So, I got punched in the eye by the spawn of Satan....

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ok I know saying "Spawn of Satan" is a tad too harsh considering it's about a little boy but OH boy! For the weeks I have been at this childcare centre for my Prac, I have taken the time to know the children by talking to them and observing their behaviour. And this one particular 4 year old boy has VERY concerning behaviour. The first time I saw him misbehaving I just shrugged it off thinking it was normal kindy behaviour. But over time I noticed he literally tries to cause distress to other children and he gets happy when he does so. For example, he has taken toys away from other children's hands and he smiles when they cry about it. He will purposely destroy sandcastles that other children have built and smile about it. He has thrown toys and even handfuls of sand into other children's faces and smiles when they complain and / or cry about it. But my last 2 days were pretty intense. On the Thursday (whatever date that was now, doesn't matter), some farm animals were brought in. These dudes who own these animals have been there before so was nice to see them again. The little boy was being a butt munch all day making a lot of children upset but he really made me see him in a different light when he put his foot on top of a rabbit's head and was about to step down. My heart skipped a beat and I yelled out his name and got him away from ALL animals! That afternoon, I was sitting on the grass reading a book to a 3 year old girl. The boy came over to us, next thing I know his hands were above my head and the girl's head and he released a bunch of sand onto our heads. I let him know that was not nice at all! He asked me if he could go on the trampoline and I said "Not if you're going to be horrible to your friends." His response was to slap the girl across her face hard to which she started crying. I stood up, picked her up to cuddle but also to lift her higher out of his reach. I said "Now you're definitely not going on the trampoline! You do not treat your friends like this, it's really mean!" And to that he punched me twice in the stomach. Didn't hurt but shocked me. On the Friday, he wasn't all that bad in the morning but in the afternoon he was horrible. Toys once again being thrown in children's faces. Long story short, I was sitting on the mat with him and another boy. This boy was showing me drawings he made for his parents. The 4 year old devil grabbed those drawings and scrunched them up whilst smiling. I grabbed the drawings back and flattened them out as much as I could and did whatever I could to make him feel better. I do this thing with the children where I have them on my lap and in my arms rocking them like a baby singing "Rock A Bye Baby" but I make it like a ride. Whereas it should be gentle but I rock them around and they laugh their heads off. So I did this to cheer the boy up but 4 year old devil came over, slapped him on the face twice. I told him off but he just laughed. Then he came up to me and punched me in my left eye. That actually did hurt but it was a very quick "ouch" type of hurt. I was so angry! I told the educator there because I literally didn't know what to do. I was overwhelmed and didn't know how to handle the situation so she took care of it. He is such an adorable child with dimples when he smiles and when he is nice, which isn't often but it's so sweet. But otherwise, I wish I knew the reason for this behaviour as it's so horrible! Thank you for reading. If you by any chance have any theories on his behaviour, I'd love to read it!