What do you do if a mindee breaks something of yours?

[happy days]

hello

One of my 3 yr old mindees has been with me about 7 months now and today is her last day. So knows not to touch my things and decided to climb up and get something of the mantle piece using a chair! she then dropped it onto the fire guard smashing it! I was quickly putting her brother down to a nap at the time and was only away a few minutes! I dont have many ornaments and it was something from next. But my point is how do you react to this, I raised my voice slightly and and put her on time out! what would you do? would you tell parents what they had done? thanx gabrielle

[Pipsqueak]

yes I would tell parents but tbh you have to expect things to get broken - hence the reason most of my stuff is up out the way - the little I do have lol.

[mama2three]

Im not an ornament kind of person either - but things do get broken. the only time i have ' told' mum is when the mindee deliberately destroyed something. Anything accidental is just part of the job. I would be more focusing on the danger to the mindee , climbing up on chairs etc when she knows not to. Tbh if its her last day Id just let it go though now.

[Mouse]

I agree with the other replies, unfortunately it's just a hazzard of the job.

If the child had intentionally broken something I would tell parents, but it sounds as if the child was curious & an accident happened. At 3yrs old it is your responsibility to make sure she can't get to things, not her resposibility to leave them alone. Even if things are on shelves and they know not to touch you must always assume that they could get them.

Also, if I were a parent I would be more concerned that a child could climb onto a chair unsupervised. What if she'd fallen & had hit herself on the fire guard?

I'd have a look round your room & if there is anything you particularly value, move it to a safe place.

[happy days]

thank you for your replys, she had moved the chair to the fire place. And also i am pretty much in view of them at all times. This happened to be the first time that i left the room for a few mins and this happened. I will be moving all things up onto the highest shelfs now! I guess its hard at the time when these things happen but i will put it down to experience.

[auntym]

Hi,
Luckily the only things iv had broken are toys, and on occasions it has been deliberate, by maybe stamping on them etc.
With this I sit them down and they have time out and we have a talk.
I do tell the parents in this instance as the parent also reiterates to them to respect property.
If its valuable it may be worth checking into your insurance?

[jelly15]

As it is her last day I wouldn't bother telling parents.

Went to loo yesterday (next to play room), was only two mins and when I went back in mindee aged 2 1/2 had taken down two posters and was using blu tac as play dough!