Dealing with Parent Whose Child Has Been Hurt

[slpew]

Hi,
I have a 21 month old child who is showing signs of being ready to transition to the next room. However she was moved back to my room two months ago because she was hurt in the older room by another child and the Dad doesn't want her in that room.

She is getting too old for my room and is needing to be able to interact with older children and be encouraged by her peers in the next room to further her development.

The Dad is very blunt and has said that he does not want her to move up while the other child is present (the other child has developmental delays and is not ready at all to move rooms).

How do i help support the Dad in gaining his confidence that his daughter will thrive if she is given the chance to move up? I am stuck on how to deal with him.
Please Help!!!!

[Lorina]

It's very unfortunate that the younger child has been hurt by the child in the older room. Was it a serious accident? The parent probably feels that their younger child will be unsafe in the room with that specific child so you will need to assure the parent that their child will be safe. Does the child from the older room come every day or on selected days? If the older child only comes on selected days maybe the 21-month-old child can be in the room when the child isn't there on those specific days? Also, you will need to let dad know the benefits his child will gain in moving up to the older room... for example the experiences that the child can participate in that are different from yours, the programs, how his child will gain from their overall development and learning by moving up...

It's hard to gain the dads confidence but little steps...

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Regarding the older child in the room, you could let the dad know that you have staff keep an extra watchful eye on that child especially since the incident occurred and that they have strategies to deal with the child's behaviour. You can apologise again and mention that it was an unfortunate incident that occurred and now that the educators in the older room will be extra attentive...

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Also sorry bout my delayed response... I've been away...

,
Lorina