3 year old died at the DOL daycare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well the family is on WTOP speaking ill of the daycare before they have all the facts. I'm sorry about what happened but they are obviously looking for someone to blame based on the radio interview. Sometimes it's just a shitty thing that happens and no one is to blame.

Yeah, but sometimes someone IS to blame, and that may very well be the case here. I think it's likely the parents have more facts about what occurred than you do.

The grandmother implied there were no staff members in the room when the kids were eating.

[Anonymous]

Well the family is on WTOP speaking ill of the daycare before they have all the facts. I'm sorry about what happened but they are obviously looking for someone to blame based on the radio interview. Sometimes it's just a shitty thing that happens and no one is to blame.

Yeah, but sometimes someone IS to blame, and that may very well be the case here. I think it's likely the parents have more facts about what occurred than you do.

The grandmother implied there were no staff members in the room when the kids were eating.

Yes, and what happened with CPR? You would think that timely administration would address a run-of-the-mill choking issue. And if there was no one available to do so in a timely matter that seems like blatant negligence by the daycare. That should be priority number one for daycare workers serving a meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well the family is on WTOP speaking ill of the daycare before they have all the facts. I'm sorry about what happened but they are obviously looking for someone to blame based on the radio interview. Sometimes it's just a shitty thing that happens and no one is to blame.

Yeah, but sometimes someone IS to blame, and that may very well be the case here. I think it's likely the parents have more facts about what occurred than you do.

It was a meatball at daycare, not a handgun. Sometimes accidents happen. We don't need to "blame" anyone. I'm sure the daycare workers feel terrible .

Were they expecting the children to cut up their own meatballs??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well the family is on WTOP speaking ill of the daycare before they have all the facts. I'm sorry about what happened but they are obviously looking for someone to blame based on the radio interview. Sometimes it's just a shitty thing that happens and no one is to blame.

Yeah, but sometimes someone IS to blame, and that may very well be the case here. I think it's likely the parents have more facts about what occurred than you do.

The grandmother implied there were no staff members in the room when the kids were eating.

If that turns out to be true, that is DEFINITE negligence.

[Anonymous]

This makes me sick to my stomach. Poor little boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The child development center is run by Nobel and it is housed inside the DOL headquarters building. Many of the children enrolled there are those of DOL employees, including our daughter. I've struggled to make sense of this tragedy ever since hearing about it yesterday. I dropped our daughter at the center this morning and I picked her up this afternoon. Everyone there is just devastated by what happened. It really is a great school, one at which the staff care deeply about all of the children. The teachers are experienced and trained to respond to events including choking. The teacher to children ratio is strictly observed, as are all other rules.

When something like this happens we look for meaning and someone to blame. But, there is no meaning here, and I don't think there's anyone to blame. Its terrible but these things just happen sometimes. I wish it hadn't happened. My heart goes out to the family. My heart also goes out to the teachers, the principal and deputy principal, and the cook. They were all there today, all mourning the loss of one of their children.

You are right, as I've been a staff never where a different type of tragedy occurred with one of our children. I still remember the child's name, his date of birth and how old he would have been.

That said, the stages of grief are such that anger is an early stage, and blaming the center is a natural occurrence when a tragedy occurs.

I feel so sorry for this family, and for the center. I wish I knew the director, I'd do something for her and her staff. I might call her anyway, I remember how it felt when other directors reached out to me those years ago when the tragedy occurred.

[Anonymous]

It might have been those kid size meatballs. They are about the size of the grape. One of those plus a kid who might laugh or talk or worse throw their head back and laugh and yeah it can be a choking hazard

[Anonymous]

I think it's hard to get people to take choking hazards for 3 year olds seriously. My son's pk3 class used to do uncut grapes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOL daycare provides all food.

Does anyone know whether DOL uses Good Food Company for their catering?

FWIW, I work at a center that uses Good Foods and we don't have meatballs on our menu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The child development center is run by Nobel and it is housed inside the DOL headquarters building. Many of the children enrolled there are those of DOL employees, including our daughter. I've struggled to make sense of this tragedy ever since hearing about it yesterday. I dropped our daughter at the center this morning and I picked her up this afternoon. Everyone there is just devastated by what happened. It really is a great school, one at which the staff care deeply about all of the children. The teachers are experienced and trained to respond to events including choking. The teacher to children ratio is strictly observed, as are all other rules.

When something like this happens we look for meaning and someone to blame. But, there is no meaning here, and I don't think there's anyone to blame. Its terrible but these things just happen sometimes. I wish it hadn't happened. My heart goes out to the family. My heart also goes out to the teachers, the principal and deputy principal, and the cook. They were all there today, all mourning the loss of one of their children.

You are right, as I've been a staff never where a different type of tragedy occurred with one of our children. I still remember the child's name, his date of birth and how old he would have been.

That said, the stages of grief are such that anger is an early stage, and blaming the center is a natural occurrence when a tragedy occurs.

I feel so sorry for this family, and for the center. I wish I knew the director, I'd do something for her and her staff. I might call her anyway, I remember how it felt when other directors reached out to me those years ago when the tragedy occurred.

Do you seriously have no idea how this could have/should have been avoided?

[Anonymous]

Please stop speculating, snapping at each other, and tossing around suggestions of blame. This is all useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Please stop speculating, snapping at each other, and tossing around suggestions of blame. This is all useless.

Serving meatballs to a bunch of toddlers (13) with only two adults?? Stop shittin'!!

[Anonymous]

May God take that little soul to Heaven. May that child rest in eternal joy and rest.

I pray for peace and support for the family, and for the entire community of that daycare.

May we all--parents and teachers and caregivers alike--give our children and our charges extra love and attention and care. May we also--parents and teachers and caregivers alike--remember to give our fellow parents and staff extra love and attention.

God, in your mercy, please send love and healing and peace to all who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Let's all give our kids an extra hug tonight and say a prayer for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well the family is on WTOP speaking ill of the daycare before they have all the facts. I'm sorry about what happened but they are obviously looking for someone to blame based on the radio interview. Sometimes it's just a shitty thing that happens and no one is to blame.

Yeah, but sometimes someone IS to blame, and that may very well be the case here. I think it's likely the parents have more facts about what occurred than you do.

The grandmother implied there were no staff members in the room when the kids were eating.

Yes, and what happened with CPR? You would think that timely administration would address a run-of-the-mill choking issue. And if there was no one available to do so in a timely matter that seems like blatant negligence by the daycare. That should be priority number one for daycare workers serving a meal.

CPR only works if you're able to dislodge whatever they're choking on. It's not a magic solution. Many people have died from choking while supervised, and with CPR given immediately.

It's important to know that supervision and CPR training can't prevent all deaths, so that people don't think "It's OK to serve grapes or hotdogs, as long as I'm watching".

I think it's way to early to know whether the child was supervised, and whether there was something about the meatballs that made them particularly risky. It's possible that there was negligence, and it's possible that the center did everything right, and it was just a case of incredibly bad luck. Either way, it's heartbreaking.