Mother’s horror after a childcare worker is photographed SITTING on her four-year-old son while reading a story to other children
- Outraged mother slammed Sydney childcare centre over photo shared on app
- The photo showed her four-year-old son wedged between couch and educator
- She claimed the childcare worker was sitting on her son, but the centre denied it
- Joanne Tourni said she was told her son disrupted the class and was punished
A mother has been left horrified after seeing a photograph showing her son wedged between a couch and childcare worker.
Joanne Tourni first saw the image – which has since been removed – pop up on the south-western Sydney centre’s daily journal app.
The photograph shows a childcare worker holding a book up as she reads to a class while a four-year-old boy sits squeezed between her and the couch, 9 News reported.
With her back turned to the boy, the childcare worker continues to read the book.
‘Who sits a child like that and turns their back towards them?’ an outraged Mrs Tourni asked.
A mother has been left horrified over a photograph showing her son wedged between a couch and childcare worker
The concerned mother said she immediately phoned the centre’s director and demanded an explanation.
She said the centre said that her son had not been paying attention during storytelling and that he was placed on the couch as punishment.
An outraged Mrs Tourni claimed the photo showed the educator sitting on her son and questioned whether it was an acceptable form of punishment.
‘I said “well can you not see his legs, they are quite restricted?”‘ she said.
The centre denied that the educator had been sitting on the child.
However Mrs Tourni still claims their response to his disruptive behaviour had gone too far.
She said she wasn’t surprised her son could not focus at the time, and claimed the book was basic and inappropriate as it spoke about shapes and colours.
‘If they are trying to get their attention by reading something like that it’s just not going to work,’ she said.
At the very least, she suggested her son could have held the book or helped the educator turn the pages in a bid to settle him down.
The angry mother has since moved her son to another daycare centre, bringing to a close an otherwise happy two years with the complex.
The photograph shows a childcare worker holding a book up as she reads to a class while a four-year-old boy sits squeezed between her and the couch, 9News reported
She said the director had only indicated the educator would receive a warning and that no other punishment was going to take place.
Mrs Tourni has handed in a complaint to Early Childhood Education and Care Directorate.
A NSW Department of Education spokeperson confirmed the state’s childcare services regulator had received a complaint, though that the department was unable to comment on specific matters.