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Louise0208
23-05-2011, 11:05 AM
I have thought about this before but never asked but now the subject has arisen again :rolleyes: :panic:

4 yr old Mindee has just broken my DVD player/cinema surround system (pressed eject & snapped off the disk tray).....now, i know its not used for the mindees but would i be able to buy another cheaper one & put it against my Tax?

Also do any of you have a policy regarding damages by mindees? do parents pay for intentional breakages? iv always paid myself but when you have a distructive mindee it can be a costly business :(

christine e
23-05-2011, 11:13 AM
Hi

Think you have to put this down to wear and tear which is unfortunate. My house contents policy covers me for accidental damage so I would give your house contents insurers a call as some cover TV's etc automatically against accidental damage.

Cx

gigglinggoblin
23-05-2011, 11:25 AM
I think I would call the tax office, you can deduct a % for wear and tear but this seems to go over and above the norm. I wouldnt want to just put it through the books but it does seem reasonable so you wont lose anything by asking. I wouldnt put it through without their say so.

As for charging parents I think thats potentially very difficult. I know these things happen in a split second sometimes and we cant have eyes everywhere but if I was a parent being charged a large amount of money for something my child broke when you were repsonsible I wouldnt be happy. I think it could result in complaints that children arent properly supervised, what else could they do while you are not watching for example? I am not accusing you of not supervising, I am just pointing out things could easily get nasty if you ask for a large sum of money! If you have a destructive mindee you need to get the parents in to discuss things, they might agree to pay for damages but I cant see how you can charge otherwise. If its that bad it might be a case of weighing up if its financially worth keeping them on.

kindredspirits
23-05-2011, 11:25 AM
i'd never charge parents for breakages - even intentional - as parent could argue that you were not supervising the child closely enough to be able to avoid the breakage, iykwim.
part of the job i think and would only be covered by wear and tear.

marnieb
23-05-2011, 11:31 AM
Yes, def check with your insurance cos is mindee is young enough then it comes under accidental damage. Dd scratched oh's beloved TV, and 3 weeks later we got a gift card for £500 to spend in Comet against a new TV!!

Which is now wall mounted away from dd's reach!! :cool:

gigglinggoblin
23-05-2011, 11:33 AM
My accidental damage only covers my kids unfortunately, who do you insure with to get accidental damage for business use?

heidicat
23-05-2011, 11:42 AM
I'm with Churchill.. they cover you as a childminder at no extra cost with accidental damage.
x

nicoleon
23-05-2011, 12:03 PM
i invested in a lockable tv cabinet for that reason. wouldnt feel comfortable asking parents and claiming from insurance always worries me because i think they'll charge more on renewal :rolleyes:

christine e
23-05-2011, 12:09 PM
My accidental damage only covers my kids unfortunately, who do you insure with to get accidental damage for business use?

Zurich

Cx

grindal
23-05-2011, 12:10 PM
I'm gonna stick my neck out here and go against the general opinion.
If mindees watch dvds at your house and mindee has damaged your existing dvd player i would replace it and claim it as an expense. I would however be replacing it with a cheap £40 dvd player (Im sure i saw some this cheap online when i was looking for a freeview box for my parents last christmas) not a full on home cinema system!!

Does not seem unreasonable to me!

rickysmiths
23-05-2011, 12:11 PM
This would be covered in your 10% Wear and Tear of if valuble may need to be claimed on insurance.

With regard to the mindee. If they are deliberately breaking stuff then the matter needs to be addressed and the chances are they are like this at home. Maybe sit down with the child and develop some house rules for them. Plan so their time is occupied and ask them for any preferences. Do a reward chart.

Then discuss this with the parents, personally I would have a meeting with them,go through the strategies you have put in place with the mindee and give them a list, with the valuse of the things that have been broken.

I would tell them that I would be documenting everything and continue to list any brakages and their value, explaining that you do expect things to get broken but not as often and deliberately.

I would put them on 4 weeks written notice and say that if there are no further incidents of deliberate damage and behaviour improves you will reconsider the notice. If there are not then the notice will stand.

This may seem harsh but it is having an effect on you and probably your family and the other mindees.

