Do you remember those sizzling-hot summer days at the beach when you were young and how running across the hot sand was unbearable as you made a sprint for the water or shade? Imagine how a 1-year-old toddler would feel with such delicate skin.
In the scorching 100-degree-Fahrenheit (38-degree-Celsius) heat of Texas, this young toddler recently had a similar experience, although it wasn’t at the beach but at a daycare center.
Some parents depend on daycares and have no choice but to entrust their children with others while they earn a living out in the workforce somewhere. Daycare staff don’t always live up to that trust and neglectfully allow their charges to tread on dangerous ground—literally in this case.
It is only when an incident or injury happens that staff and parents may get a wakeup call.
Tiffanie Cedillo learned that the hard way after she enrolled her 16-month-old daughter in the Wee Care for All daycare center in Brenham, Texas. One day, she received a call from the center informing her that her daughter’s feet had been injured and to come to pick her up.
The mother had taken the liberty of recording the conversation between herself and the daycare employee.
When she inquired how bad the burns on her feet were, the daycare worker replied, “Well it’s a little umm … it don’t look too good.”
The staff member sent Cedillo a photo of her baby’s feet, which were covered in blistered skin.
“I was heartbroken when I saw her foot because half of her foot was blistered,” said Cedillo.
Her daughter was screaming in pain when the mother came to pick her up. The little girl was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with having second-degree burns on her feet.
“It was almost a hundred degrees yesterday,” said Cedillo. “It’s just common sense you don’t send kids out barefoot on the playground. My child was neglected, and I would like for people to know that.”
The mother has since withdrawn her daughter from the daycare and brought her, playpen and all, to the office where she works. She also intends to take legal action against the culprits according to KBTX.
The playground’s safety inspector, Tom Kalousek, said in an interview with Accuweather, “Younger children, especially under 5 years old, can suffer second-or third-degree burns in a matter of moments.
“They take their shoes and socks off and use their hands and feet to get around and don’t realize the dangers.”
A police investigation of the incident later ensued.
