As a parent, I can tell you that it's hard to teach 3 and 4 year olds not to physical hurt each other.

It takes years to teach those little brutes some self control.

Now, imagine some paid professional came in and undid all that teaching by encouraging them to beat each other over toys at a daycare.

That's exactly what authorities say happened at Kids Unlimited of Prosperity day care in Newberry, South Carolina. The Newberry Sheriff's Department says that the kids were encouraged by two staff members, 27-year-old Ericka Sherai Jones and 56-year-old Serena Caldwell, to shove, pull and hit other children.

According to reports children from one classroom were taken to another classroom to fight one another. 3 and 4 year olds were hit or slapped in the face or head.

About 14 children were involved in the fights.

The owners of the daycare fired Jones and Caldwell and then reported them to police.

They released the following statement:

"It was brought to the attention of our senior staff member that possible offensive behavior by two staff members may have occurred.

After viewing the security camera footage, the two staff members were immediately terminated. South Carolina Dept. of Social Services and the Newberry County Sheriff's Dept. we're also immediately notified. Any further comments about the investigation will be coming from those two agencies."

Sheriff Lee Foster said the daycare did the right thing and has been giving the investigators its full cooperation.

"I have no idea what the two daycare workers were thinking of that was just abhorrent behavior," Foster said. "I just can't imagine why you would do this.

"We don't know at this time how much emotional or psychological damage could have been caused by this."

Caldwell and Jones are being held on $60,000 and $56,000 bonds respectively, and both are facing multiple counts including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful conduct toward a child.

P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