A toddler fight club investigation is being conducted after authorities learned of a daycare facility encouraging violence from young children under their care.
WBNS 10TV reports that workers at Stepping Stones Daycare Center in Columbus, Ohio were discovered “recording and condoning children fighting.” The two teachers who encouraged the sick behavior are caught on camera egging a 3-year-old boy and girl on in a video recorded on August 3rd.
Management of the daycare only learned of the video on Monday. Upon reviewing security camera footage, they confirmed that both teachers were cheering the two children on — encouraging them to continue with the violent outburst.
As the report says, adult voices can be heard off-camera, seemingly taunting the children. Huffington Post quotes one of the teachers as saying, “Get him back!” and the other carrying on, “You a cry baby. Cry baby, cry baby. Crying to yourself.”
This has all the signs of a toddler fight club with the two 3-year-olds. Management reveals that a little boy attacks a little girl. Instead of stopping the violent drama, the two workers yank out their cell phones and start taping the altercation that goes on for minutes. The fight only ends when the boy finally walks away. The girl sustained scratches as a result of the fight that should have been prevented.
Both daycare workers are fired from Stepping Stone Daycare Center. Management shares that both teachers were fired on August 4th over an unrelated incident.
A statement from Stepping Stone was given by daycare manager assistant, Victoria Carter:
“We contacted the parents, of course. Both teachers that we caught doing this were both terminated, so they no longer work here. We reported it to licensing, so they were aware of everything that was happening as well.”
One of the women who recorded the fight interviewed with the news source and claims she “should have stopped the fight, but didn’t want to get in the middle of it.” She claims that she didn’t want “to get injured” as her justification for not trying to stop the toddlers’ fight.
The other worker alleges that she “told the boy to stop fighting.”
Job and Family Services call the video “disturbing and disappointing” and are investigating this. Additionally, Family Services says Stepping Stones Daycare didn’t self-report this toddler fight club event, even though a lawyer for the daycare claimed they actually did.
[Image via HNGN ]