There are few things more difficult than getting a kid to lie down when they don’t want to. They suddenly have a strength they’ve never had before. As frustrating as it is, we usually just try to wait it out, right? A day care worker in Australia, however, didn’t get the memo about not waiting and is facing jail time after slamming a preschooler down onto a cot for nap time. Because of her forceful restraint, the little one got a cut that required extreme measures to seal and heal.
The day care worker, who has not been named, was charged with assaulting a child in New South Wales, police shared in a news release. On August 8, 2025, officers from the Chifley Police District began an investigation after a report was made of a 4-year-old boy being assaulted while at school.
According to court documents, the 24-year-old woman was trying to get the child to lie down and take a nap, but it wasn’t going well, ABC.net.au reported. “The child victim was wriggling and obviously avoiding the accused’s attempts to lay him down,” the document stated.
The employee then reportedly grabbed the boy’s arms and put him down onto the stretcher bed with “considerable force,” causing his head to hit the corner.
“The accused used sufficient force to cause the child victim’s head to bleed immediately, resulting in blood transferring onto the stretcher bed,” police noted in the release. It wasn’t immediately known, but the boy had gotten a cut 2 centimeters long, about 3/4 of an inch, on his head.
“Despite the injury, the accused continued to restrain the child for 53 seconds without noticing the bleeding,” the police release read. At that point, the boy was kicking and crying because he was hurt. Once the day care worker noticed he was hurt, she called another worker for help and took the boy to get first aid.
His dad came to pick him up and took him to the hospital for treatment. According to police, the boy’s head needed to be “medically glued,” ABC.net.au reported.
The day after the incident, the school fired the day care worker. She was arrested at her home on September 16, NSW Police noted in the news release.
“Police assert that the accused’s actions demonstrated a disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the child victim,” the document stated. “By using excessive force that resulted in a head injury with active bleeding, and continuing to restrain the child victim without recognising or responding to the injury, the accused acted in a manner that was reckless.”
The woman pleaded guilty to the charge of reckless wounding and is expected to be back in court in early November.
