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Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

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

186 replies

QueenEagle · 25/08/2007 12:06

2.5 year old ds is put in a travel cot for his afternoon nap. The other day he pulled off his pull up full of poo and covered the cot in it, getting it in the mesh and on the fabric. Minder says it is impossible to clean therefore unusable.

She wants me to replace it and says she has no insurance to cover such a loss.

Am I liable??????

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fawkeoff · 25/08/2007 13:50

thats exactly what i would say in my gutteral northern accent

looneytune · 25/08/2007 13:58

FFS!!! I'm a childminder and NO WAY should you buy a new one. If you do, you will have paid for something that many many will no doubt get to use! I believe she shoudl clean it and if she REALLY thinks it can't be cleaned then SHE is responsible for sorting a new one! Even if she wasn't covered by insurance, so what, it's her problem!!! She was in charge and as shoshable said, we get allowance for wear and tear as unfortunately, ours houses/equipment do get destroyed over time.

If I were you, I'd recommend she looks on Freecycle for a new one! Then it doesn't cost anything

DO NOT PAY!!!

looneytune · 25/08/2007 13:59

many mindees

CarGirl · 25/08/2007 14:04

it's already been said but CM's have to accept wear & tear and unexpected damages, that is why they get a wear & tear allowance. Also buying a new travel cot (new or 2nd hand) would be an allowable business expense.

Can't believe she asked you, completely out of order!

ayla99 · 25/08/2007 14:15

Its the cm's fault if "she has not insurance to cover the loss". Its her responsibity to ensure notify her insurers that she is a childminder and to ensure her policies adequately cover her possessions & equipment. She should be able to claim on her household insurance but I would think the excess would exceed the cost of a new cot - you can get a new one on Ebay for £15. Kiddicare.com are from only £29.97.

You could offer to loan her a cot for the sole use of your child, to be returned to you (either bring it back & forth each week - one parent is going to do this with me cos she wants her child to use her own cot or put in writing that its to be returned to you when your child leaves her care). Or, you might feel as its neither your fault nor hers, you might consider a compromise by offering to paying 1/2 - you can get a new cot on Ebay for £15 including p&p. Or get one second hand - check thrift sales like NCT \link{http://www.nct.org.uk/local/events} But I don't feel you have any obligation to pay her anything.

One of my minded children woke up & reached into her nappy to see what was there & brought out a handful - it was fortunate I was reading beside the cot so was able to intervene before she spread it everywhere. I wouldn't expect a cm to remain beside the cot tho - there may be other minded children who needed her attention or she may have been preparing dinner, nipped to the loo, answered the door or any number of things.

S**t happens - especially to those caring for children!

threelittlebabies · 25/08/2007 14:27

Whilst reading this thread, my dd did a runny poo and leant on the wall and smeared it everywhere unknowingly How coincidental!

Don't pay for it btw

S88AHG · 25/08/2007 14:34

Not read the whole thread but do you have a travel cot you could give her to use for your ds while he is there with the intention of having it back when he no longer needs it? I also think its cheeky asking you to replace it, i have had things ruined in the past and have never asked parents to replace them. I am a CM btw. Just be quite matter of fact about it when you discuss it with the cm and maybe phone her and go round without kids etc in the way!!! Good luck this stuff is never easy

EscapeFrom · 25/08/2007 19:04

I hope you don't change your mind when you are faced witj her QE

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 25/08/2007 19:11

QE if you pay the grasping cow, not only will I lob the football at you, I will set the cat on you as well.

Ahhhhhhh happy days.

NannyL · 25/08/2007 22:42

No you should not pay

If he pooed on the sofa would she expect you to buy a new sofa?
or if on the carpet a whole new carpet?

Katymac · 26/08/2007 09:42

Sorry to interrupt QE - but she really should be insured - if she is using NCMA contracts it actually says on them that she will provide adequat insurance - car household & public liability

it's totally her problem ( a pain - but her pain)

KaySamuels · 26/08/2007 10:05

I bet she is insured but her premium is more than a new travel cot would cost. I am a cm and have insurance but my premium was put up to £100 when I made a claim a year ago.

