In One Week

When I put the title at the top, I missed the 'w' and so it said, In One eek. 

Which isn't completely wrong.

The honeymoon is over.
Andre isn't always nice. 
Yes, he has some special needs.
Lots of people do. But he has some meanness, too. 

Haha, so do I, really. 
So do we all. 
But it's hard in a day care setting to deal with it, sometimes.
I have +20 other kids to talk to, be with, guide etc.

In one week....

I've caught Andre grabbing from the pile of parts in front of a kid who has carefully picked out the stuff he'll need to make the LEGO car or space ship and snagging the pieces he wants. Most of the time he doesn't really want them, or at least doesn't build anything with them, he just doesn't want someone else to have them.

Constant 'teasing' of the smaller kids. Taking other toys. 
Calling them 'pipsqueak' as in, "What are you looking at, Pipsqueak?" 

"He has a name, Andre. He's John. There isn't any reason to call him that nickname."

When they were checking in on Thursday, he crowded the little boy who was on the cafeteria bench ahead of him in line for snacks. There was a good three feet of space open, Andre chose to scoot all the way over next to Tristan. Tristan asked him to move, he ignored it. So then I told him to move, using the same phrasing I always use, "Andre, personal space, please. You're in Tristan's space."

"No I'm not. He's in the way."

"Buddy, you know I can see you, right? Move over. This isn't acceptable."
"I DON'T CARE!"

But he did move. 
Sort of. 
Still physically intimidating a small child. 

On Thursday afternoon, we lined up to go outside. 
The kids spilled out the big double doors like a bunch of marbles rolling downhill. 
Shelly was standing with her back to the rest of the kids, waiting to get into our ball bin to grab the sidewalk chalk. 

Andre ran past her, slapped her in the middle of the back and ran off. I saw it, caught up with him and told him that it's unacceptable to hit other people and that I don't want to see that happen again.
"I don't care!" And he was off.

We were on the playground. I have two assistants, both part time. One is TQ (teacher qualified) meaning that under our license, she can be left alone with kids or can be the person in charge if I need to use the restroom or leave the group for some reason.

Andre left his favorite fidget in program the day Wednesday, and since he is usually picked up while we are still outdoors, I wanted to make sure he had it when he left.

So on Thursday afternoon I told my two assistants that I was going in to get Andre's fidget, and to please have the kids line up and come in. I reminded them that we had 19 kids (we count them constantly) and went indoors to get the fidget out of the cabinet in our back room.

In the three minutes between the time I went into the building and lining up for roll call, Andre, who is a very large kid, took James, who is our smallest kid, around the back side of the play structure and SPANKED HIM.

The new assistant (she's been there like five days now) didn't tell me what had happened until after Andre had been picked up. She put a stop to it, made sure James was okay, and they brought the kids in and did hand washing. Andre's dad showed up to get him right on schedule.

It was at least an hour between the time he left and the time she actually told me what had happened ("Oh, by the way." she said). 
Which means I didn't talk to Andre's dad or the little guy's mom, either, as he was picked up early.

::sigh::

I really do prefer speaking to parents in person, even though they get a written report after.

So I filled out incident reports, one for each child.

I'm guessing those incident reports have reached the respective parents by now.

Interesting thing about those. On Andre's report, I talked about what Andre had done, mentioning him by name. Did not say James anywhere on his report.

And when I filled out the one for James, I did not use Andre's name. His mom said that she'd talked with him and that some of the other kids were teasing him about his clothes and making fun of him for being small.
Obviously neither one of those things is acceptable.

Yes, when parents ask their kids about this stuff, names are mentioned. I have no control over that. But due to confidentiality laws and company policy (same policy in every day care I've worked) the other child or children's names can't be mentioned by me.

And then, because we use Child Pilot (and it sucks, but not as badly as some of the other ones we've tried) as our check in and out system as well as keeping track of a myriad of other day care stuff, the system ate my reports. Well, technically it stuffed the reports in the app's electronic digestive tract where they just sat, like a greasy chicken thigh in my digestive tract.

I didn't find that out until Friday, when we had training at the main office instead of program that afternoon, school was out. I met with my manager person to discuss our upcoming conference with Andre's family. 

They seem to be decent people, and I know they're weary from dealing with so many issues with their son. It's not someone's fault, it's just how it is. He's a human with a lot of stuff going on in his brain. He doesn't have the benefit of years of experience in dealing with it all and gets overwhelmed. 

I still would like to see him succeed in the program, get along with other kids, and be able to attend just like everyone else does. 

There was no school on Monday (today), it was a teacher work day. 
Glad there wasn't any school, I've been sick all damn weekend. Started getting a headache on Friday afternoon, on Saturday managed to do the grocery shopping with Eric and wash a couple loads of laundry before I wilted melted down and went to sleep for the night.

Sunday was one of those days when I wasn't appreciating the fever, although I know it's supposed to be a good thing to let it burn the little germies out, I took some Excedrin to cut the fever because it was making me feel so crappy.

Tomorrow it's back the the same stuff, different day.
I'm concerned about Andre and his issues, and hope we can help him manage to fit in. 
My experience tells me that it's not going to be easy. 

All I can do is the best I can, I guess. 
He deserves my best efforts, they all do.
I confess to having a soft spot for the kids with extra. 
If I don't work to support them, then what's the point?

It would be helpful if I feel better tomorrow, that's for sure. I function better when I'm not SICK, dammit!!!!
::sigh::