Picked up Thing One at daycare a little early yesterday and as soon as we walked into her classroom one of the teachers ran up to us with some paperwork. Apparently there were a couple incidents at school that day and Thing One was on the receiving end of both of them. Neither of them that serious, but I appreciate the fact that the teachers took it seriously.
Incident #1 – The Fat Lip
Once your kid figures out how their legs work, and starts to get more control over their motions, they want to climb everything, run everywhere, and jump as high as they possibly can (as well as off of things). Thing One is no different. She’s nuts when it comes to climbing and running, so it came as no surprise to us that she was coming home with a fat lip.
Apparently she had stepped off of this climber thing, it’s like 3 stairs and a slide, and slipped and bumped her face on the ground. She bit her lip a little bit to the point where it was bleeding and started to swell up, honestly, no big deal. She didn’t slam her head into the ground, she wasn’t bleeding profusely, she didn’t need stitches or anything… no big deal. Kids fall down, it’s what they do. I look at non-serious scrapes, bumps, and bruises as a kids way of learning what their bodies are capable of. I’m sure after this incident she will be more careful when she steps off of the climber, since she’ll remember what happened the last time she slipped.
Incident 1 was really a non-issue for me in the grand scheme of things. Thing One slipped, fell, got a fat lip, and that was that, she’s totally fine. I do however, appreciate the concern and professionalism of the teachers in her classroom for letting us know what happened, filling out the paperwork to document it, and making us feel comfortable knowing that they were able to handle the situation.
Incident #2 – The Bit Finger
This incident apparently happened the day before yesterday, but nobody could get a hold of us to let us know… which seems weird since both of our cell phones have voicemail, and I work from home, next to my phone, all day, and it never rang. But either way, while this incident is a little different, I’m still not too concerned about it, unless it becomes more of an issue.
Apparently, Thing One was minding her own business (I hope), and a kid in her class came up and bit her on the finger. This is actually the 2nd time that she’s been bitten in the last couple months, by 2 different kids. Again, a little alarming to hear at first since Thing One has never shown signs of cannibalism, so I’m not sure what leads other children to yearn for the taste of human flesh, but still a non-issue in my eyes… at least in this case.
Of course I don’t want any other kids biting Thing One, but at this age, kids bite other kids… it happens. I’m certainly not blaming the parents, I’m sure neither of these kids have run up and bit their parents while at home, so how are they supposed to know that the kid would do it at school. It’s obviously a different environment when the kids are all together playing and running around for 8 hours a day, every day, so I get it. There was no blood, Thing One didn’t seem to give a shit, since she didn’t mention it when I picked her up on Monday, and her hand seemed fine the whole night… no big deal.
Having a kid in daycare is going to expose them to different things than if they were just being raised at home by their mother, or another family member, it’s just the nature of the beast. Kids are just that, kids. They are going to bite, they are going to throw fits, they aren’t going to want to share, and they are going to fall down and get scraped knees and fat lips. As parents we can’t protect our kids from everything in this world, and nor should we try. Personalities and strength are built based on the things we endure and overcome throughout our lives. So let your kid fall down, make them pick themselves back up and keep going.
Like I said, I have no qualms with the kid that bit Thing One, I have no issues with the way the teachers handled the situation, actually I’m thankful for how they handled it, and this isn’t the last time things like this will happen, so it’s all good.
