A little over a year ago, my ds, then 2.5 started saying the daycare provider slapped his cheek or spanked him in the head. When I asked about it, daycare provider said, she would tap the kids in the head sometimes as she walked down the hallway to let them know she was there and needed to get by. I thought that was an odd thing to do, but after that conversation with her, DS stopped mentioning being hit.
I thought, well DS is sensitive and tends to exagerate. He seems happy there and is not saying anything anymore, so things must be fine. Then about 3 months ago, a friend whose daughter is in the same daycare said she was hit in the head. She said this off and on for a week or two - always referencing the same incident. She is 2.5 and repeats anything my son says, so I thought she may have overheard him mention it(although he hadn't mentioned it in a long while). I started to pay more attention to anything odd my DS was saying.
DS still seemed happy to go there, until about a month ago. He is now 3.5. He started fighting going every morning and clinging to me at drop off. In the last month he has been sent home twice for "uncontrollable tantrums". He started telling me wierd things like, I don't want to play outside without my shoes, daycare provider took my blanket away - nothing horrible there, but he clearly wasn't happy about these incidents and did not want to be there.
I knew he was next on the waitlist to get into our choice preschool, so I was holing on till then. I finally got the word that a spot was open at preschool and told my current daycare provider our end date. Then DS started saying daycare provider said if I didn't stop crying she would throw my blanket in the trash and daycare provider will be happy when I'm not there anymore, and I got a time out in the playpen(not the normal time out spot).
Then the last straw - I went to pick DS up and was told he had a hard day. He got frustrated that he couldn't get socks on and threw a fit ending in putting the sock in his mouth and chewing on it. That seemed like odd behavior to me. On the way home, DS said "mom, daycare provider put a sock in my mouth." I retold daycare providers story and said are you sure that you didn't chew on the sock because I think that's what happened. He insisted no, and "I cried too much". I dropped it. that night he told me "mom you're not f**ing and you are not coming back" I asked where he heard that. He said "Daycare worker said you are not f**ing coming back"
I pulled him the next day. Told the daycare provider what he said without accusing her. She denied it. I don't know what happened if anything. DS is happy to be out. He is safe now and moving on to preschool. Should I report this? Could DS have made all this up? What will happen if I do report it? I want the other kids in the daycare to be safe, but if nothing happened, I don't want the daycare provider to lose her lively hood.
What would you do?
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