[Louis Amor]

The other day my daughter fell at daycare and ended up with 5 stitches on her face, I'm so worried this will leave a permanent scar, on her face of all places. What angered me the most was that the daycare workers were very nonchalant about the whole thing. They apologized but had the attitude "well, you know these things happen"

I'm prone to anxiety and now am thinking of quitting my job to stay home with my toddler. We really need the extra income, but I'm worried something worse might happen if I don't stay home with my daughter. I know I could get a nanny, but that scares me even more, the thought of someone alone with my child behind closed doors. Am I overreacting, I don't want to do anything impulsive, I just don't know what to do.

[JuiceBox]

I'm sorry to hear this, I have a 7 year old brother who often feels like my son sometimes and I can understand... I feel very sorry that the workers were very flippant about the whole thing ( I imagine if they were slightly more responsive you wouldn't be in the situation you are in now). I wouldn't recommend quitting your job as it will put an extra strain on your life. Is it possible you could take her to another day care?

[kimberf]

I'm sorry that the workers weren't responsive to your concerns. I don't mean to defend them in that respect, but little kids do get smashed up. Was it something caused by another kid or behavior they should have stopped?

When I was little (nursery school and early grade school), I used to constantly be covered in scrapes and bruises. I don't remember tons of nursery school, since I was 2.5 - 5 yo, but some of the few memories I have are about knocking off scabs playing on the playground. The teachers actually thought I was abused for a while, since I was always so bashed up, but I was just a tomboy and a klutz. I have a few scars on my knees that are still there, but everything else (including multiple sets of stitches in my head) has healed up to be unnoticeable.

[Josephine SD]

If you feel they were truly negligent you may want to contact an attorney. I don't believe in being sue happy or anything, but it would definitely get their attention and make them take these incidents more seriously.

[Danica]

Do you know the details of what happened and why it happened? Honestly, I think if you are worried they might be negligent I would consider another daycare. On the other hand, maybe it was entirely not their fault and had nothing to do with their care. Perhaps they felt bad, but didn't want to make anything worse by freaking out about it in front of you.

[iluvhandbags]

I work in a daycare/preschool setting, and I can tell you that these things happen ALL the time. However, I have never seen an incident occur that was due to negligence. I have only witnessed one incident that resulted in stitches, and although I saw the whole thing happen, I couldn't have prevented it. Usually I see most of the incidents that result in cuts and scrapes, but couldn't have prevented them as they are slips, trips, and falls. Kids are kids, and they get hurt - sometimes a lot! I will say that anything that involves going to the hospital or stitches should involve a meeting with you, the child's teacher, and also the daycare manager. Additionally, I know that our center offers to pay for any hospital/medical bills in an "out of the ordinary" injury that are not covered by your insurance. I would not worry too much about the stitches leaving a major scar, you get scarring when you DON'T get things stitched and they are left to mend on their own. If she was stitched up by a good person, I am sure that your daughter will be fine! Good luck!

[Sternchen]

I'm sorry to hear that your child was hurt, but these things do happen - no matter how safe & careful day cares and their workers are. If you feel that your child has been neglected, you have the right to file a report with the center manager and to pull your child out of that center.

This may sound harsh, but I don't think quitting your job will really do you any good...Your child will get hurt, no matter how much protecting you do. I understand it's your baby, but I really do think you are overreacting here. I'm probably in the minority...

[simpleplan]

Omg, something similar happened to my son when he was 6 yrs. old while at summer dayschool. He got a huge black eye, it was green and black all around his eye socket- I was so angry and concerned for him, I felt so bad I wasn't there to stop it from happening..the teachers were apologetic but had the same "it happens attitude"..I think not-- the teacher child ratio is 3:1..meaning there should have been someone keeping a close watch on him since there are enough teachers to go around. My son told me she was far far away eating a banana when it happened. In took him out from that place by the end of the week.

If she got a stitches, it must've been an awful cut..only you know how your child roughouses/temperament in general, so if it's out of character for her and you know the teachers should have been able to prevent such behavior- (which in normal schooling, they do advice children to tone down the rough activity to prevent accidents like these) then you have to do what you feel is best for your child and peace of mind. The next time around you must consider how many children to adults..If it's 10 children per adult, then chances are they can't keep a close watch at all because of so many kids..

[Novbunnie]

when i was little my parents left me at a daycare place and i remember we were all outside and my friend and i decided to have a little race...when i started running i tripped over something sticking out from the ground and ended face flat on the ground..well when i got up there was blood everywhere cause there was a big cut in my chin..i ended up getting stitches. the day care offered to pay for all my medical bills but my parents refused. when i got older, i found out that the daycare told my parents that i had fell from a teeter tooter..they lied!!! well about the scare, mine faded quite a bit..i suggest you find another daycare...

[HauteMama]

The daycare not responding properly to your concern raises just a big a flag for me as the injury itself. Yes, children get injured, but daycare workers must be trained to deal with parents properly, too. Dismissing an incident as a "kids will be kids" situation is unacceptable. They should have clearly addressed with you how it happened, why it happened and what - if anything - they could do to prevent it in the future.

My son was in school at age 3 due to speech issues and gross motor concerns. He still falls down a LOT. But every single time it happened, whether it was a bump on his head or a skinned knee, they took the time to explain what happened and expressed great concern. I generally felt they were more concerned than I was, which actually gave me greater confidence in the school. They couldn't prevent him from being clumsy, but I knew and was confident that they cared enough to do everything they could to prevent it.

If your daycare does not inspire the same confidence in you, it is a poor fit and you should find someplace that is more compatible with your concerns.

[gina8521]

I agree with HauteMama, I would be more worried about the daycare's attitude toward the incident more than the incident itself. Kids will fall & get hurt, it could have just have easily happened while your daughter was with you. Those little buggers are quick! *LOL*
I would definitely have a meeting with the director of the daycare and explain your concerns. I would want to make sure that their nonchalant attitude does not carry over into other aspects of the care of the children.
At my son's daycare, they asked me when I enrolled him, what kinds of injuries/accidents did I want to be notified of. My answer was anything that involved unconsciousness, blood, or need for further treatment. They fill out an incident report for any accident (even minor ones where I am not notified immediately) and always check on him the next day.

[merika]

In a daycare these kind of things always happen. My son was running, fell and broke his front tooth (fortunately a baby tooth) - the root then got infected and the tooth had to be extracted.
They were pretty good about providing incident reports, though. My favorite written incident report was "Was bitten by friend!"

[bamalsch13]

this is why I choose not to put my son in daycare, I dont think id be able to handle if he got hurt under the supervision of someone else..i would probably FREAK out.

[Demosthenes]

I think my level of paranoia and mistrust is a little high... I don't think you were overreacting at all.

Your baby got hurt enough to have to get stitches and the daycare was nonchalant about it? That wouldn't fly with me. Even if things like that happen all the time, they don't happen all the time to US. I'd like the staff to at least show concern for my child, and for me as a parent.

Maybe you can stay at home during the day, and when your DH comes home, head out for a part time job? I know lots of younger couples that do this because being a SAHM permanently isn't an option due to finances. That way your child gets the best care, and you still get an extra income.

[treck]

I am very sorry to hear this. Don't worry since she got stitches, it wouldn't leave any hideous scar especially if it was done nicely.
As for your job, is there anyway that you can work from home? My niece got hurt at her daycare, her right arm fell out of it sockets and that made me and DH decide that I will have to work from home to take care of our son to avoid such thing happening to our baby.