2 yr old bit by 3 yr old
By syndibee
@syndibee (799)
United States
February 26, 2010 8:50pm CST
I'm hoping for some advice here. I was watching a 2 yr old boy who was bit by a 3 yr old boy several times while at a McDonalds play place. These bites were very severe. 2 of them broke skin and 2 others are huge bruises. The 2 yr old never yelled out. I ran up the play place when my own 3 yr old yelled at the other child. I was aghast with horror when I saw the little boy I watch's face. He had a huge bite mark on his cheek. I confronted the other childs mom and she made her child apologize but she never removed him from the other children. I left and I'm almost certain her child was playing again as soon as I was out the door.
Now the poor little boys parents are furious, I don't blame them, I am too. They want to press charges. Preferably against the other boys parents but if he can't find them then he will be trying to press charges against me. I'm so upset. What can or should I do. I removed the child I watched from the situation and applied first aid. The parents are assuming that I wasn't watching their child and that if it were my own child I would have handled it differently.
4 people like this
7 responses
@brynnesmom (169)
• Canada
27 Feb 10
I don't understand, why weren't the bitten child's parents watching him? How can they possibly transfer responsibility for their own child onto you when you were all in a public place?
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
2 Mar 10
That is horifying. It was not your fault the child bit their child. Did you have the parents permission to take them to the play place? If so then they need to be willing to accept a possibility that something could happen at such a place. The only thing that concerns me is that you said the other child bit the child several times and hard enough to break skin so that means this biting took a reasonable amount of time, that you did not see, if I were the parents I would be a bit upset at you too because this was several bites at some point you should have seen this happening if you were watching the children closely. One bite or maybe even two I could have gotten over but 4 bites, that had to have taken enough time for you to spot it. Pressing charges against you for something another parent's child did is taking things too far, but they have the right to be upset. I am sorry I do not mean to be offensive, but I am just being honest.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
2 Mar 10
If the bites healed on their own and there were no hospitabl bills or permanent damage the parents wil have nothing to sue you for, and it will cost them more in legal fees to do so and they would likely recover nothing. If they did take the child to the doctor and there was no surgery or anything like that you would just likely be expected to pay the deductible or out of pocket charges of the doctor. Again the legal fees would be more than this. So if there is any more talk of them suing you I would remind them of this. You may offer just to pay their out of pocket medical expenses if you just wish to smooth this over with them and then have them sign a paper stating that this releases you from any further obligation. But if the child was not even taken to the doctor and there is no scaring they won't get far with suing you.
@syndibee (799)
• United States
5 Mar 10
The children were in the tunnels of the play place for less than 5 minutes. At about 2 minutes my child started hollering so I ran up the tunnels while the boy I was watching went down the slide.
I do understand the parents being upset, I would be too BUT the children were not unattended for an extended period of time.
The parents are no longer in contact with me. I paid them for their childs discomfort with my entire weeks wages.
The assumption that this took a long period of time is wrong and I want to set that straight for everyone. THIS TOOK PLACE IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES.
If you have a young child who plays in those tunnels you know it takes them more than 2 minutes to go through the mazes and often they love to just "hang out" at the top. You can not spot a child biting another within the tunnels and are unaware until a child hollers out.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
5 Jun 10
I didn't realize they were inside the tunnels when that happened, that would make it difficult to see what was going on. Since it broke skin I think I would have requested a name and phone number of the lady whose child bit the child and if she did not give it to me I would have called the police, that way she would have to pay the medical expenses and not you, and then maybe she would take her child's un-acceptable behavior of biting more seriously. It sounds like she was not concerned at all and just let her child go on playing. If my kid bit someone I would have dragged their but out of their immediately and they would have gotten a strong talking to (which is all my kids ever needed). Biting is very unacceptable and parents need to take that very seriously and nip it in the bud immediately. We can't always control what our kids do but by letting her child continue to play she just made sure that another child will be a victim of this child's biting.
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
27 Feb 10
OMFG!! I would have SNAPPED on the parents..AND I would have gone to management AND stuck around to make sure the parents and child were made to leave..THAT IS WRONG..As for the parents of the victim wanting to press charges on the parents of the child who bit their kid well hell I would too BUT I dont see how they could go after you! Do you have any idea WHY they would or even think they can have charges brought up on you?? It makes no sense..ESPECIALLY since you were trying to HELP their kid!!!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
27 Feb 10
hi syndibee thats exactly why so many Americans pass by s omeone who is hurt as so many times instances like what you describe turn up to put the good samaritan in an ugly light. All you did was render first aid. how dare the p arents wanting to press charges against you? did they not know that you were not the babysitter for this bunch of children. Why was not the parents of the bitten child watching him better? I would call the police and tellthem the whole story as I cannot possibly believe that they could press charges against you, you were not responsible for their child , they were. No I would get the police involved in this and protect yourself from further harassment from those silly parents. good luck.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
27 Feb 10
What a terrible thing to have happen to a little child! I can understand that the parents are upset but taking it out on you is not going to change anything and, no, they can't press charges against you. This boy was playing in what was supposed to be a safe area with your son. You were not supposed to stand there and watch their every move and, since the child did not cry out, how were you supposed to know what was going on? Even if you had handled things differently and called the police on the spot, they wouldn't have arrested a little boy for biting another child...or the parents.
@Ladyslipper (1327)
• Philippines
27 Feb 10
Hi Syndibee!
It does not make sense if they will press charges against you. It's not your responsibility to watch over those children who were playing at McDonald's playplace at that time. They should even be thankful you were there and you were able to help their little boy.
@clrumfelt (5490)
• United States
27 Feb 10
If the child was in your care with the approval of his parents, not like you kidnapped him or anything I don't think they will be able to prove negligence.
It will be your word against theirs.
