"Did Not Care for Child Bitten by Insect... Parent Mentions Child Abuse"

No Separate Mention of Child's Injury at Arrival
Child Abuse Also Raised When Bug Bite Worsened

A kindergarten teacher claimed that she was threatened with a child abuse report by a parent for allegedly not properly managing insect bite marks on a child's face. On the 1st, a post titled "A parent said they would report me for abuse because of insect bites" was uploaded on the online community Nate Pann. The author, Ms. A, a third-year kindergarten teacher, recently noticed a child who came to school with insect bites on the face that looked like they might scab over. To prevent bacterial growth, she washed the child's hands. The child's mother did not mention anything about the child's face at the time of arrival.

A kindergarten teacher was allegedly threatened with a child abuse report by a parent for not properly managing insect bite marks on a child's face. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The problem occurred during dismissal. While the mother was picking up the child, the child touched the insect bite marks on the face. The mother then asked, "Didn't you pay attention to the tick bite marks on our child?" Ms. A replied, "I noticed slightly red marks when the child arrived, and I regularly washed the child's hands to prevent them from touching the area."

The mother reportedly told the kindergarten principal, "Teacher A should be dismissed. Check the CCTV. If you see that she is neglecting our child, I will report her for abuse." Ms. A said she apologized and asked to talk with the mother, but was refused. She added, "Thanks to the principal and vice principal, the situation was resolved, but the mother eventually said she would withdraw her child from the kindergarten because of me." She wrote, "The atmosphere became really silent and tense at that moment. I never want to feel that again. How can I overcome this trauma?"

Many netizens shared similar experiences in response to Ms. A's story. One netizen said, "I also received verbal abuse over the phone because of mosquito bites," and added, "I really don't know what to say. How can you realistically handle that?" Last September, a story about a daycare receiving complaints from parents over mosquitoes also sparked controversy. Comments on that post included, "I'm a mother, please don't do this," "Why blame the teacher for insect bites?" and "I want to apologize on behalf of others. Teachers are also someone's precious daughters, and it breaks my heart."

According to a survey on teacher rights violations released by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) in July last year, a total of 11,628 cases of teacher rights violations by students and parents were reported. Violations by parents (8,344 cases) were more than twice those by students (3,284 cases). Among types of violations by parents, child abuse reports and threats or malicious complaints accounted for 6,720 cases (57.8%), the highest proportion, followed by verbal abuse and insults with 1,346 cases (16.1%).