‘One of the teachers called that my son was covered in bruises’

A mother talks about the moment in motherhood when she went completely wrong.

Linda (33), living together, mother of two sons Jarno (3) and Jesper (10 months).

“The pedagogical employee at my sons daycare center sounded quite concerned. It was eleven o’clock in the morning and I was standing in front of the class when the principal warned that there was a telephone for me. I was shocked, because when one of the leaders calls, it usually means that there is an emergency. Do the children suddenly have a fever or have fallen? This time she asked grudgingly and stammering, “Jesper’s bruised. Did he already have it this morning?’

As soon as I hung up, I wanted to go to daycare, but transferring my class is not an easy thing to do. I am a teacher at a ZMLK school (children with very difficult learning difficulties) with mentally handicapped adolescents. When I told the director what was going on, he thought I should go right away. He would arrange it.

Read also

That went wrong: ‘I locked myself out without keys, with the toddler inside alone’ >

Bruising

I’ve never cycled so fast, got there in five minutes and ran into the building. Jesper gave me a big smile when the leader handed it to me. When I pulled down his pants, I immediately saw what was going on and started laughing out loud. The leader looked surprised, but smiled as I explained what had happened.

That morning I had put on a new pair of jeans for Jesper, without washing them beforehand. Jesper is quite an active child. Due to the many rolling, crawling and moving, the pants had given off on his legs. No bruising, the blue paint was just the culprit. I still think it’s hilarious, but I also had a swallow moment afterwards. What a relief!”

This one that went wrong is in Kek Mama 13-2020.

Read more? Subscribe here to Kek Mama, the #1 glossy for mothers.