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...

Or maybe she has cunningly planned it knowing that the zoo has random coin machines around it therefore covering her back when kids refer to coins that they actually saw at the free museum .

I'd be taking him to that museum first thing tomorrow -
Followed by the zoo

I agree with checking if the penny collector stuff rings bells.

This just all feels too brazen to be a scam to me...

Ok I totally get that kids focus on weird things and might remember coins instead of animals. But as an adult you would not say "remember the coins". It's a zoo, you would definitely mention an animal or two.

Shitzu made my night btw!

There really are quite a number of the coin press machines strategically placed around the zoo and they do seem to be a great source of interest to kids. Whether or not they would be the main feature at the zoo, however, is a different matter.

REMEMBER THE COINS?????!!!!!!! Just NO!

But if they did the penny squishing thing, he would have come home with a squished penny...

We went to Chester Zoo last week. I think the enclosures are fantastic for the animals, but we hardly saw any animals due to all the vegetation. Definitely a place to have a season ticket to, so what you don't see on one trip you see the next.

Couldn't miss the elephants though. Or the boat trip around the islands.

I don't think the OPs DS went to Chester Zoo.

Also, those coins do look pretty awesome but if they had used those machines then surely he'd have at least one to bring home?

Cross post with teen

OP could your DS possibly have gone to the Roman Gardens in the zoo seen it as a museum?

howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/commemorating-roman-archaeology-at-chester-zoo/

There is also a massive play area kids would remember before coins!

Let's face it, if she did take them to the zoo and the highlight was one of those coin machines, then she isn't very good at taking children to the zoo. So either she's defrauding you or isn't very good with kids.

Also, if she did do one of those penny squishing machines with the children it would either be a single coin, so 'remember the coin' or she'd have been mad enough to buy one for each child, so he'd have got to take one home.

Also, I'd expect a 4 year old to be able to explain the coin squishing process and choosing to if that was the highlight of the day.

Did you specifically ask the parents about the zoo or the trip? Did you not say "on my DS keeps insisting he went to the museum, how odd eh?" Just to see what they said.

I think she's lying. The leaflet of guilt and "remember the coins" are just too weird. Good luck op - I wouldn't send him back to her unless you really have no other option.

She is so lying. I can't wait to hear what happens Monday. Please please please update us all on Monday op xx

Best thread in weeks!

Sounds like she is digging herself deeper into a hole. The trust has gone now and you need to find new childcare. So ashamed of the image the childminder posts lately are giving of the profession. Please believe me there are loads trustworthy, hard working and careing childminder about.

This is more exciting than waiting for the second part of a two-part crime drama on TV (honestly).

Honestly, I think my son should know about the zoo, I have read him the book called zoo but I think these last couple of days have really confused him and I don't think he is massively familiar with the whole concept of a zoo no, as he hasn't ever been. I will update Monday, I have spoken to my son? Not sure why people have assumed I haven't but it really has been quite difficult to get to the bottom of tbh.

I know kids pick up on seemingly random stuff, but I don't believe that any 5 year old who had seen an ELEPHANT in the flesh for the first time wouldn't refer to it AT ALL over a period of days. And I don't believe that an adult who had accompanied that child when they first encountered a real, live ELEPHANT wouldn't reference that when prompting the child about the experience. It's an ELEPHANT ffs. An ELEPHANT!!

They haven't been to the zoo.

So your 5 year old son, who has never been to a zoo before, forgets the;

Monorail
Elephants
Giraffes
Monkeys
Boat trip
Dinosaur exhibit
Children's play area

But tells you all about;
a man
tin hat,
some coins (which he didn't bring home)
A woman walking her dog

Personally I want to visit Chester Zoo on the back of this thread! So I'd take him to both the zoo and the museum this weekend - his reaction to the museum and the zoo will be very telling. You never know the museum man may recognise him without you saying a word!

I totally get why your son is now clamming up on the topic - if I grill the children over their day at school too much, they go into clamp down mode. The main thing is that he knows that he has done nothing wrong in this - if the CM has been encouraging to say certain things, then he will no doubt feel uncomfortable about the whole subject anyway.

No one has mentioned the smell in the camel house. No one could forget that.

OP-let us know if you go to the museum this weekend.

The more I think about this the madder I feel. If she is lying she has really screwed with your child's head. She has mislead him, lied to him and made you question him.

If he has been to the zoo then she's shit at her job anyway. Where is his free map? Photo of him infront of the monkeys? And wouldn't the focus of a visit to the zoo be animals? Yes a child might be fascinated by coins but it's the cm who focuses on them.