A five-year-old boy was made to clean toilets by a caregiver as punishment at a Child, Youth and Family-funded after-school care programme in Rotorua.

Now his mother is seeking legal advice on the punishment – dished out after the boy supposedly hit a girl in the face with a ball.

Oriwa Pehi-Livapulu said her son Noble could have become sick after the incident at the Chipmunks Centre last week.

He was only five and did not even clean the toilet at home, she said.

"My mana has been taken away from me. Noble's spirit has been trampled on", she told The New Zealand Herald.

She has complained to CYF, which funded the programme.

Noble has denied hitting the girl on purpose and the incident was an accident, she said.

Chipmunks centre owner Doug Lambert did not return calls yesterday but has said Noble was made to squirt cleaning product into a toilet before scrubbing it with a brush while being supervised by the 40-year-old caregiver, who was new.

The caregiver had been told she must not use cleaning toilets as a punishment.

CYF would not comment on whether making a child clean a toilet was appropriate.

- NZPA