUST learn to detach. Work has to stay at work the same as home stays at home.

How do you know that if you had been chatting to him, someone else wouldn't have been hit, iyswim?

The fault and responsibility lies firmly with the person who did the hitting. You did exactly the right thing, imo.