17-07-2025
Outraged mother reveals unusual method daycare staff used to discipline her toddler
A furious Tennessee mother claimed daycare staff disciplined her young daughter by spraying her in the face with a water bottle.
Samantha Cuzzort said her three-year-old daughter, Elowyn, was 'inappropriately disciplined' at the Shiny Penny Child Care Center in Chattanooga, about 130 miles south east of Nashville.
The outraged mother wrote on Facebook that she was asked to pick up her daughter on July 7 'due to one of her meltdowns.'
She said that Elowyn told her the teacher had sprayed her in the face with water and the young girl repeated the claims the next day when she didn't want to go back to daycare.
'I was talking to her about what happened and what I could do to make her feel safe, because she seemed a little scared to go to daycare,' Cuzzort told WTVC.
'So I asked her again, you know what happened? And she said that she sprayed her while she was crying, and I got very frustrated.'
Cuzzort said she and Elowyn's father asked the daycare to provide surveillance footage of the incident, but management refused and the parents filed a complaint with the state.
She also shared a copy of the daycare's newsletter that said the staff is trying to get the kids outside as much as possible and that they use spray bottles to keep cool.
'We do have spray water bottles that teachers use to cool children down. The children absolutely love being spritzed with water,' the letter said.
'Of course, we ask them if they want to be sprayed before we spritz them with cool water.'
The daycare said if parents would like their child to be opted out of the spraying, they can contact their teacher or management.
'She wasn't outside when this happened. When I picked her up from daycare that day, she was laying on the carpet where she was when I left her,' Cuzzort said.
'When I saw that, I thought it was immediate defense and deflection to validate what they were doing.'
contacted the Shiny Penny for comment. DHS confirmed to that they are investigating the matter.
'We are aware of an incident that occurred at The Shiny Penny Child Care Center and the agency is currently under investigation,' a DHS spokesperson said.
According to a copy of the daycare's newsletter, the staff is trying to get the kids outside as much as possible and that they use spray bottles to keep cool
State child care licensing requirements prohibit potentially shaming, humiliating, frightening, verbally abusive and injurious discipline methods, according to DHS.
Cuzzort said her daughter is afraid to go to daycare now and she hopes the DHS investigation will provide answers as to what happened to her daughter.
'She would start crying and kind of tucked down behind my leg, and I would have to actually crouch down and try to talk to Elowyn and help her go to class, but she got to where she couldn't acclimate herself, she just wouldn't go,' the mom said.
