The Kinderland saga is far from over—a woman has just exposed the Kinderland branch for belting kids to chairs.
Here’s what you need to know about it.
Summary of the Kinderland Saga Thus Far
What’s that? You haven’t heard of the Kinderland saga?
Siao. Living under a rock ah?
Goody Feed’s Blue Cats give an excellent summary of the Kinderland saga in this video:
If you’re too lazy to watch the video, TLDR, two videos have recently surfaced on social media showing teaching staff from the preschool Kinderland Singapore allegedly abusing children.
In the first video, taken at the Woodlands Mart branch of Kinderland, we see a teacher forcing a girl to lie down before pouring water into her mouth.
In the second video, taken at the Sunshine Place branch of Kinderland, we see a teacher forcing a boy to drink water before allegedly hitting him.
Both teachers have since been arrested, Kinderland has responded, and the whistleblower who released the footage of the incident at Kinderland’s Woodlands Mart branch has explained her rationale behind whistleblowing.
Woman Exposes Kinderland’s Sunshine Place Branch for Belting Children to Chairs
Yes, you read that right. The Kinderland branch at Sunshine Place has now attracted even more controversy after a woman exposed them further this weekend.
On Thursday (31 August), while most of us were busy thinking about who to vote for president, Facebook user Joyce Lee was thinking about her vendetta with Kinderland.
The woman wrote a lengthy post on the Facebook group “Childcare in Singapore” recounting her experience sending her child to the Sunshine Place branch of Kinderland.
Her bone to pick with Kinderland? An English teacher had belted her child to the chairs because he “did not want to sit down for a group photo”.
Then, let him stand in the group photo lor.
According to Joyce, this incident happened in April 2023. The parent had opened the preschool’s management app and was surprised to find a picture of her son and another child with something around their waists.
Upon closer inspection, the parent realised that the toddlers had been belted down to their plastic chairs with infant seatbelts.
One impulsive move from the child is all it takes for the plastic chair to fall over and for the child to fall flat on his face.
Ah, a seatbelt without the seatbelt effect.
Of course, the parent wasn’t happy to see these pictures. In fact, in her words, she was “furious”.
Upon inquiry, she found out that the English teacher had belted her son down to the chair because he was being uncooperative—pushing the chair around and refusing to sit down for a photo.
The preschool’s principal further justified the unnamed English teacher’s actions by adding that Joyce’s son “like[d] the belt whenever it was being used”.
We won’t lie; that sounds like a stretch, but okay.
In another move to shoot oneself in the foot, the preschool’s principal emphasised that Joyce’s son was only belted down to the chair for two weeks until that point.
Regardless, Joyce claims that the principal subsequently changed the story when Kinderland HQ questioned the branch about the incident—instead of two weeks, it’s a mere two separate occasions.
The principal is so good at flipping her words she should consider resigning and flip prata full-time instead.
To make things worse, Joyce learned from another parent that this “belting” of children has been happening at the preschool for over two years.
Two years, all of this, under the radar. That’s like stealing from your friend’s kitchen for two years and surprisingly going unnoticed.
Parent Pulls Child Out of Kinderland; Reports Incident to Kinderland HQ & ECDA
Concerned about her child’s safety and the preschool staff’s capabilities, Joyce decided to pull her son out of Kinderland.
Sure enough, two months later, her son was out.
Of course, this was not the end of it. Joyce was “furious,” as you would recall. As a result, the parent decided to write to Kinderland HQ and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) to air her concerns.
Ah, if it isn’t what Singaporeans do best (we’re not complaining though, it gives us news to tell you about).
Unfortunately, the parent’s efforts were to no avail. All she received in return was some questioning of the staff by Kinderland HQ and the standard “PR answers” from ECDA.
At a parent-teacher meeting, the principal, the ECDA representative, and the Kinderland HQ representative agreed that it was not right for the English teacher to belt children down to chairs.
Yet, nothing further was done about this, according to Joyce. Although ECDA did investigate the incident briefly, the case was allegedly closed without much consideration.
The English teacher responsible for belting Joyce’s son to the preschool’s chairs is also still teaching at the Sunshine Place branch.
With Joyce’s Facebook post, perhaps the teacher will be performing a disappearing act soon.
Where to Draw the Line: Is Belting of Children Acceptable?
Yet, not all netizens felt the same way Joyce did.
For one, netizens have drawn similarities between the belting of children in Kinderland and the belting of patients in the hospital to highlight how “belting” is acceptable.
Regardless, the parent thinks otherwise. According to a comment Joyce adds in her Facebook post, one situation concerns a toddler while the other concerns adults.
To Joyce, it’s pretty clear that it’s unacceptable to restrain children in such a manner, especially considering how an ordinary toddler is naturally inclined to fidget and move around.
The parent also emphasises that the belts used were from infant chairs for infants. Her child was already a toddler—it was illogical for the Kinderland teacher to use an infant-sized belt to restrain a toddler.
It’s like if you asked a primary school kid to sit in a baby chair.
So, where do you think we should draw the line? Would you be alright if your child’s teacher belted them down to a chair?
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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