would you believe ds (5) or the childminder? childminer took ds and the children elsewhere

[user1469643462]

It is the summer holidays so ds has to be with a childminer, for 3 days a week. I pay her for the actual care she provides, then i pay for any visits to places on top of that, they were supposed to be going to the zoo today and i had paid £21 for ds's zoo ticket and i know that isnt loads but tbh with the cost i had already paid for her to look after him it was almost today's wages! ds goes there with 2 boys and a little girl aswell all around the same age give or take. Ds got home and was telling me all about his trip to the local museum (which was free) i did not have a problem with that he seemed to have had a great time. I phoned up the childminder and asked if she could just paypal the money back over and she said that she had no idea what i was going on about and that she took them to the zoo I know children do love to use their imagination, so i was a bit undecided, ds kept going on about the objects he had seen and told me a story about a man showing them the kids bit. ds has never been to this museum and it was just odd how well he was explaining it. I would love to phone the other parents but tbh i dont actually know them! it's all very odd...

sorry it was actually £22! I'm sure I only sent £21 but that doesn't matter really, just checked their website.

well, she has never said she was going to a museum before, ds has always told me about the various activities he had done on the other days and never said a zoo until today so i doubt it really! Yes, I will ask for pics although she doesn't tend to do that, ticket is a really good idea aswell.

I would believe your Ds

I think you have been had but very silly of the childminder to expect children not to talk about their trip

I would believe your son. There is no way my 5yo would prattle on about a museum if she'd been somewhere as exciting as the zoo.

*museum not a zoo! he hasn't mentioned a zoo!

Could there be a museum part to the zoo? Though it seems strange he isn't mentioning Animals at all!

Where is your nearest zoo? Does the time scale add up? Ask what happened at lunch (if ate when got back/before they went) then you know as zoo is all day thing.

How would they have got there? If he says walked/bus could have been local town for museum etc

And the childminder is pretty dim if she thinks she could get away with it

Tell her you need the receipt for tax purposes or something sounds dodgy to me! When you confronted her did she say oh we went to the museum earlier in the day or that was last week or another reasonable explanation?

I'd be asking for receipts to
Be included on any invoices she's giving you

no! I said "oh, ds really enjoyed the museum, thanks for taking him, but please may you PayPal the zoo money back?" she replied "what? I used the money to buy ds a zoo ticket, because we went to the zoo. A museum?" Literally, like she had no idea about the museum, which is sooo odd

will be back in a sec

I would believe your ds as well. Can you try find out which museum might have some of the things he described? Maybe try google.

It's up to you what you do. I would believe your DS to be honest. If possible I would remove him right away but if you can't do that, then I would suggest that you tell her that you'd like a picture taken when they go out on outings. It isn't a lot to ask and it would really help you feel you participated in his day at least a little.

I am frankly surprised that she doesn't do this anyway.

Yup ask receipt for the zoo ... Say Dh is tight and wants to see how much she spent

Can you find out a bit more by talking to your DS about his journey - whether they went on the train, was it a long walk the other end, etc? Or what the museum looked like from the outside?

Does she not send you pictures of what they do ? I take my minders out most days and send parents photos of what we've been up to and would definitely take plenty of photos of a big outing such as the zoo .

I really hope the CM hasn't lied . As a CM myself I can't comprehend why it would be a good idea to lie??! If something cropped up & we're paying I would explain why & let you know another day I was intending to go. Plus for safety reasons, God forbid anything happened you'd be figuring out how to get somewhere different etc.

I'm also surprised she hasn't taken loads of pics. I probably take & send too many to my parents!! But I like them to see what the little ones have been up to.

Hoping there was a museum type place at the zoo & he just happened to find that the most interesting bit!

Unless you speak to other parents then I'll guess you won't really won't know. But like you say difficult to get in contact with.

Sorry that post is no help! I'm just shocked.

Hmm my best friends dd at that age would swear blind nursery had taken her on a balloon ride. She would chat and chat describing the journey but had never even been in a plane let alone a balloon.

Ask your dc about the animals today and see what he says.

I'm in two minds here. I am a CM and have looked after children as young as 4 who are such good story tellers you hang on to every word they say (thankfully nothing about me) but one did say he saw his dad push his mom into the bathroom and lock the door, she was apparently shouting on the other side to get out, when I asked them they laughed and said this never happened, but it was so believable!!
Could he have not just confused with the reptile house, or does the zoo have teaching rooms, where school talks are held? Could he have been in the conservation building or something??

I just think she would be not only be a bloody idiot to think a 5yr old would not talk about their exciting day but she would also be a horrendous cm to lie like this

Ask him did cm and other kids not go to the zoo today ?

my 3 year old would be able to tell where they went. if your DS is as chatty as my 5 year old niece I would believe him!

A little boy I used to look after used to tell his mum we did nothing all day except sit on the sofa. He was very convincing. Fortunately we did enough activities and were seen out and about by the mum's friends/ neighbours so she knew this wasn't true.

I wouldn't be in such a hurry to believe your child over a reliable child minder.