A Midlothian nursery support worker pulled a toddler's hair and said "it's not nice, is it?"
Fiona Laidlaw has been given a 12-month warning on her registration following a hearing with the Scottish Social Services Council. The Dalkeith child day care support worker, in October 2022, pulled a child's hair after saying: "you wouldn't like it if I pulled your hair."
Laidlaw then pulled the child's hair and said: "See, it's not nice is it?" The council heard how the two-year-old, before the incident, had been pulling another child's hair when Laidlaw intervened.
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The hearing concluded that Laidlaw's conduct was inexcusable and showed "a lack of respect for the child." She has been slapped with a 12-month warning notice on her registration.
The SSSC said: "It is an unwarranted and unacceptable use of physical chastisement that could amount to assault. There does not appear to have been any intent to harm the child. As an Early Years Practitioner, you are expected to role-model appropriate behaviour with children and manage situations in accordance with the standards of practice expected of you.
"This appears to have been an isolated error of judgment, but that was not sufficient to fully mitigate the seriousness of your actions. In all the circumstances this risk of repeat appears to be low, so there are no current public protection risks to be addressed.
"However, given the moderate level of seriousness of your conduct, and the risk of harm to the child, we consider that the public would have some concern. Some action is required to satisfy that public interest, to mark the conduct as unacceptable, and to maintain standards."
Several factors that counted in Laidlaw's favour include the fact that she accepted wrongdoing, explained that person circumstances on the day may have affected her judgement and the fact that she fully cooperated with the investigation.
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