If a mindee ruined your cot and it was unusable, what would you do?

My mindee aged 10mths, knocked my lamp off cd stacker type thingy and broke the shade, took a chunk out the wall and wallpaper and broke the back off the cd stand all in one go!
Parent said , OH! I wll replace it!
I said, Hazards of the job, really don't worry bout it! I was more concerned with little one being hurt by massive falling lamp!!!

He also mananged to find a black felt tip pen, bit tip off and salavated black ink all over cream carpet! Can't get stains out!!!
But IMO that's the responsibility of the job and you need to live with it!

Many childminders provide fantastic care imo. DS1 broke the door off his CM's washing maching, she didn't ask me to pay. He also stuffed an ice lolly down the back of her sofa this week, so I'm pleased she doesn't ask me to pay to replace a sofa. I'm sure he;s done other hideous things in his time there.

I think in this case, unpleasant though the job may be (and I've wiped poo off many a wall in my time- it's a vile job- better than sick though), I do think her turf her responsibility. If she lent you a cot that your child then smeared poo over in your care then yes it would be your responsibilty, but not in this case.

F&Z - It riles me so much the way child carers are often talked about, as though they are just the hired help and of no value outside of the duties they are paid to perform.
Fwiw though, I really dont think that is the case on this thread - I hope not - I think the scenario has just got peoples backs up because we can all relate to the guilt and embarassment we'd feel if it were our child and it seems those feelings that are being played on by the CM. Obviously that only holds weight if you believe the cot is the CMs responsibility.
With regards to wondering why you would entrust your child to someone you believed to be pulling a fast one - well, I think the OP is far more gracious on this than I would be, it definitely would make me question her on an ethical/honesty level. But the OP has said that she is very happy with her when it comes to the care of her child and I guess its not beyond the realms of possibility that someone can be a fantastic child carer but be a bit clueless about her responsibilities regarding peripheral issues eg property damage/wear and tear.

Reading the OP, my reaction was if it was my child, I'd be mortified and offer to buy a new one.

Never had a poo smearer. Never knew a poo smearer.

Your relationship with a good childminder is not worth sacrificing over this imo.

No problem fawkeoff. Hope you feel better. I seem to have PMT too and I am not even due on

The antipathy towards childminders on here is depressing, for sure. Why would you leave your child with people who you are convinced are lying, lazy and grasping?

yeah its not the best thing to be cleaning poo off but it will come off.

To me its like taking your car to the garage for a service (crude analogy - I know!) and because your wheel nuts are too tight, the mechanic snaps his spanner (is that what they'd use?) trying to get them off.

As the customer, would you then expect to have to cover the cost of his tools? I know I wouldn't.

What's so hard for the cm about taking it into the garden, hosing it down, donning some rubber gloves and just scrubbing out the poo in a solution of Persil bio or similar, followed by a light wipe over with a mild bleach solution ? Then let it dry in the sun. Half an hour tops. Offer the cm an extra hour's money to cover her time doing this ?

A cm is self employed so it's not really analogous to something breaking at work (a photocopier say) and one's employer asking one to fork out.

ok, i wouldn't expect at work if something broke through no fault of my own to replace it. but if i was the boss and something got broken through no fault of my own i would expect to have to replace it out of my expenses. for instance i've broken many glasses at work. my boss has never asked me to pay for new ones. he just buys new ones every so often when we are running a bit low.

oh and if you can't find them in 2-3, get 18-24 months and some vest extenders.

whoever said all toddlers should be potty trained by 2 is talking tosh aswell. you can train this age but it often takes lots of hard work, many accidents and could take months. i've often seen it cause confidence issues when the child can't seem to manage it and the parent keeps pushing it and any progress they have made regresses. if the child isn't ready it is much better to wait. when i think of the few toddlers i know, the ones who tried to train at 2 had a long battle, the ones who trained nearer to 3 grasped it in a day or 2.

and on the other side of the coin i wasn't dry until i was 4 cos i had a small bladder which had to be stretched, but obviously when i was 2 everyone just thought my mum was lazy

Thats life though Fio.. We all have to do unpleasant things, some of us within our jobs, but we just have to get stuck in.

At the end of the day, QE is paying this lady to look after her child, in loco parentis, and so, that means doing all the things a parent would do while that child is under her care. And in this case, cleaning poo is one of those things

i think she is a childminder and she has to accept that these things happen. if it had happened in a nursery would they expect you to pay for it? i doubt it very much.

on the vest thing - these used to do big sizes. it doesn't look like they've got any in stock at the moment but you could give them a ring? also woolworths do them in 2-3 i think.

i understand that poo isnt the nicest thing to be cleaning...but im sure she's had her experience in cleaning it as we all have,i dont see what was wrong in her attempting to clean it first before asking for money to replace it.

if I throw out a cot every thime it got poo on it I'd have gone through about five cots.

there are lots of unpleasant things about children. There are lots of unpleasant jobs. But in a lot of jobs you can't pick and choose the nice bits.

it's probably more common a problem then any of us know, due to the fact that no one ever talks about it. It's not something I've every told anyone in RL.

My ds did this before he was potty trained!

He was in c/minders bedroom & smeared it all over his own clothes, her wall, the bed clothes, his shoes & the cot.

She told me when I picked him up & asked why he had on his extra set of clothes! I was mortified & kept saying sorry.

She said not to worry, she washed the bed clothes & washed the cot, put a bit of flash spray on the walls & all was fine again.

Surely she can wash it, I don't understand what her problem is.

Agree with Aitch and Franny. I would have certainly offered to clean it myself, and if it could not be cleaned, at least compromise on replacement cost.

Rather surprised at the vehemence towards CM by most of the posters tbh.

I think duct tape for potty training purposes is a bit strong, UCM

oow alibubles - strong stuff about the potty training!

sorry franny....pms and a hangover

Duct tape, didn't vvv use it, that's the answer.