A dinner lady has pulled out my child's tooth, am I overreacting?

liney

room512 wrote: »

I actually agree with the OP. I believe that she should have had an accident form and I don't think that the dinner lady should have pulled the tooth out. What if by pulling the tooth out she had caused any damage? I know it's unlikely but it could have happened.

If teeth are not ready to come out they resist and hurt when pulled. This was not the case, so the tooth must have been hanging on after the child had a bang to the mouth.

Maybe the child should have had an accident form for the bang on the mouth, but honestly, children run into things all day long at school. Unless it's a bang to the head or a wound, accident forms are unnecessary and impractical to adminster.

Teeth falling out are also an everyday event, and do not require documentation. This is an exercise in common sense.

rach_k

I don't think you're over-reacting, OP.

If my child hit her face hard enough to knock a not-very-wobbly tooth so that it really needed to come out, I would expect at least a quick word from the teacher at the end of the day. If it did need to come out, I wouldn't expect a dinner lady to just pluck it out right there in the dining hall either - I'd expect her to be taken somewhere quiet to have a proper look and then do it if necessary. If it wasn't hard enough to knock the tooth nearly out or it wasn't bad enough to warrant going somewhere quiet, it wasn't bad enough for a dinner lady to touch the tooth.

I wouldn't pull out my own kid's tooth, I'd let it come out the usual way - into a toffee or with the child pulling it! If *I* wouldn't do it, why should a dinner lady who has no idea about how we choose to handle such things? They shouldn't. I'm sure she was just being caring, which is great, but I'm sure lots of people have done caring things that are still wrong, sometimes even dangerous. Being caring doesn't mean we should ignore it - if they had good intentions they should be taught how to handle it better so they don't inadvertently hurt somebody at some point.

helzbelz_57

to be fair, the title and the original post did seem to indicate that you were 'fuming' about the tooth being pulled out and not that you were fuming about no accident report for the bang. it does come across as if it's the tooth pulling out that was the issue and that you were VERY angry about it. you asked if you were over reacting and people can only respond to what you have posted which really indicated you had every intention of storming into school and kicking off. it's a bit disingenuous to now say that you never said that.

tibawo

Seriously? I sleep on everything ... Some things annoy me but if dd is not bothered by it then I see no point in getting worked up.

When dd had a sleepover one of the girls teeth fell out. I have my suspicions that the three had plotted together. However my main problem was the tooth fairy as if I didn't put money under the pillow then would it destroy a belief but if I did was it over stepping my temporary parental boundary?

carlamarie_2

helzbelz_57 wrote: »

to be fair, the title and the original post did seem to indicate that you were 'fuming' about the tooth being pulled out and not that you were fuming about no accident report for the bang. it does come across as if it's the tooth pulling out that was the issue and that you were VERY angry about it. you asked if you were over reacting and people can only respond to what you have posted which really indicated you had every intention of storming into school and kicking off. it's a bit disingenuous to now say that you never said that.

Sorry I said I will not be replying anymore, this is my last one!

You are exactly right, I was going to go into the school and kick off. I decided to ask opinions before I did this, the general agreement is that this is the wrong thing to do. After calming down and taken these opinions into account I have DECIDED not to go along with my original plan of storming into the school.

divadonna

Yes you are overreacting. This is a childs baby tooth we are talking about they fall out every day.

Seriously have you seen what is going on in the world today,

Please don't waste anymore time on this minor issue life is too short.

Thank the lovely dinner lady for her kindness otherwise next time your child has a wobbly tooth no one will want to help in fear of being complained about

meritaten

carlamarie - I think its natural that if the school 'notifies' you every time your child falls over or has a paper cut, then you think this incident should have been brought to your attention.
but the dinnerlady is probably well aware of the rules and helped your child without thinking. then thought 'oh oh, I better not report this, cos I could lose my job'. so said nothing and 'school' wasn't aware of the incident.
I am glad you have re-considered. and I DO think some posters have been a bit harsh on you. Put it behind you now, and know there is a nice, kind, sensible lady on staff at the dinner canteen.

globetraveller

Doesn't this thread give an indication of what is going on in our schools just now?
The dinner lady's action is highly unusual nowadays as most would not have touched her for fear of what might happen afterwards. We get kids who are sobbing who can't be comforted in the way we used to be able to do. The lunchtime staff spent ages at the end of lunch filling in forms and phoning parents over trivial falls and accidents. Now, there are times when it is totally correct to inform parents or to ask them to come up but 90% of the time its just done incase the school gets sued.
But I also think that every little thing that happens being overdealt with, does make parents overanxious and so respond as this OP has. If you were to sit down calmly, shut your eyes and imagine the scenario and how the dinner lady reacted, you would realise that you had nothing to worry about and actually you had someone who was prepared to do what was best for the child at the time. Someone with a heart. We aren't talking yanking a tooth out- its probably just lifting it out. It was already away at the back so a play piece and a lunch later ti was probably hanging out.
I dont' think you are a drama queen, I just think you haven't calmly thought it through yet.

helzbelz_57

glad you've seen sense OP. I love forums for things like this. nothing like a dose of strangers' opinion to keep you grounded

bobsa1

I think the op very wisely sought views before taking any action as she wasn't sure what to do.

she has had lots of views now and has changed her mind on the action she wants to take so surely this doesn't need further comment on how the op should feel.

well done op on seeking and taking advice