Am I being overdramatic?

[Hattythehamster]

My husband picked up my son (3) from pre school and was asked to sign an accident form as him and another boy got into an argument over a toy and my son got scratched on his back. They described them as ‘a few little scratches’ and made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. My husband didn’t check his back at the time and signed the form and came home. When he told me I checked my sons back and I was shocked. To me these are not a few little scratches. I’m really angry and not sure what to do, feel like I need to bring it up with the nursery, but unsure what they can even do. Just want to sense check that I’m not being over dramatic?

I work with preschoolers and that is not what I expected to see in a photo of 'a few little scratches' especially as presumably the incident happened a couple of hours beforehand.
I would want a clear description of what happened, we're these marks made through your child's clothing? Hardly but for the other child to have gotten his hand in there and make the number and depth of marks is not something that happens in just a couple of seconds... Where were the staff, did they clean the scratches?

Don’t be ridiculous, what do you think 111 are going to do about a few scratches?? 🙄 I’m sure OP is intelligent enough to know to keep the area clean and let it heal.

Omg I'd be absolutely disgusted!! YANBU at all OP. Your poor wee lad. I know little ones can get cranky and cross over toys but that's really not normal behaviour for a 3 year old to hurt another kid in this way.. seems fairly aggressive!? I'd need nursery to look into how this kid is interacting with their peers because thats really not on, kids deserve to be safe in nursery. Reiterating what others have said but continue to wash the area regularly with soap and warm water, and apply antibacterial cream. Dirty toddler hands/fingernails are breeding grounds for infection. Visit to GP if its looking infected. Urgent meeting with nursery manager needed!

Someone needs a nail trim too- they must have been bloody long to damage the skin that much.

I’d bathe in dettol /tcp and bit of savlon or sudocrem.

Gees, no you're not. I'd be putting in a formal complaint!

👏 absolutely right

That’s disgusting that happened to a 3 year old in a nursery setting and the fact they downplayed it is outrageous.

Time to change provider!

And as another person has said how on earth did this happen under supervision???

JESUS!
I hope LO is ok now. What were the consequences of this?

Wow that's not what I expected from 3 year olds! Jesus, poor thing that looks sore and very deliberate.

Will likely heal well but I'd keep them covered with plasters/dressing after cleaning every day, until they scab over. Very hard to tell a child not to scratch when it's all you want to do, so avoid infection at all costs! I had scratches like that and they got infected despite cleaning every day and it's not nice!

Ouchy! Your poor little boy. I'd be bloody furious to be honest! Also, that's some attack, presuming your child was wearing at least a t-shirt, if not a jumper too.
That doesn't look like two 3yr olds having a scrap over a toy!

Omg your poor little boy 😔😔 how aggressive was the other child to inflict these wounds through his clothing.

Wow.
They're not scratches, those are actual wounds.
Can you imagine the equivalent on an adult.
Absolutely get to the bottom of this @Hattythehamster
How on earth are there that many, and so deep, presumably over your son's clothing?
Can't think how that could've happened under proper supervision if it was just a quick skirmish over a toy.
I'm disgusted how they downplayed the incident and your son's injuries.

Hope he is OK bless him.

As someone who works in an A&E that has an adult area and a paediatric area, I can tell you that paediatric A&E is just as busy as adult A&E at the moment, the same doctors are seeing both the adults and the children. If OP took her kid to A&E with this they would be the absolute lowest priority and be waiting a very long time to be seen. As you say everyone is seen in priority, this is most definitely would not be a priority in A&E at the moment, all the very very sick people (adults and children) are.

Are you for real? Phone 111 "because the skin is broken"?

Do you think the OP needs advice from 111 on how to deal with this herself? Or do you think possibly they will tell her to go to hospital?

Good grief

OP, it does look bad for a nursery injury. I'd be asking them about it and showing them the photo.

Does the nursery not take a photo to add to the incident report?

That looks terrible, OP. Definitely follow this up with the nursery.

I knew there would be people telling you to call 111. Absolutely no need for that neurotic approach. A clean and antiseptic cream was the right course of action. If he becomes unwell or the punctures look infected, revisit.

People calling 111 or turning up at A&E for this sort of thing should be given a fixed penalty. Total abuse of the system. Ignorance shouldn’t be an excuse. This is common sense.

I would be absolutely livid and wouldn't send my son back until this was properly investigated. Why were the children not supervised? How was this allowed to happen? I would be concerned about this being downplayed and why you were not contacted as soon as they were aware of it. Its more than just an 'incident'. I would want a detailed explanation of the events and want to know how my son was going to be safeguarded in their care. 3 year olds can get into scraps over toys etc but this looks far more serious than just that.

What happened (detailed version)?

Which staff were present when it happened (is this within their staff/child ratio…)?

What were the consequences for the other child?

Do their parents know?

How can I be sure my son is safe here?

I’d be wanting answers to all of the above, tomorrow.

I am fuming at this picture!

1. They are far from minor

2. It seems like they waited for him to be picked up rather than phone one of you immediately? Because they arnt little fighting scratches! Your son would have been very sore! They don't even look very child like scratches for a 3 year old!

3. Could you imagine the severe bollocks you'd receive had you put your son in like this!? I love how they say "sign a form" and that's it!!

No way! A little scratch yes, this? No!

This is horrific. What is really awful isn’t just that they didn’t tell you immediately what happened, it’s the fact that they didn’t seem to have done any first aid? No plasters, antiseptic cream? This is really not ok.

a few ‘light scratches’ would make me think of when you walk next to a bramble and it catches your arm. It looks like someone with sharp fingernails didn’t so much as scratch your son as gouge their nails into his flesh. How on earth did that happen? If another child did it (likely cause), what disciplinary actions occurred to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Thought exactly the same - good god! I'd erupt - how has a nursery allowed enough time to elapse for this level of injury to be caused?!

I looked again at the photo - I can’t see how this was done. There are far more than 5 nail marks, so was this a two handed grab? I definitely would want to know more.

They look like sharp claw marks, skin has been removed and they are lacerations torn at the edges.

Really very odd.

Keep taking photos OP in case they get worse.

I think I'd get a solicitor involved to be honest.

It takes the absolute p.

You are not being unreasonable or over-dramatic. There are nine separate wounds there and the majority look nasty. Not only should the staff not have made light of it, they should have made a point of showing your DS's injuries to your DH before having him sign the form.

Definitely not over reacting. Keep a written paper trail.