Feet in the Sink

      In the day cares where I worked, there were sinks at the level that the children could reach and wash their own hands. At the Texas day care, in my class of 18 month-old students – I had the hot water valve turned all the way off under the sink. A wise precaution.

       Now, perfect as I was as their teacher, it was still hard to keep an eye on every child at all times. One morning I was talking with a Mom, and one of the kids shouted, “Miss Denise, Johnny's in the sink with the water running!” (Not his real name). I continued to look at the Mom but said to the child, “Are his feet in the sink, or his hands?”

       Before the little girl could answer, the Mom who had been talking to me put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Oh you Poor Thing!”

       Johnny had his hands in the water. That time.

       The Mom who had been chatting with me that morning was the same one who had called the manager one afternoon within my first week of employment there concerned that I might take her own child's security blanket away. Her son, who I will call Turk, carried a cloth diaper around with him everywhere. Of course the manager got after me about it, and I tried to reassure the Mom that I would never take Turk's security blanket from him.

        Now the electrical outlets in the room all had childproof covers on them, and I did try as hard as I could to be attentive to each child at every moment, but a combination of Turk's teething which caused heavy drooling and his curiosity and determination even with a cloth diaper security blanket in one hand and my own misplaced confidence in thinking the room was safe that led to Turk receiving an electric shock when his wet fingers somehow touched something live under the childproof outlet plug!

         He let out a yell and then began crying. I was mortified! Beyond the shock, Turk appeared to be okay. The plug was put back into its proper position. How was I going to tell Turk's parents? If they were so concerned about his blanket, how were they going to react to his getting an electric shock during my watch? I wrote up the accident report. And then I heard no feedback. Surely they hated me.

       When conference time came I blubbered apologies to both Mom and Dad in person. And I was ready to hear their anger about expectations of a safe environment for their son that had not been met.

        But they were not upset!

       “He won't be doing that again!” Dad said.

       Apparently Turk's curiosity and determination were getting him into trouble at home – maybe he had been exploring electrical outlets there too. And so Mom and Dad were grateful that Turk had learned this particular lesson at school instead of at home!

       Ultimately, one never really knows how one serves!

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