Regardless of that though, I agree she could scrub it down quite easily, and if she can't bear to use it again could sell it to fund a new one.

She is being very petty I think, as mntioned here can get a new one for £15. If it were me I would sigh and get the scrubbing brush out - these things happen when you have kids in your home all day evry day.

PellMell · 26/08/2007 10:45

pressure wash it in the back garden
clean as a whistle.

LadyVictoriaOfCake · 26/08/2007 10:46

i keewp reading this as 'if a misdee ruined your coat and it was unusable'

arrgh keep thinking i have done something wrong

FrannyandZooey · 26/08/2007 11:09

How funny, I don't agree with you at all

I think it is totally reasonable to expect a 2.5 year old to know that it is not ok to take off their nappy and smear poo everywhere (I am assuming however that ds is NT and may be totally wrong)

The childminder won't be able to claim for this small amount on her insurance, so she is basically paying for it out of her own pocket. Childminders don't earn much to start with - buying a new cot is a hefty expense IMO. If it was an accident I would see it differently, but I don't think a 2.5 deliberatly smearing poo all over another person's possessions is an accident, exactly. The thing about the CM should have been watching him is bizarre - what, while he was having his nap??

QE for the sake of your good relationship (you say you are happy with other aspects of her care) I would get a 2nd hand travel cot and present it to her with apologies for the inconvenience. If you really do think she is a grasping cow, and all the rest of the nasty things that people have called her on here, why on earth would you be happy to leave your son in her care?

FrannyandZooey · 26/08/2007 11:10

You could alternately offer to clean it yourself

It really isn't the kind of job a childminder should expect to have to do in the reasonable course of a day's work

beansprout · 26/08/2007 11:12

My CM earns more than me!! I don't consider her to be poorly paid (42.50 a day and we provide all the food).

FrannyandZooey · 26/08/2007 11:21

If something breaks at work, through no fault of your own, do you have to replace it out of your own money, beansprout?

NKF · 26/08/2007 11:24

I would have thought that sort of accident is the sort of thing that cms have to allow for. Not sure though.

JeremyVile · 26/08/2007 11:24

F&Z, several CMs on this thread have already said that this type of incident is entrely within her remit as chilminder, that it is her responsibility.
The cot is a tool of her trade.

beansprout · 26/08/2007 11:31

No, F&Z, I don't, as my employer reasonably expects equipment to break, wear and tear etc so this cost is not passed on to me.

I don't quite understand your point.

FrannyandZooey · 26/08/2007 11:43

Beansprout you were comparing your wages to your childminder's. I was pointing out that you probably weren't expected to pay for stuff at work that goes wrong, unlike QE's childminder.

JV if a tool of my trade was rendered unusable by unexpected actions of an employer's child, I would be speaking to them about it. She isn't going to be able to claim for it.

LadyVictoriaOfCake · 26/08/2007 11:45

2.5year olds dont quite grasp that poo-smearing is wrong.

beansprout · 26/08/2007 11:48

That was an aside to the claim that all CMs are poorly paid. Mine earns £33k pa and it is all cash in hand. I'm not insisting that all CMs get paid this amount, as I know they don't, but from my own experience, I would expect my CM to pay to replace this bit of equipment.

In this particular example, I really do think she should try to wash it first!

JeremyVile · 26/08/2007 12:19

F&Z - If poo smearing is an 'unexpected act', then what is expected?

I dont have a 2.5 yo yet so cant comment on whether poo smearing is com[pletely unacceptable (though common sense tells me that its not), but young children by nature are unpredictable, whether its poo smearing, crayoning the walls, drenching the sofa in milk, posting something irretrievably into the DVD unit etc etc etc.

The point is, when someone chooses to be a CM they are opening their home and everything within it to other peoples children and they have to consider all these things as very possible and work that into their prices and their insurance requirements.