OT ~ DD came from school with a busted lip...

[acomasdiaz]

My 5 year old DD came home from school today with a busted lip. She said a girl punched her in the playground. She's in kindergarten and she is still working on telling her teacher about things like this.

I didn't get a call from the school about the incident which I understand since she didn't tell her teacher. It seems that the teacher had stepped inside for a minute when the incident happened. What I am most bothered about is that the teacher didn't notice. How do you not notice a freshly busted lip?

I did have a conversation with DD about making sure that she tells the teacher if anyone hits her again. I mean this little girl pushed her on the first day and she supposedly talks back to the teacher. So, it seems that there is already a pattern of problem there.

I spoke to my sis, who was a teacher, and is now in an administrative position at an elementary school and she says I should talk to the AP. Someone should have noticed her lip. I also emailed the teacher to ask her what happened but have yet to hear back from her.

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

I don't understand how a teacher could miss your daughter sitting there with a busted lip?!?!?! I would be upset about that. I hope your daughter is feeling better!!

 

[Hannathy]

Was it busted as in bleeding and split open or just swollen and possibly cut on the inside? A lot of little kids in kind chew on their lips and get swollen spots but if there was blood running down I'd wonder.

How did she clean up the blood?

 

[MomtoAlexnWilliam]

I don't see how a teacher could miss a busted lip!!! Especially in K!

Does your daughter ride the bus or do you take her? Either way, I would personally take my child to school tomorrow and talk to the teacher. See what her perspective is. She may reassure you. If she doesn't, then I would go to the office and talk to one of the principals. Sounds like this little girl needs to be closely monitored.

 

[Ericandjenng]

Actually since you've tried contacting the teacher through email and she hasn't responded, I would go straight to the principal. Was there no adult outside with the kids while this teacher stepped inside? I would be in an uproar over that!!!! All it takes for a kid to get seriously hurt is turning your back but to walk off and leave them?!?!?!?

and loads of pixie dust to your little girl! She should not have to suffer this in kindergarten (or any age) and evidently this other child obviously needs alot of help and it doesn't seem to be coming from the teacher.I hope your dd's year improves immediately!!

 

[Magic Mom]

Actually since you've tried contacting the teacher through email and she hasn't responded, I would go straight to the principal. Was there no adult outside with the kids while this teacher stepped inside? I would be in an uproar over that!!!! All it takes for a kid to get seriously hurt is turning your back but to walk off and leave them?!?!?!?

and loads of pixie dust to your little girl! She should not have to suffer this in kindergarten (or any age) and evidently this other child obviously needs alot of help and it doesn't seem to be coming from the teacher.I hope your dd's year improves immediately!!

It just happened. The teacher possibly didn't respond because she had left school already or had meetings in the afternoon. I would at least give her until this afternoon to respond before I went "straight" to the principal. Kindergartners don't always get their stories straight. I'm not sayinfg the OP's daughter is lying, but the ways kids that age percieve things and relay things isn't always exactly how things happen.

 

[RMulieri]

It just happened. The teacher possibly didn't respond because she had left school already or had meetings in the afternoon. I would at least give her until this afternoon to respond before I went "straight" to the principal. Kindergartners don't always get their stories straight. I'm not sayinfg the OP's daughter is lying, but the ways kids that age percieve things and relay things isn't always exactly how things happen.

2nd this..It has been my experience as well that my daughter has her own little embellishments at times.Plus ,whenever I email her teachers it takes at LEAST A DAY for her to get back to me with a reply.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I'm so sorry your daughter got hurt. I hope you work out what happened and she can enjoy the rest of her school year.

 

[acomasdiaz]

Her lip was swollen and cut. As for the blood, she just wiped it off. It seems like she wasn't bleeding profusely but enough for someone to notice at least. I mean, I noticed it the moment she was walking towards me. It was pronounced.

