Incident/Accident Form Q

[PitterPatter]

Being Licensed I know I have to file an accident report if a child has a bad accident but I have never had anything other than a fall with a knee scrape outside or bumping heads etc.

Today I had a 3 yr old whack a 2 yr old in the mouth with a golf club on purpose (kids plastic of course) His lip was bleeding and is swollen a little. I will inform the parents of each child at pick up but does this require written reports to both or just 1? Then there's the whole privacy policy I can't say who did it. I'm just curious now because I have never had 1 child cause another to bleed it's usually a self inflicted wound and minor. Our state accident form doesn't have a spot for who caused an accident. I kinda want to keep it in my records of who because the dck is new and who knows where it could end up as she has been swatting at her own brother.

[grandmom]

My suggestion: Fill out two reports, one for the victim, one for the offender.

My state form has a place for the parent to sign, then I given them a copy and I keep the original.

No don't tell who the hitter was. You don't want two parents duking it out in your parking lot. When they ask, I just say the confidentiality rule says I can't. Choose your (pronoun?) correctly. If you say *he* the parent will likely figure it out.

[squareone]

Then there's the whole privacy policy I can't say who did it. I'm just curious now because I have never had 1 child cause another to bleed it's usually a self inflicted wound and minor. Our state accident form doesn't have a spot for who caused an accident. I kinda want to keep it in my records of who because the dck is new and who knows where it could end up as she has been swatting at her own brother.

I usually just fill out a form for the victim although I like grandmoms suggestion of filling out two. After the parent signs the form, I just write a note on the back regarding who all was involved (and any other details that are for my reference only) prior to filing.

[nannyde]

I've never had to fill one out in all the years I've done daycare. I don't even know what our State's look like. I'll have to look that up.

I would encourage you to consider not having ANY swinging toys or toys that are weighted that can be swung. I don't allow anything LONG and thin in play. If it's made of hard material they will swing it. If it's made in cloth material they will wrap it around their necks.

I've had to remove the ladders off of fire engines to keep kids from picking up the toy by the ladder and swinging to toy.

I also teach my children to not swing toy as they walk. If they have the object in one hand and swing it front to back while they are walking it then have to drop down to the floor and play with it right there. I do floor based play so the floor is where the toy goes if the kid can't carry it properly.

When they are doing Lincoln Logs I have to train them to not wing around the really long sticks. I start the kids out with the 11 to 14 inch sticks to learn to build towers. They all try to swing it in the air when they first get to do it. I don't allow this and if they keep it up they move onto something more safe. A Lincoln Log to the eye could do some damage.

I had this awesome cloth book that was a foldable book. It was six inches by 36 inches in length with a little handle on one end. It was a darling toy with both sides of it having wonderful little pictures, mirrors, and stuffed puppets. I had it out for the kids in our cloth book bin and eventually had to take it out and put it away. They were wrapping it around their necks, each other, and trying to crack it like a whip. It required too much supervision so we got rid of it.

I try to have toys that the kids can't tear apart, dump, or easily abuse. I try to have toys that require the LEAST amount of adult involvement and supervision. A golf club would be a toy that I would have to have my helper one to one the kid with it any time a kid had it.

My goal every day is to get thru without any injuries.

[PitterPatter]

Thanks for the advise everyone!

[Abigail]

Our forms are commonly filled out for biting. I would remember to say your child was bit/hit/scratched/ect by a child, this way you're not saying who it is or giving out an age range. It could have been an infant causing the accident, but if you keep it at "child" the parent is less likely to figure out it was an infant. The tricky part is when the children are all old enough to talk. We legally cannot tell the parent who did it, but when mom/dad comes to pick up little Johnny runs to mom/dad to show the boo-boo and says little Suzy did this, we will not get in trouble. It happens.

Fill it out yourself and tell the parents at pickup and let them know it is going in their child's file. If they would like a copy you will get one for them. Then just hope both of the children's parents don't show up at the same time or that would be easy to figure out. LOL