3yo cuts another childs hair with craft scissors

[coochielady]

Hi, I'm new to this network but thought the best advice comes from other educators.

I work in a gym crèche where there are a family of 5 boys that are very energetic, stir each other up and tend to not have good spacial awareness. the 3yo is the youngest, he doesn't reason well and of course is like other toddlers - not great at sharing. now this sweet but cheeky child cut the hair of a 6yo girl very quietly and then showed it to her. the 6yo was mortified and took a lot of consoling (she is actually my child!). the other carers said they want to ban the child for a week for his behaviour and have previous altercations with the mum. they seem to not be happy in an enclosed crèche environment, and the mum cant always book them into the older kids session where they can do a kids fit class in the gymnasium. i know the mum on Facebook, she's a reasonable and caring lady and we have a rapport as i believe all children are inherently good. the older boys drew images of me doing a poo on another occasion! i laughed and told them they were amazing artists but a bit gross and said ill take them home to make my children laugh. i know its not all day care so I am limited to what can be achieved and i know i am responsible to ensure the safety of the other children, so is the ban justified? should i talk to the mum or act like nothing happened? i have discussed it with my 6yo that although he is little, he is in trouble and may get a ban for a week, and tried to get the boy to apologise to her with little success, but what else could i do to be fair and supportive?

[linsaa fdc]

Hi,
Oh no that's awful, maybe its just as well it was your child because someone else might not be as understanding about it.
I would keep the scissors away from the little children and they only come out under supervision for their safety as well as others.
Not all children do ok in a small restricted environment and if he is mucking up mum might need to find somewhere else for him to go. I don't know if banning a 3 year old will make much of a difference but I would definitely not put the older children in with the little group if there isn't any spaces in the older group, mum might have to book in advance because the little one is probably worse with the older siblings there (that is my experience anyway with a 2 year old I had in care when her 9+8 year old siblings were in care as well) Also I don't think parents of little children would be very happy if they came home drawing pictures like they did.
Talk to the mother and tell her the problems, if she has a partner she might have to wait to go to the gym till he gets home if it can't be sorted out.
Linsaa fdc

[Lorina]

I hope your little one is feeling OK after this incident! I will probably be mortified if someone cuts my child's hair so you're handling this very well! Have you spoken to the "child with the scissors" mum about it? Is this child still in your care?

,
Lorina