I am giving the teacher until this afternoon to get back to me. Her school has a 24 hour turnaround policy for email responses. Although, I will say that I emailed her yesterday AM about something else and she hasn't responded to that email either. So, I am not confident that she will follow the 24 hour policy.

I will admit, I am very paranoid about the playground. As last year, in Pre-K, she was pushed off the slide nby a little boy and she broke her arm. So, I tend to not be very lenient with these sorts of things anymore.

 

[Gabe's Mom]

I think even if the injury had nothing to do with another child it wouldn't be overkill to expect some explanation. Even a little premade "injury report" type form would have adequate ("Lucy fell on the playground a hit her mouth"), but it would be nice to at least feel confident that they are being supervised enough that a visible injury was noticed.

Edited to add- OP, you have a lot of exciting trips coming up! I'm jealous
Michelle

 

[Magpie]

Her lip was swollen and cut. As for the blood, she just wiped it off. It seems like she wasn't bleeding profusely but enough for someone to notice at least. I mean, I noticed it the moment she was walking towards me. It was pronounced.

I am giving the teacher until this afternoon to get back to me. Her school has a 24 hour turnaround policy for email responses. Although, I will say that I emailed her yesterday AM about something else and she hasn't responded to that email either. So, I am not confident that she will follow the 24 hour policy.

I will admit, I am very paranoid about the playground. As last year, in Pre-K, she was pushed off the slide nby a little boy and she broke her arm. So, I tend to not be very lenient with these sorts of things anymore.

My son's teeth were jagged and sharp due to a congenital condition. Basically, every time he fell down he would split his lip, because of his teeth. A couple times he actually jammed a tooth right through his lip!

What I noticed is that the swelling doesn't start right away. For the first hour, he'd look fine and normal. Then slowly his mouth would start to swell. It always looked a lot worse three or four hours after the injury had happened, and then it would slowly start to get better.

If your daughter wiped off the little bit of blood and didn't say anything to the teacher, then it's not too hard to imagine that the teacher wouldn't notice anything was wrong. During the bus ride home, her lip would have continued to swell, which is why it looked horrible by the time she got home to you.

Not to say that it wouldn't have been nice if the teacher HAD noticed, but I can understand how she could miss one slightly swollen lip among a class of 25 or 30 children. Especially when you consider how many of them might have cold sores, chewed up lips, chapped lips, snotty noses dripping down over their chin, etc... (Yeah, I've spent many hours in kindergartens, lol!)

 

[acomasdiaz]

I think even if the injury had nothing to do with another child it wouldn't be overkill to expect some explanation. Even a little premade "injury report" type form would have adequate ("Lucy fell on the playground a hit her mouth"), but it would be nice to at least feel confident that they are being supervised enough that a visible injury was noticed.

Edited to add- OP, you have a lot of exciting trips coming up! I'm jealous
Michelle

I think that's what bothers me. I'm not expecting anything huge but I would like to have some sort of report of the incident whether large or small. I'm a little concerned that there was noone out there with them. We all know that even in a minute something can happen.

We're very excited about trips by the way. We're lucky to live close enough (3 1/2 hours) to the Mouse that we can go a couple of times a year.

 

[eeyoremommy]

In K in FL, the max number of kids is 18. The school is required to fill out an incident report. Even if it had not started to swell, it would have been red. I bet another student likely saw the incident as well. I am surprised that it was not noticed. It does happen though. See what she has to say and go from there.

I just read where you said that no one was on the playground with them. How did that happen? My DS' 1st grade class is always with a teacher. They have radios that allow them to be handed off from one to another (for PE/art/music). If they were unattended, that is unexcusable.

 

[Hannathy]

My son's teeth were jagged and sharp due to a congenital condition. Basically, every time he fell down he would split his lip, because of his teeth. A couple times he actually jammed a tooth right through his lip!

What I noticed is that the swelling doesn't start right away. For the first hour, he'd look fine and normal. Then slowly his mouth would start to swell. It always looked a lot worse three or four hours after the injury had happened, and then it would slowly start to get better.

