I tagged this as advice but this is more of just a vent than anything, because I find this whole experience very bizarre.
I work at an international school. Most of the children there are very young, but there's a five and a half year old who comes essentially just for babysitting, and stays late on her own once a week. I got along well with this child at first, since my responsibility doesn't involve teaching her, I really just have to keep her entertained until her parents come pick her up.
We did art projects, got out random toys, played hide and seek, hid objects. For months, we got along fine. In the last month or so though, she's gotten gradually more unruly. Nothing too bad, but this last week was different. I asked her to wash her hands after using the bathroom – she says no and hides in the corner. I come over to talk to her and try to take her to the sink, and she proceeded to grab me and claw me as hard as she could.
This is completely unacceptable behavior, but the thing is, she did it a second time when I asked her to come back into the classroom because they were having an event in the main room. She dug her fingers in so hard and planted her feet down in a way another employee had to help come pry us apart (she's very tall for her age and I'm short, which doesn't help). I don't know how it didn't leave any marks, but it was still painful.
Back in the classroom she started grabbing and shoving me, telling me go to away, trying to push me into the sink. I finally left her alone to sulk in the corner, and she would blow raspberries at me and growl and mutter how much she hated me if I got close.
When my boss came to tell us her mother was here, I listed off all of her bad behavior and told her to inform her. Keep in mind, there was a witness to at least some of this, so it was clear I wasn't lying.
Today, I asked my boss if she'd told her mother about how badly she had behaved. "Of course not. She's never done that to another teacher, so it must have been something you did. I saw you weren't even playing with her when mom came."
Telling her to wash her hands??? This is a completely unacceptable way to treat an authority figure, and now she knows she can use me like a punching bag and face 0 consequences. Is this normal?? I would have gotten in severe trouble at her age for treating an adult so badly. Surely 5 and a half years old is old enough to start teaching basic respect, and more importantly, not to claw people? The mind boggles.
by orecyan