A Florida father was horrified when his 5-year-old son came home from daycare looking beaten up and bruised.
After the incident, angry dad Steven Stallone posted pictures of his son’s injuries on social media.
“I picked my son up from school and as I picked him up his face was completely smashed,” Stallone explained in a video posted to Facebook. “And I said, ‘What in the hell happened?’”
The teacher came over and told the worried dad that his son Aidan had been playing with a friend and just fell down and hurt his face.
“My son was shaking by the time I picked him up, he was so upset,” Stallone said.
In a post on Monday, Stallone wrote that his son had been bullied by a fourth-grader — a 10-year-old — who wanted to “play the tripping game with my son and threw him to the ground."
Although the teacher said it was just regular play, not bullying, Stallone said he asked them keep the kids away from each other in the future.
Aidan Stallone came home from daycare injured on at least two occasions.
“They told us they would be separating the children. Then again today the kids were in the same class again and an older kid pushed him down again and hurt his stomach.”
Stallone wrote that the teacher said she had no choice but to mix the different age groups because the facility — reportedly KinderCare in Wesley Chapel — was short-staffed.
KinderCare was not immediately available for comment, although in a release to WFTS-TVa spokesperson said that an incident report had been filed.
“We know some scrapes and scratches are a natural part of childhood. Of course, we understand that any injury to their child can be upsetting for a parent,” the statement said.
Stallone wrote that he’d lodged a complaint with the Department of Children and Families, the agency that oversees the center, and with the local sheriff’s department.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the Daily News that Stallone reported the incident and that an investigation was underway.