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Day-Care Worker Pins Kids to Mattresses as Discipline Control
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
A day-care operator admitted that she pinned children to mattresses as a form of discipline. Credit: Hennepin County Sheriff's Office
Yes, you read that right. The 70-year-old Meinhardt told authorities she had been using this bizarre discipline method "for about eight years on 2- and 3-year-olds who attended her in-home day care," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The charges against her are "gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and false imprisonment."
According to published reports, local police came to Meinhardt's little house of alleged horrors in order to investigate claims by a girl who was cared for by Meinhardt from 2003 to 2006. The girl is now 7 years old and "recently told her mother that Meinhardt used safety pins to pin her to a mattress during nap time," according to the Star Tribune.
Meinhardt's lawyer John Leunig defended his care-giving client, saying she "has a clean criminal record with not so much as a traffic ticket." Parents who were present at Meinhardt's court hearing "declined to comment."
What could the parents say? Can you imagine dropping your children off at day care and finding out years later that they were literally pinned to a mattress in order to keep them docile while napping?
If this turns out to be true, I, for one, would want her pinned to a mattress for a good, long nap behind bars.
Related: More on Childcare
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 5)
11-13-2009 @ 5:29PM
staci said...What you are all missing is that is only alleged that she pinnned the kids to the crib. Alleged by a six year old child. hmm. Yes she admitted to pinning the arms of a sleeper back so the kids arms were inside the sleeper, but is that so bad? You can buy sleep sacks for kids of all ages. With sleep sacks the kids cannot climb out of the crib and hurt themselves or another kid.
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11-14-2009 @ 9:13AM
the teacher said...i have been in the child care field for over 11 yrs now. I have work in about 5 different facilities and work with many different people. In my experience, most kids are brats. and most parents irresponsible. they all think their kids are the most wonderful and the ugly truth is...you are the only one who thinks that. facilities allow unskilled (not under trained) to work for them. most "unskilled" have their bachlors or masters and suck at handling kids. just because a facility is licensed and has "highly" educated people employed, doesn't mean your kids are safe. there are many (not all) women who choose to leave their kids to work. YES! a choice! most do not NEED to. I see more selfish parents and they are raising their kids to be just as self-centered. majority of American kids are jerks just like thier parents.face it people, before you start condeming and judging, look at yourself first!.
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11-14-2009 @ 1:19PM
jlh0524 said...I have worked in Childcare. I could never imagine using such a method to get kids to calm down. I work with 20 two year olds and when you have control over a classroom and the respect of the children then they will get still and go to sleep - or at least stay on their cots.
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11-14-2009 @ 1:21PM
Richard said...This may be the biggest "nothing story" of all time. She was just doing it to keep the little tykes safe.
Like where were these kids going to go anyway?
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11-14-2009 @ 9:07PM
Lissette said...WOW! I agree with most people on here.
I don't have kids and I know this is wrong! No Excuses.
And pinning someone elses child down and your little "example" of the long car ride and the baby sleeping during a long drive...have nothing to do with eachother!
When a child is in a car seat for a car ride, it's protecting them from a possible car accident, fender bender, or slamming on the breaks. It's not restraining them in any manner what-so-ever.
Now, I will be damned if a stranger pinned down my niece and nephew for their nap because they wouldn't sleep. I'll pin her body down if I could, and then later ask her if she liked it.
So you, SKL, I don't know where your theories are coming from. But I would be scared to be your child or have you as a sitter.
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11-14-2009 @ 11:51PM
Michelle said...What is wrong with our world? OMG! We are leaving our precious future with crazy people who pin them to mattresses straight jacket style? And how many kids was she watching, 10? And she wouldn't let the parents past the front door....hmm, maybe a wakeup call? Hasn't this woman ever heard of a pack n; play? The sad thing is, the parents who brought their children to her are probably either just really stupid or really desperate for cheap care...something. As a country we really need to get our priorities straight. I have three children and I cared for a 2 year old girl in my home last year. While in my care, her father nor mother ever called to check on her. No one ever stopped in. They never asked how her day was when they picked her up. Needless to say I do not watch her anymore, too sad for me. I give my husband all the credit in the world for working hard all day to make sure we have what we need, we could always use more but for now I am content. I know not everyone has that luxury, but I just have to say that I have cleaned other people houses part time to be home as much as I can. I did it because it was fast work and I put my kids first. One day I will have a regular job again but for now I am at home doing the best I can. I UNDERSTAND that a lot of women HAVE to work full-time, no I don't want to support you and no I don't want you to live in a cardboard box! I just think you should stay home IF YOU ARE ABLE. And tell your men to step up and bring home the bacon, at least as much as they can so their precious offspring don't have to be pinned to mattresses!
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11-15-2009 @ 4:34AM
Karen said...She does this IF a child won't stay in bed for nap? Is it for a few minutes or the whole nap time? Granted, it doesn't seem like the best practice, but it doesn't sound criminal, either. Does sound as if maybe the provider is ready to retire, though...
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11-15-2009 @ 8:17PM
Nurse Nanners said...I would really like to say something to ugottabekidding, first, let's look at the quote:
"And you consider yourself a good mother, dumping your child in a daycare center all day long so you can dance off to your "full time job"?"
I hope I am misunderstanding this. As a single mother, I don't "dance off" to my job, and I have never "dumped" my child anywhere. I work my ass off because if I don't, my children STARVE. And when they were little, they went to daycare so that I could work off aforementioned ass. Rethink my strategy? Rethink your words, love.
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11-17-2009 @ 10:24AM
Love Our Children USA said...This is just another example of child abuse. Child care centers and schools need to do thorough background checks on the people who are hired to take care of children. Pinned to a mattress, duck taped --- it's all wrong. This is not the way children should be disiplined.
Ross Ellis
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Love Our Children USA
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11-17-2009 @ 3:23PM
Melissa said...I worked as a preschool teacher and also had my own daycare at home for awhile. I NEVER forced a child to sleep. At my daycare, I had one infant and a few toddlers. The infant was placed in a pack and play playpen, and the toddlers had little mats I made them rest quietly. We had room darkening curtains in the room, and I played soft music. If they went to sleep, great! If not, they had to lay quietly for at least one hour, because that is state law....no joke, it really is. And when I worked in the preschool, it was the same thing. We had a few that just did not sleep, but they had to rest on their mats until the other children were asleep, and then they could sit on the mats with books.
I now have a three and a half year old myself, and she still naps. Sometimes I have to convince her to lay down and rest, but I always tell her if she doesn't want to sleep, fine, but she has to rest quietly. Within minutes she is usually out like a light lol, for at least an hour and a half!
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