My son goes to a soccer practice down the road for 2.5-3.5 year olds. At the start of term, a new child (N) joined and immediately started causing drama. N looks like he’s four, but might just be a really tall 3. His method of interacting with other children is to stand directly in their faces and when they back away, he pushes. Anyway, first practice of the term he starts pushing my kid, who puts up his hands and yells “no, stop, don’t touch me.”N doesn’t stop. My kid runs out of practice and sits with me until he feels safe again. N starts bothering other kids. Coaches try to focus him on the practice. N appears to have no caregiver present. (This is not a drop-off class.) Near the end of practice my kid is doing a dribble/shoot drill. N runs up to him and shoves him down. My kid lets out a tiger roar and flying tackles him. Coach separates them and has N sit out the rest of practice (still no caregiver.)
At this point all the kids have learned to stay away from N. Today he pushed 4 separate kids, but he seems to really focus on mine I think because he’s quite small for his age. I intervened twice. A woman who could be N’s mother or grandmother came over and said something to him, but didn’t really intervene at all.
After practice a group of kids plays in the garden as long as it’s not raining. N comes out to join. Kids are kind of avoiding him- he’s snatching toys, sticks, etc. we have a lot of “we don’t snatch, behave kindly, etc” chats. N’s caregiver comes out and we try to speak with her, but she speaks no English and didn’t seem able to use google translate when we offered it. My kid and a few others decide to play “fish,” which is a game where they lay on the ground and flap like fish. N runs up to my son with a rock in his hand and baseball pitches the rock down onto his cheek. Immediate, massive welt appears. N’s caregiver kind of bats at N to shoo him but there’s zero other discipline and another mother and myself spend the rest of the playtime physically separating N from our kids.
First off I’m just furious. I’m so lucky my kid isn’t in a&e right now. I’ll be moving him into another class so they don’t have as much interaction, but I wonder if I should email the course director about this kid’s behaviour for everyone’s safety, especially as I suspect N will age up into the next class next term.. obviously I would prefer to deal with the parent but the total language barrier makes it impossible.
At this point all the kids have learned to stay away from N. Today he pushed 4 separate kids, but he seems to really focus on mine I think because he’s quite small for his age. I intervened twice. A woman who could be N’s mother or grandmother came over and said something to him, but didn’t really intervene at all.
After practice a group of kids plays in the garden as long as it’s not raining. N comes out to join. Kids are kind of avoiding him- he’s snatching toys, sticks, etc. we have a lot of “we don’t snatch, behave kindly, etc” chats. N’s caregiver comes out and we try to speak with her, but she speaks no English and didn’t seem able to use google translate when we offered it. My kid and a few others decide to play “fish,” which is a game where they lay on the ground and flap like fish. N runs up to my son with a rock in his hand and baseball pitches the rock down onto his cheek. Immediate, massive welt appears. N’s caregiver kind of bats at N to shoo him but there’s zero other discipline and another mother and myself spend the rest of the playtime physically separating N from our kids.
First off I’m just furious. I’m so lucky my kid isn’t in a&e right now. I’ll be moving him into another class so they don’t have as much interaction, but I wonder if I should email the course director about this kid’s behaviour for everyone’s safety, especially as I suspect N will age up into the next class next term.. obviously I would prefer to deal with the parent but the total language barrier makes it impossible.
.)