What do you make of this - Am I being stupid to be a bit worried?

[notfromstepford]

Morning everyone
Sorry don't want to drip feed so this may be a bit long!
I've been using the same nursery for the last 6 years. My youngest DS is there at the moment. He's just over 2.

For the past couple of weeks he keeps telling me about an incident that happened. He's not the best speaker so it's difficult to understand him, but I've now finally figured it out.

In a nutshell - he's saying that a man told him off for picking his nose (he does do this a lot) and then smacked him on the leg and told him NO (he shouts the "no" when he tells me).

So I've spoken to the nursery manager this morning. It transpires that they have a man working over lunchtime time now (which is why I didn't know a man worked there) who started about 2 weeks ago. He looks after DS group.
She told the timing fits but assured me that it could never have happened because he's never been left on his own with them as he is so new but she will mention to his key worker.

Thing is - in theory it could have happened - they don't watch like a hawk every second and it only takes a second to smack.

I've always been extremely happy with the nursery, but over the last 3 - 4 months I feel like they just don't seem to care as much as they did. Also as DS is pretty independent and enjoys playing on his own, I sometimes get the feeling they just leave him to it a bit too often.

I don't know - maybe I'm being daft - I just have a bit of a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that all is not as well as it used to be.
He's happy enough to go and always happy when I pick him up - maybe I'm just making too much of it.

I'm just interested to see what other people think - trying to get it straight in my head.

Thanks if you've read all this!

I cannot comment on what had happened, but as a parent I’d say you need to be happy and confident with those who care for your child. Only you know the answer to this.

All I have to say is 'LADO'

The nursery should be taking this seriously. Whatever happened it has stuck in your son's mind enough for him to keep going over it. It sounds like the man frightened him.

I'd say the bare minimum should now be that the nursery take this up and go through some sort of process establishing with the new member of staff what happened from his point of view. If they don't do this then, no, I wouldn't be trusting my child in their care.

What INeedNewShoes said.

they need to take the disclosure seriously, and investigate fully.

I have worked in nurseries for several years.

They should investigate. Of course children get confused sometimes and say things in a different way to what happened. However your son has said multiple times that a staff member hit his leg. This needs to be investigated. Once there was an accusation of rough handling at mine and all staff from the room had to be interviewed.
I would go in again, repeat that your son has said this multiple times and that you want it investigated. And a proper meeting of the outcome. His general conduct may need looking at. Some staff are harsh in their words and need to be taken down a peg.
If it is brushed off.....you may need to go further. Remind them of this. The manager should never have said "it couldnt have happened" without looking into it. Im not trying to worry you, however this should be taken seriously.

You are certainly not being daft, you know your child best and have a mothers sense that something is not quite right. I would remove my child until they fully investigate it. It's not acceptable.

You're not being stupid. Your child is your priority and if you're not confident that he's safe and happy I would look into alternative care providers (e.g. a childminder who might be able to provide more one to one attention) while they (hopefully) investigate, so that you know what your options are if you decide to take him out.