Ouchy

Poor little Bethany is having a tough time at the moment, not only is she not in the right head space due to things happening outside her doing, but she has today been in the wars.

One striking difference here in NZ to the UK is the laid back approach to everything. Such comments as 'it'll be right mate' are thrown around to ease situations.

When Bethany joined Kindy I was concerned at various things that I saw. The woodwork bench being the most scary with children being allowed to play with full sized hammers and saws. Just last week we watched a fashion show which was recorded and handed out to parents to watch at home. It was so sweet to see all the girls get dressed up and parade down the 'catwalk', but when the catwalk was a balance beam covered with a loose sheet and the girls toddled off in adult sized heels, we could do nothing be cringe as we watched it.

Today I arrived at Kindy to pick up Bethany, and was greeted by one of the teachers. She informed me that Bethany had cut her hand with a knife whilst preparing the fruit for everyone. I didn't of course make a big deal of it, they assured me it was only slight and Bethany looked fine so off we went. Of course a little miffed that no-one had called me, but I just smiled and took my brave girl home.

Expecting a slight cut under the huge plaster, my mouth fell open when I had to take it off due to a bleed through. Poor Bethany's hand was so badly cut that I had to phone the Doctors for an emergency appointment. She needed some butterfly stitches!

I am trying to be cool about this but I am in fact very annoyed. Bethany is 4 years old and being allowed to use a knife that can cause such damage is terrible. The headteacher wasn't at Kindy today so I spoke with one of the other teachers on the phone about it and sadly nothing was really said to explain what happened, so I will speak to the head next week.

No swimming, no getting her hand wet and no over exertion makes Bethany one unhappy girly. I took her off to the shops to cheer her up and she was allowed to buy a gift for being so brave, but painful tears at bed time tonight was just awful.

There is nothing worse than a Health and Safety freak, someone who just wants to take the fun out of everything. But this time maybe I might need to be one of those as there really was no fun from this at all.