Bite me: This time it's personal

(Note: This ought to explain why I've been scarce lately. Well, this and the vomiting, fevers, and general malaise.)

Yo District Manager (don't have a name yet),

(Background about my kids, their names and ages, and where and when my kids have attended Daycare Centers. Edited to be concise. I was kind enough not to charge myself freelance rates for the editing services.)

I would like to bring an issue to your attention. On May 31, upon arrival in the toddler room, I noticed a large bite mark on the back of my son's calf. I pointed it out to the two staff members, who were unaware of it, and mentioned it to an office staff member on the way out. On Thursday, June 7, while bathing my son, I noticed a bite mark on his back. My children do not attend the center on Fridays, so I called the next morning to let the director know. The next Tuesday, June 12, I arrived at pickup time to find two fresh bite marks, along with what appeared to be another small bite, on the front of his shin. This time, the bites were accompanied by an incident report, which explained that another child had bitten my son as he walked up the playground stairs.

At this point, as I felt that three bites in three weeks seemed excessive, I asked an office staff member (the center director had left for the day) if there might be a child with a biting problem. She said yes, there was. When I spoke with the morning-shift teachers in the toddler room, they gave the impression that they agreed with her.

Over the next couple of days, my son's shin became quite bruised, and I called the center director to express my concern again. At pickup time, she approached me to say that she understood my concern, and wanted to reassure me that it was not the same child each time. I am not sure how she was able to say this with such confidence, as two of the three bite marks had not been noticed by staff members, and decided to ask the toddler teachers to clarify on Monday. They explained that there was not actually a child with biting issues in my son's classroom, but in the next age group up, and the age groups were sometimes combined oustide on the playground or in the late afternoons. This made me wonder if levels of supervision were adequate during the times that these age groups were combined.

My concerns intensified the next day, Tuesday, June 19, when once again I found a bite mark, this time on my son's wrist (it featured more teeth marks than he has teeth, so it was not self-inflicted). Again, there was no incident report. I reported the bite to the center director the next morning, and she said that she would talk with the teachers about it.

Over the weekend, I noticed a sore, with a scab forming over it, on one of my son's fingers; since the daycare had not mentioned this, I thought he'd injured his finger at home. I was very disappointed when I arrived this morning and the teacher informed me that there was an incident report for me, dated last Thursday, June 21: another child had bitten my son on the finger. I took the report to the center director immediately to inquire why I had not received the report earlier, as it is now Tuesday, and mentioned that I was particularly disappointed because this bite had obviously broken the skin and I had not been informed in a timely fashion. She said that sometimes they forgot to leave the reports with the afternoon teachers.

I do not want to overreact; I am well aware that children, particularly those in this age group, are very oral and frequently express such by biting. However, my fourteen-month old, one of the younger toddlers in his classroom, has been bitten five times in four weeks. The center director's handling of the matter seems to so far consist of reassuring me that he is not always bitten by the same child. Again, since three of the five bites were not observed until I found them, I don't see how that can be stated with any accuracy, nor do I find it particularly relevant; I would think that one child being bitten five times over four weeks is problematic no matter what the situation. If one child has biting issues, that needs to be handled with the child's parents. If multiple children are biting with this frequency, the level of supervision in the toddler room needs to be addressed.

Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.