If your daughter wiped off the little bit of blood and didn't say anything to the teacher, then it's not too hard to imagine that the teacher wouldn't notice anything was wrong. During the bus ride home, her lip would have continued to swell, which is why it looked horrible by the time she got home to you.

Not to say that it wouldn't have been nice if the teacher HAD noticed, but I can understand how she could miss one slightly swollen lip among a class of 25 or 30 children. Especially when you consider how many of them might have cold sores, chewed up lips, chapped lips, snotty noses dripping down over their chin, etc... (Yeah, I've spent many hours in kindergartens, lol!)

I agree with this, especially if your little one didn't say anything. It can get confusing remembering who had a cut, whose is new, etc. And if school just started kindergarten can be crazy depending on the makeup of the room.
That could be why she hasn't responded yet, at the beginning of the yr there is so much paperwork and getting organized and e mails she could just be swamped.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I think I would walk in when you pick up your child today (if she rides a bus, make a specail trip to school) and talk to the teachers. E-mail can get lost and sometimes it's hard to express the right feelings in an e-mail. You want to start the year right with good comunication with the teacher. I would not go to the principal unless the teacher- parent conversation does not go well.

 

[acomasdiaz]

I'm in FL too and the class max is 18. I did receive an email response from the teacher and she said that she didn't know about the incident.

It seems that she had stepped away from the playground for a moment to open the classroom door so that a child could go to the restroom. The playground is just outside the classroom. So, it seems that it happened at that exact moment. She didn't say that there was anyone else there with them though. So, I'm still concerned about that.

She was going to talk to my DD and the girl today and would get back to me this afternoon. So, let's she what she says then.

 

[Leajess99]

I'm in FL too and the class max is 18. I did receive an email response from the teacher and she said that she didn't know about the incident.

It seems that she had stepped away from the playground for a moment to open the classroom door so that a child could go to the restroom. The playground is just outside the classroom. So, it seems that it happened at that exact moment. She didn't say that there was anyone else there with them though. So, I'm still concerned about that.

She was going to talk to my DD and the girl today and would get back to me this afternoon. So, let's she what she says then.

Does your kindergarten classes not have an aid in them?? Just curious as ours do have aids so if the teacher had stepped away the aid would still be there.

Sorry your daughter was injured.

 

[bwilcox]

It sounds like it happened so fast. Even if someone else was there, they probably wouldn't have been able to do anything. I would give the teacher the benefit of the doubt, and work together with her to come up with a solution so this doesn't happen again. Both the teacher and the other girl's parent need to speak with the girl to make sure she knows what she did was wrong. I would want her to apologize to my DD as well, and she should have a consequence.

 

[acomasdiaz]

Does your kindergarten classes not have an aid in them?? Just curious as ours do have aids so if the teacher had stepped away the aid would still be there.

Sorry your daughter was injured.

No, they don't have an aid. They are not required to have an aid unless there are 25 students or more in the class.

 

[Kat&Dom]

My son started Kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. On his second day, 2 boys spit on him. Our school has SOS books that go back and forth so that you can communicate with the teacher. I mentioned the incident in the SOS book, the teacher talked to the boys who were spitting and also talked to my son about coming and telling her when something happens. She asked via the SOS book that I also talk to him about letting her know immediately so that she can deal with the situation.

Another little girl in my son's kindergarten got threatened by a boy who told her that he was going to stab her with his plastic knife. Her mother is absolutely horrified as her daughter is such a quiet, sweet little girl. I have not heard the results of this situation yet. It is so horrifying that our children have to deal with these types of situations when they have just started school.

I know that the world has changed since I was a kid but it is unbelievable the type of rude, disrespectful and violent behavior that some children have. I feel bad for the teachers that have to deal with these behaviors as it is always the parents of these types of kids that are the most difficult to deal with.

So sorry that your daughter also had a unpleasant beginning to school.