Parents press charges 2-year-old boy called "stupid" by daycare center manager

Is a nursery manager allowed to call a two-year-old stupid? The district court in Horgen has to deal with this question after the boy's parents filed a complaint.

In the spring of 2023, a daycare manager in Kilchberg ZH described a 2-year-old boy to two colleagues as "stupid" and asked what was "wrong" with the child. The reason: the boy wanted to wear his jacket despite the high temperatures and insisted on not having to take it off.

The statement was made at an "audible volume". The child's parents then filed a complaint.

After paying a bail of 1,600 francs, the public prosecutor's office took up the case. They demanded that the daycare center manager be sentenced to a fine of 1,200 francs and a fine of 300 francs for verbal abuse.

The head of the daycare center objected and the case ended up before the Horgen district court on Thursday. There she was acquitted.

The court came to the conclusion that the daycare center manager had indeed called the boy "stupid". However, due to the insignificance of the statement, the relevant criminal threshold for the offense of verbal abuse had been reached.

Daycare team has already been changed once

The child now attends a new daycare center. The mother told "20 Minuten": "We hope that the trial will serve as a lesson. As a role model, it's important to know how to behave towards small children who don't always act rationally."

She goes on to say that she only filed the complaint because a lot of things had been going wrong at the daycare center for some time. "The previous daycare team had to leave because there were accusations that children were being shaken, shouted at and forced to eat." When the new manager was also dismissed after a few weeks, several parents demanded a discussion at a parents' evening. "It was only there that all the cases came to light - including the fact that my son was abused."