Being Asked to Leave Childcare: Reasons

While it may not always be the best way to handle a problem, asking a child to leave childcare is sometimes the only option a center has. Childcare centers are answerable to other parents and have bills to pay, and a disruptive or violent child or a parent who takes advantage of the system can prove to be a liability for them. A childcare center is within its legal rights to dismiss or ask a child to leave for those reasons. Some such reasons for asking a child to leave childcare are:

Problems with the child

• If the child is violent, abusive, unruly, and destructive or bullies other children for no reason, it can be a source of trouble for others in the group
• In an academically active center, below-average performance and failure to participate can hinder the progress of the class

Problems with the parents

• Parents who demand special treatment or exclusive privileges for a child that are difficult to accommodate within a group could be asked to leave childcare there and find a more suitable center
• Parents who are casual about pick-up and drop-off times or paying fees on a regular basis are viewed as unable to respect the professionalism of the center and may be asked to leave childcare
• Parents who are rude or disrespectful to the caregivers at the center may be asked to leave childcare

Leaving Childcare – Parents’ Tips on Handling a Child

When asked to leave childcare, parents can feel helpless and insecure about their daily routine. It is important to deal with the situation in a manner that your child is not affected or traumatized. Being asked to leave childcare is usually a last resort after warnings have been given before. Dealing with the problem when the first warning signs appear is the best way to avoid a situation in which nobody benefits. However, once asked to leave childcare, parents need to follow some basic steps to ensure the transition is smooth.
1. Understand the reason for being asked to leave childcare. A problem lies in the child’s behavior, not in the child. Children can often act up if they feel insecure, if there are changes at home or at the center that they are uncomfortable with, when scared or ill, or when there is an underlying mental health or developmental problem. Problem behavior as a reaction to one of these causes can be solved if the cause is addressed.
2. Talk to your child about leaving the center. Assure the child that he/she is not being rejected or abandoned, and discover what reaction the child is undergoing.
3. If the child was not the problem, its time to seriously rethink your own behavior. Treating a daycare center as a babysitter is not an option, especially because it frees your time for other work or chores. A childcare center is run by professionals and they should be treated that way. Disrespecting their requirements or the caregivers puts you and your child in a situation that leaves you both worried and upset.
4. Finding a new daycare center is important so that a pattern and routine can be established as soon as possible. In many cases, a child is asked to leave a daycare center if the philosophy of the parents and the center do not match. Look for a center where there is a meshing of principles or methods this time. When assessing a daycare center for potential admission, consider the kind of problems that were faced previously, and check if these are likely to arise here.

References
1. Childcare Expulsion Prevention Program; Early Childhood Michigan
2. Acting Up, Acting Out: When Young Children Are Put Out of Programs: Childcare Aware
3. Challenging Behavior: Child Welfare League of America

Most children can be a little noisy, energetic and sometimes get a little too excited but sometimes just a little too much and this can turn to unruly behaviour and problems especially when in school or child care.

When behavioural problems crop up on a regular basis parents should then begin to suspect whether or not their child has a behavioural problem and also what they can do about it, If it becomes a big problem then schools and day care centers may refuse to take your child until their behaviour improves.

What has an affect on a child’s behaviour?

Parents/carer’s

Your child may not think you are spending enough time with them and by acting out through being naughty this gets your attention, it is important to let your child know that you are there for them and love them but that sometimes you can’t spend the quality time with them that you would like.

Try and set clear rules about behaviour and make sure the child knows that they won’t get what they want just because they throw a tantrum. If you are a two parent family then both partners must stick to the same rules otherwise children will play one parent against the other.

If you are a single parent and your child spends time in day care then make an appointment with the day carer, if the behaviour hasn’t already caused a problem within day care it could soon jeopardise your child’s place in day care.

Talk over with them the rules you set ay home regarding bad behaviour and ask them how they would deal with it in child care.

Genes

Some children are more excitable than others and can often be very boisterous but behaviour is usually controllable. Children such as these will take a lot of looking after and need constant stimulation to keep their excitability under control.

Stages of behaviour

Tantrums

Most children will have a tantrum at some stage and these are not generally something to worry about though they can often be loud and particularly embarrassing if you are out in public.

It is important that you remain calm throughout the tantrum and providing your child cannot harm themselves then it is often best not pay too much attention to a tantrum, once your child realises they aren’t going to get what they want through causing a fuss they quickly calm down.

Nurseries and child care minders will be quite used to seeing children having tantrums and will know how to deal with them, however if you have any special preference to how you would like them to deal with your child when in their care then make sure you talk it over with them beforehand.

Naughtiness

All children can be naughty to some extent such as writing on walls, fighting with class mates and ignoring requests, this is a general behaviour pattern in growing children. Often behaviour of this kind is limited to isolated incidents or your child will go through a stage of naughtiness.

Behaviour such as this will often be a test to see how you or the child carer will react and how far they can go, sometimes naughty behaviour can be a way of getting attention, if there are a lot of children in the day care center then it may your child’s way of getting attention from the staff.

Day care center staff will have a policy for disciplining children who miss behave and this should be discussed by your child’s carer and yourself. A lot of day care centers will have a quiet area and usually children who persistently misbehave will be taken to the quiet corner for 10 minutes or so giving them a chance to settle down before returning to their class mates.

If your child persistently misbehaves and is causing a disruption in day care then you may be asked to stay with your child for a while and in rare cases children can be removed from day care due to disruptive behaviour especially if other children are threatened.

Getting help for persistent bad behaviour

Occasionally an illness will cause persistent bad behaviour in a child so if the pattern continues or worsens then it is essential you talk with your health visitor or Doctor regarding this.

Your Doctor will be able to rule out any medical causes such as ADHD and suggest ways of dealing with your child’s behaviour problem. There are also support groups where parents with problem children can meet and discuss how they cope with behavioural problems.