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...

Please don't phone up and demand answers unless you have alternative childcare in place. She may well tell you she won't take your son anymore.

Plus lying on the phone is way easier than face to face and by now she will have worked out a story. She has had plenty of time at this stage and knows you are suspicious.

Talk to her when you pick ds up

Maybe she paid on Tuesday & got a free return within 7 days? , then took your DS.

You can get the leaflet through the door or at the library or the museum etc

How ironic, she probably went to the museum and picked up a leaflet for the zoo there and thought how convenient it was .

I absolutely would not write off £21, that's madness in itself and giving her the green light to do it again, if that's the case here.

She might have asked for slightly more money than the admission fee to cover things like transport, ice creams, small souvenir from shop, any other little extras.

That in itself wouldn't make me suspicious, although I'd expect the childminder to be able to say what the extra money was for, if the discrepancy was queried.

But surely she'd say the ticket is £X amount, she can't assume the OP would be happy spending money on ice creams and souvenirs without her consent. If she wanted extra for that then she could have asked for some spending money.

It's not £40 for an adult
I don't know how much it is for an adult, I was just using that as an example hence why I said say £40 for an adult
My point being that personally I would expect to pay for the CM's admission fee.

Persian, they may have

Lordy.

I do think it sounds more plausible of the cm took the Tuesday children on the Tues, and not your DS... And told you he did, either by mistake and too embarrassed to own up, or as a way of lining pockets.

I know some cm are upset that anyone would be suspicious, but you really can't dismiss all concerns on the basis of being a member of a profession. There are unethical people throughout every single profession and place on earth. And I hope, more good people in each as well.

I assumed OP wasn't picking up tonight as she said she wouldn't see CM again until Monday, (that's why I suggested a phone call) but as that classic saying goes to assume makes an ass out of you and me

I think it needs to be addressed today though by whatever means, if it's left it will play on your mind too much, and if the CM is lying it just gives her more opportunity to concoct a story.

no I think the that was just an example for easy numbers. The point being, why wasn't the CM's admission price included in the amount asked of parents?
Exactly anyway Chester Zoo charges £22 for kids and £26 for adults. If the CM took four kids I would expect to pay £28.50.

No, I looked on their website and some days (if booked online) it is £16 for kids and £20 for adults, therefore as OP paid £21 it would mean each adult dos cover the cost

It's £22 for a child of booked that day at the gate

"Mum 1 says her ds went to the zoo but didn't enjoy it. Ergo he went to the zoo." OR ergo he didn't enjoy it because he didn't see any animals, only the sorts of things you might see in a museum, for example!

OP has your DS been to a zoo before? My Ds, aged 5, said he had never been to hospital. In fact he had had numerous trips and had stayed in a hospital, but on further enquiry it transpired that he thought of our local hospital as "" (name of hospital) , and identified 'hospitals' as places with many beds in long rows with people in capes. As in the Richard Scarry book.

There is the poster who has reported a new Islands section at the zoo with historical artefacts....

It would be doing my head in. I would just say to the CM, 'This is doing my head in: did you actually go to the zoo on the day that DS was there, or was it on another day? All he talks about is the hat and coins, so I wondered if there had been a mix up of days, and it was the museum on his day?'

The OP said the cm asked for £21 then said in another post that actually the ticket was £22 but she was sure she just paid 21. So what is giving others the idea that the cm has asked for more (besides what the cm gets paid to look after the DS)?

Online the cost of a child is £22.

Some days it's £16 though... The OP said she paid £21 but double checked online and the ticket was £22 to pay on the same day you're going but was sure she only sent £21, so the CM may well have booked in advance for the £16 and covered her ticket, which would make £21

I think it's more likely the mum got the days wrong.

Well I reckon the CMs' brain's going Polly.

Oh dear an advert has appeared at the side of this Mumsnet thread for "ZSL London Zoo _Now Open- Book Now Members go free." (blatant thread marking as well)

Is it possible that the CM has simply mixed up the boys/ which boy belongs to which parent? Wee kids do all look the same...

Shes a registered childminder who is paid to look after individual children and is only allowed so many at any one time. If she cant tell the difference between two of them shes in the wrong job! That's offensive to all the decent and hardworking childminders out there who take the job seriously.

Online the cost of a child is £22.

sorry, I'll be off

Ups, just one more.
CM literally greeted me with a leaflet from there

I have no idea about the zoo, but she's definitely on MN.

She's not on MN. If she was, she'd have come up with more than a leaflet.

Waiting for OP on tonight's pick up

I agree with whichever pp said just ask what day she went to the zoo because ds says he didn't go and it's driving you mad. That's honest and light hearted enough to not annoy her! You definitely need to find out for sure I think it's driving us all mad now!!