I once made a mindees parent pay for an item that was broken deliberately and I gave them the broken item. It as not pleasant, the mindee was 11 and should have known better and needed to know that the behaviour was not acceptable. I tried for a year and eventually ahd to give notice. It was such a relief when they had gone.

alwaysright
23-05-2011, 12:27 PM
I'm gonna stick my neck out here and go against the general opinion.
If mindees watch dvds at your house and mindee has damaged your existing dvd player i would replace it and claim it as an expense. I would however be replacing it with a cheap £40 dvd player (Im sure i saw some this cheap online when i was looking for a freeview box for my parents last christmas) not a full on home cinema system!!

Does not seem unreasonable to me!

i totally agree with you, i wouldnt class this as wear and tear, this is accidental damage and i would replace it and claim against my expenses, my insurance also only covers me for accidental damage caused by my own children and not minded ones
a few years ago one of my mindees parents put a big scratch on my car when folding the pram up, my husband was furious, i paid to get the scratch repaired and claimed it through my books

mushpea
23-05-2011, 01:30 PM
I would replace it and put it through the books, I would also talk to the mindess mum about it,,,, when they break toys etc at mine now I dont replace them and they are slowly getting less stuff to play with,, so far this month we have had a toy buggy broken and other bits and now they all fight over the 1 buggy and I have to remind them its their own fault that there is now only one buggy! i get fed up of buying toys that my children woldnt play with just for the others to break

Louise0208
23-05-2011, 02:34 PM
Thanks for the input :D

Mindee is not happy with any activity i offer....if its not got buttons & plays games then shes not interested, shes great for me on her own but if there are others around shes a real handfull & will go to extreme lengths to get me attention.....hence this morning.....i was feeding my friends baby while reading LO a book she chose, LO wanted me to 'put baby away' & when i told her she was needing a feed all hell broke loose.

It is a regular occurance, she will shred puzzle peices if she cant get them to fit, rip pages out of books, break spines on board books, colour on the walls, rip off wallpaper, chuckes my DDs DSi down the stairs, put a wii remote in the water jug...all of which mum says 'she does it home aswell' .....well its not :censored: good enough!!!! it doesnt happen here :censored:

rickysmiths
23-05-2011, 03:04 PM
Thanks for the input :D

Mindee is not happy with any activity i offer....if its not got buttons & plays games then shes not interested, shes great for me on her own but if there are others around shes a real handfull & will go to extreme lengths to get me attention.....hence this morning.....i was feeding my friends baby while reading LO a book she chose, LO wanted me to 'put baby away' & when i told her she was needing a feed all hell broke loose.

It is a regular occurance, she will shred puzzle peices if she cant get them to fit, rip pages out of books, break spines on board books, colour on the walls, rip off wallpaper, chuckes my DDs DSi down the stairs, put a wii remote in the water jug...all of which mum says 'she does it home aswell' .....well its not :censored: good enough!!!! it doesnt happen here :censored:

I'm sorry but I can't believe what I'm reading :eek:

If the parents are allowing this at home then you will never win. I would give notice immediately and say as a gesture of goodwill I would ask them to pay for the last lot of damage. I wouldn't tollerate that much distruction from one child in my house sorry.

grindal
23-05-2011, 03:13 PM
I agree with Rickysmith - neither DS1 or 2 or any of the mindees I have looked after have ever behaved like this. How do you react when your walls are coloured in by a mindee, or when a wii remote is dunked in water?

marnieb
23-05-2011, 03:33 PM
omg!!!!!! :eek:

seriously - I'd be handing the parents a bill to replace these things, and telling them they have xxx amount of time to control their daughters behaviour!!!!!

You wouldn't put up with that kind of behaviour from your own kids, never mind a mindee!!!!!

Stew....pid
23-05-2011, 03:34 PM
:eek: Blimey your patient !! id of politely handed that 1 back to mum and withdrawn my services, sounds like she costs you more in damage than ya earning :)

The Juggler
23-05-2011, 04:25 PM
My accidental damage only covers my kids unfortunately, who do you insure with to get accidental damage for business use?

I'm with liverpool victoria and they cover accidental but not sure I'd want to lose my no claims - if its an expensive claim and the accident was caused during minding it's likely your premiums would shoot up the following year :(

not sure you could claim as a business expense as expenses have generally to be used for minding, not sure how replacements work. As someone suggested, I'd call the local tax advisor :)

chrissie250
23-05-2011, 04:58 PM
NCMA Insurance x

ChocolateChip
23-05-2011, 05:18 PM
Sorry hun but I would not be accepting that kind of behaviour from a 4yr old, she is old enough to know better, regardless of what goes on at home.
Think you need to lay the laws down with her, sit her on a cushion with nothing if necessary to wait while you feed the baby, if she can't be trusted with any toys.
I would do as rickysmiths suggested and put her 'on probation', and if no improvement then I would be giving notice, as another poster said she must be costing you more in replacements than what you are earning!

