[imagesource:flickr]

Two childcare workers in America were arrested after video footage surfaced that showed them holding ‘toddler fight clubs’ in a daycare centre.

It was reported that they were encouraging kids as young as three and four to slap and hit each other.

Serena Caldwell and Ericka Sherai Jones were accused of instigating at least 14 youngsters to fight each other at Kids Unlimited in Prosperity, South Carolina.

On Thursday, the local County Sheriff’s Office arrested both teachers on charges of ‘contributing to a minor’s delinquency and unlawful conduct toward a child’. The couple appeared in court and were granted bond on the condition that they have no contact with the victims or any kids who may require care.

Breaking the first rule of Fight Club last month, a toddler at the daycare told his parents that they were asked to “punch each other as punishment”. Naturally, the parents freaked out and approached the daycare for answers.

Security footage reportedly proved that Jones and Caldwell instructed at least 14 children to “slap, push, shove, and strike” other children at Kids Unlimited as a “means of punishment or to entice them to follow regulations”.

They appear on the video to “encourage students to fight or show aggression toward other kids”, and “permitted the behaviour to continue without discipline”, according to Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster.

“What on earth were you thinking?” The Sheriff reportedly asked flabbergasted.

“I have no idea who would believe that encouraging three and four-year-old children to participate in violent activities was in any way appropriate, regardless of what they thought it would do.”

The sheriff’s office has yet to provide any video evidence relating to the alleged ‘misbehaviour’, but that is likely a good thing. Jones and Caldwell have obviously been fired immediately.

Caldwell is charged with 15 charges of contributing to a minor’s delinquency and 15 counts of criminal conduct toward a child. Jones is charged with 14 counts of the same offence. Caldwell has also been accused of beating one child with a box of baby wipes, according to authorities. Jones may have captured the incident on her phone.

‘They looked at it as something almost comparable to a sporting event where they were trying to push the youngsters to participate,’ Foster explained.

See the news report below.

[source:ndtv]