I was fired from my job at a child care facility for using my Right Response training to restrain a kid who was hitting another kid very hard in the head. The only guidance I was given was to 'just separate them.' I feel I did my duty, and I'm angry that I was punished for it.

I HATE having to use restraint. It can be traumatizing for everyone involved and it's exhausting and I feel cruel. I also know that it's a necessary last resort when a kid is so elevated emotionally that no amount of redirection is going to stop harm from occurring, especially in the moment.

The kid I restrained is not a bad kid at all (no kids are bad, just often traumatized and with various disabilities and family struggles). I have no anger towards him. He has some severe emotional problems to work on, so I don't blame him. There were prior times he had started attacking another kid and I had to pull him off them. That day he was a bit agitated at times. Moments before he started punching the other kid he was brandishing a large metal ladle at another kid, which I took from him so he wouldn't whack them with it. Right after that he jumped on another kid and started punching him in the head repeatedly, hard enough to make loud thumping noises. I immediately pulled him off that kid and held him across the chest without squeezing or inflicting pain while I tried to talk him down and explain why I was holding him. Poor kid was so amped up he couldn't tell me what his thoughts were, and I didn't feel safe letting him go until there were no other kids around, or until he was able to express what he would do if I let him go. I never used any pressure points or neck holds or anything that could endanger him or cause pain. I'm no cop.

Eventually the other staff member present was able to get the other kids inside, and then I let him go. He just went back to playing in the dirt. I immediately informed my supervisor and wrote up the event. It was all caught on camera too. I was put on paid (yay) administrative leave until they looked into the event. I was fired with very little reason other than 'Restraint is against our policies.' I was given no chance to receive extra training, or to appeal, or to know what I was supposed to do beyond 'just separate them.' Separating them would involve some kind of restraint...so...gahhhhh.

I live in a 'Right to Fire' state so there's very little I could do through the courts.

TO make it more frustrating and feel unfair: Some of the other staff members would hold down kids during nap times, even if the kids were screaming and struggling. The statutes and regulations (including the ones that my contract of employment said I had to know, follow, and enforce) in my state allow for restraining kids IF there's a clear and present need for it, like preventing harm to themselves, yourself, others, or property. Holding down kids to force them to nap is none of those things. I reported this to my supervisors when I noticed it, and those staff members were not even put on leave, let alone fired. They had been using restraint unnecessarily may times, not once like I did necessarily.

I had no complaints from my supervisors before that and the kids loved me. I hope that when a kid starts doing that again they are able to 'just separate them.'