This is one of those perennial issues in parenting life, and not the first time we’ve addressed it on MT – Erika wrote about a similar incident with little Maya in 2006. So forgive the redundancy, but here goes.

I originally wanted to title this "My Daughter Got Bitten!" because really, that’s what this is all about. Briefly, when I went to pick Jess up from crèche on Thursday afternoon, she was teary-eyed and had an ice pack on her left arm. She ran up to me and announced, "[boy’s name – redacted] bit me, Mummy!" The teacher came up very upset and said that she and Jessica had been sitting on a soft cushion calmly, the teacher got up to check a child, and the instant her back was turned, this kid came up and took a chomp out of Jessica’s upper arm. The skin isn’t broken, but there is a perfect impression of this kid’s upper and lower teeth on her skin, and 12 hours later, it’s become a nasty bruise.  

I was shocked but not surprised at the culprit; Jessica, as verbal as she is, has mentioned two or three times that this particular boy has either pushed or slapped her in the past. I’ve also witnessed this boy’s aggression in the classroom; he has pushed kids around for no apparent reason (ie, the victim wasn’t taking things, or shoving, or whatever) when I’ve picked up or dropped Jessica off.  Each time Jessica has mentioned an incident, I’ve pulled the classroom teacher aside and expressed my concern about this boy’s actions and that I don’t want Jess becoming afraid of this child or learning that aggressive behaviour is acceptable in a group situation.