The mother of a toddler who was hung on a coat hook at a Saint John daycare says she doesn't want the facility punished but she hopes the fired employee does not get another job looking after children.

Last week, the story emerged of a 2½-year-old boy who was placed on a coat hook by a daycare worker as a form of discipline at the Samuel-de-Champlain daycare in Saint John.

The daycare worker responsible for putting the child on the coat hook was told to leave the facility immediately, and did not show up at a meeting a few days later to discuss the incident. She was officially fired last Tuesday.

The mother — who agreed to talk to CBC News but asked that her identity be protected for fear that she or her son could be targeted for speaking out — said she's upset that many people have blamed her and her son for the incident.

She said her young son is a good child and she is not a bad parent.

The mother said she was not immediately informed of the disciplinary action taken against her son.

She said she picked up her son on the day of the incident and no one at the daycare mentioned the situation.

That night the toddler had a bad nightmare, which she said she mentioned to the daycare staff the next day. Again, no one mentioned the incident from the day before.

But later that day, she was called at work and told to come in to the daycare for a meeting.

At that point, the daycare staff told her part of the story.

And then the next morning, she was shown the incident report, which was written by the daycare worker who came to the child's rescue while he was hanging on the hook.

The mother said her son was hung on the coat hook, wearing a shirt.

"I think he was choking, that's what I think. They say his little face was all red and he was crying," the mother said in an interview with CBC News.

"He was looking at her with big eyes open and scared. And when she helped him getting down, he jumped in [her] arms. She said she noticed a little red mark on his neck."

Earlier threat

The mother said in the incident report there was a note that the daycare worker had threatened to put the child on a coat hook earlier in the day if the boy caused trouble.

The mother said she doesn't want to cause trouble for the daycare. She said the daycare has talked to her very openly about the process they had to follow.

The Saint John woman, who also has a daughter at the same facility, said she is fully satisfied with the way the daycare has handled this situation.

She said she doesn't want the woman to get another daycare job.

The Department of Social Development, the government department responsible for licensing daycare facilities, would only say that daycare workers must also comply with a check by the department, which keeps all complaints on record.

And the department said a formal complaint was filed over the coat hook incident.