When you become a parent, you elevate to a whole new level of understanding with regards to being responsible and protective.
As a mom or a dad, you will do anything to defend your child and make sure that your kids are under the very best care possible.
The day care center should be one of those places where parents can leave children in a safe environment, without fear that they might be harmed or mistreated, right?
Well, the parents of a 5-year-old Florida boy thought that too…
But now they are furious after their son came home with injuries all over his face.
When 5-year-old Aidan came home from KinderCare center in 2016, which is in Wesley Chapel, Florida, he had a bruised and swollen cheek.
Aidan Stallone’s father, Steven, says his son was shaking when he picked him up. Aidan’s cheek was swollen, red and puffy.
The sight was very disturbing and the boy’s mother, Chelsea Stallone, was extremely upset and immediately concerned.
According to the parents, KinderCare staff told them their son fell.
“I couldn’t believe it happened. That’s not a scratch on his face, that’s half his face”, Chelsea told WFLA.
Steve Stallone, Aidan’s father, later posted pictures of the incident on Facebook and explained what actually happened to Aidan’s face.
“I picked my son up from school and as I picked him up his face was completely smashed,” Stallone explained in a video posted to Facebook. “And I said, ‘What in the hell happened?'”
Apparently, their son was forced by a 10-year-old student to play “the tripping game”. A kid who was twice Aidan’s age pushed him to the ground while playing the ”game”.
“I was playing and the kid made me fall on the floor too hard and I scraped my whole face here and here and there,” Aidan told ABC Action News.
Of course, the parents demanded answers from KinderCare.
But the KinderCare staff refused to address their son’s bullying, the Stallones said.
”When my wife went in there to talk about this, the teacher was basically trying to say they’re short-staffed, like, ‘What do you want me to do about it?’”, Steven said.
“They completely sugar coated it. They belittled the incident. You saw the picture. That’s not a scratch on his face, that’s half his face,” Chelsea Stallone added.
After his post on social media, Steven Stallone got thousands of comments and views on his Facebook.
It seems to have helped – because it was only after social media took off that the family says the daycare really started to pay attention.
“The post went viral then they kind of cared because then they had to actually cover their butts about what was actually going on,” Chelsea Stallone said.
A spokesperson from KinderCare told media:
”I can assure you that any time any child is injured at our center, our teachers treat the injury and fill out an incident report form that they share with the child’s parents. The same was done for this child.”
Parents put their children with babysitters and daycare center employees, believing their children will receive care and be protected from undue harm.
While most children in daycare remain safe, sometimes daycare providers are negligent and children are hurt.
Perhaps, this example can serve as a reminder for parents to be extremely careful when choosing who to trust to care for your children. Please share!
