Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

On Thursday morning, Henry said goodbye to Baby A as she was picked up for her bio mom visitation and told her to have a good visit. He did not want to go to school. Henry said, "I want to stay here forever!"

I took the kids to school. Miss R didn't want to go into the play yard again. Henry gave me a hug and dashed off. Miss R and I said goodbye through the fence. She got defensive of me anytime another child would come over to say hello. She forcefully said, "No! That's my mommy!"

As I said goodbye to Miss R, I glanced at Henry who was playing on a bench with some boys. The teachers had their backs to the boys and the play equipment as they were talking with each other (four of them). I watched in horror as one boy basically started hitting the hell out of Henry. I dashed to the other side of the yard (I was still on the outside of the fence) and I shouted "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" The teachers finally noticed and rescued Henry who was very upset. I was very upset as well having never witnessed that degree of aggression. Miss Stephanie ran over to comfort Henry who was crying. Miss Diana said that the predator is a problem child. I asked if he was in Henry's class. She said yes. I'd never seen him before.

I left upset. I got my coffee at the Glass Onion, but then returned to the daycare 20 minutes later to talk with the front desk staff. I said that I had watched a child hit the hell out of my son and I wanted to know what they were going to do to protect him. I said that he has come back with abrasions on his body and cuts on his face the past two weeks. And, he has told me about the hitting. And, he doesn't want to come to school anymore. I said that I knew that boys could play a little bit rougher than girls. I said that I'd witnessed Aidan on more than one occasion try to hit Henry, but that the little boy who attacked Henry today was qualitatively different in his level of aggression. When Aidan hits, you can see it coming a mile away and the hitting isn't that hard. The developmental coordinator is going to watch Henry's classroom today. She asked if Henry had received any incident reports the last couple weeks. I said no. I noticed, however, the abrasions and cuts when he came home. So I will be talking with the coordinator when I pick up the kids later and see what the heck is going on.