Hey mums, I really need some advice about this situation.
My son turns 4 in April and is in nursery. He’s generally a really happy boy, but today he started saying he doesn’t want to go to school anymore, which honestly broke my heart.
There’s another child there who is bigger and stronger than him. There have been several incidents now where this child has pushed him, punched him, and once even physically restrained him. The nursery logs these as “accidents”, which I’m finding frustrating because it doesn’t feel accidental when the same child is repeatedly involved.
He’s also quite often coming home with marks or bruises, which worries me. I can’t help thinking that some incidents probably happen that staff don’t even notice or log.
The really heartbreaking part is that my son actually considers this boy his best friend and talks about him constantly.
Today he folded his arms, turned his face away and said:
“I’m not going to be his best friend anymore.”
It really upset me to hear that.
I also wonder (trying to be rational about it) whether the other child might have something difficult going on at home and is acting it out at nursery, although obviously I can’t know that. But the nursery should be actively looking out for these behaviours and managing them.
What worries me most is that my son now says he doesn’t want to go to nursery because he’s scared.
My son is normally such a bright and happy boy, but over the past week he’s been acting up at home as well, and I can’t help feeling it’s because of this turbulent friendship and what’s happening at nursery.
I’ve also asked him why he doesn’t tell the teacher when it happens. He just laughs it off, says he doesn’t want to, and then changes the subject immediately.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? What would you expect the nursery to do in this situation?