A mother is seeking legal advice after her 5-year-old son was made to clean toilets by a caregiver at Chipmunks as punishment for supposedly hitting a girl in the face with a ball.
Oriwa Pehi-Livapulu says her son, Noble, could have become sick and she has complained to Child, Youth and Family, which funds the after-school care programme in Rotorua, known as Oscar.
"They could have made him collect the dishes off the table, but he was not given that option. He doesn't even clean the toilet at home - he's only 5 years old. I draw the line at that. It's a big no-no.
"My mana has been taken away from me. Noble's spirit has been trampled on."
Ms Pehi-Livapulu said she had spoken to the parents of the 6-year-old girl whom her son apparently hit in the face and they were unaware of last week's incident.
Noble had denied hitting the girl on purpose.
"He was trying to get a ball through the hoop and he missed and got her."
Ms Pehi-Livapulu, a trainee teacher at Waikato University, is annoyed she was not told about the incident until the next day when she went to pick up Noble and her 8-year-old son, Elcarim.
She had taken her children out of Chipmunks and was demanding answers from centre owner Doug Lambert.
Ms Pehi-Livapulu wanted assurance nothing similar would happen to another child.
Mr Lambert did not return calls yesterday but has said Noble was made to squirt cleaning product into a toilet before scrubbing it with a brush while being supervised by the 40-year-old caregiver who punished him.
The caregiver was a new employee and had been told she must not use cleaning toilets as a punishment.
CYF released a brief statement about the issue but would not be drawn yesterday on whether making a child clean a toilet was appropriate.
It is understood the organisation is waiting for a written complaint from Ms Pehi-Livapulu before deciding whether to investigate.