As to the original question, no I wouldn't charge parents for damages and I would put a replacement through my books, but I wouldn't carry on with a child who was doing it deliberately.

onceinabluemoon
23-05-2011, 05:41 PM
Thanks for the input :D

Mindee is not happy with any activity i offer....if its not got buttons & plays games then shes not interested, shes great for me on her own but if there are others around shes a real handfull & will go to extreme lengths to get me attention.....hence this morning.....i was feeding my friends baby while reading LO a book she chose, LO wanted me to 'put baby away' & when i told her she was needing a feed all hell broke loose.

It is a regular occurance, she will shred puzzle peices if she cant get them to fit, rip pages out of books, break spines on board books, colour on the walls, rip off wallpaper, chuckes my DDs DSi down the stairs, put a wii remote in the water jug...all of which mum says 'she does it home aswell' .....well its not :censored: good enough!!!! it doesnt happen here :censored:

Just out of interest where was your friend while you were feeding her baby?

mummyof3
23-05-2011, 06:26 PM
The behaviour is something that needs to be discussed with the parents. They need to be on your side and both work together to calm the temper of this little one. I would also drop into the conversation about the broken dvd player and see if they offer to replace it. ;)

Louise0208
24-05-2011, 07:13 AM
NCMA Insurance x

i didnt think ncma insurance covered for household items?

onceinabluemoon my friend was at the doctors :thumbsup:

Parent was warned just after christmas that LOs behavior was unacceptable when others are here (thats when the wii remote & dsi were broken) and i wouldnt stand for it.
she was fine up until last week again though i think it has something to do with mum....im not sure if im putting 2+2 together & coming up with 43 but everytime mum ends & starts a new relationship (usually within the space of a few weeks) then it all goes a bit pear shaped here :(

iv mentioned it on here before that LOs temper is unbeleiveable when shes with mum, spits, kicks, punches, draws blood....but when shes at school or with me we can distract her out of it before she begins...as long as she has our sole attention... iv tried telling mum how to deal with the situation (without sounding patronising) but as soon as LO kicks off mum still has a sickly sweet baby baby voice & bribes LO with sweets.... (BTW mum still pushes her in a pram, gives her a dummy, blanky & bottle at 4 yrs old)

Dad is in prison for holding a knife to mums throat & beating mum......LO was young at the time but did witness it all :(

maybe im best off out of it :o

grindal
24-05-2011, 10:39 AM
i didnt think ncma insurance covered for household items?

iv mentioned it on here before that LOs temper is unbeleiveable when shes with mum, spits, kicks, punches, draws blood....but when shes at school or with me we can distract her out of it before she begins...as long as she has our sole attention... iv tried telling mum how to deal with the situation (without sounding patronising) but as soon as LO kicks off mum still has a sickly sweet baby baby voice & bribes LO with sweets.... (BTW mum still pushes her in a pram, gives her a dummy, blanky & bottle at 4 yrs old)

Dad is in prison for holding a knife to mums throat & beating mum......LO was young at the time but did witness it all :(

maybe im best off out of it :o

OMG
I could not and would not deal with this. I think it is admirable that you have worked so hard at trying to support this family. However, as a childminder I do not feel that I have the background knowledge, support network, expertise or salaries to continue to work under these circumstances. Not really sure what to suggest but I hope you find a solution you are comfortable with. You are not responsible for the situation and should not feel that you have to continue to support this family unless you want to.

ChocolateChip
25-05-2011, 09:14 AM
It sounds like despite all you are doing for this family you will be bashing your head against a brick wall hun.
When will she be going to full time school, in September?
Can you carry on until then?
( I also have a parent who lets her child have complete control over her, I'm counting the weeks until Sept, lol) :blush:

If you feel like you want to carry on just be really firm with the child when she's at yours, it sounds harsh but don't give her an inch, and I would only be giving her 'cheap' toys to play with if she can't be trusted.
If not just give notice and don't feel bad, the mum is obviously not prepared to work at the behaviour issues, and although she has had horrible problems (dad) in the past she needs to wake up and deal with her child, she's not doing anyone any favours :(

And at the risk of bringing doom and gloom, when is dad due out, is he likely to appear on the scene? Wouldn't want to be dealing with that :eek:
Sorry if that sounds really judgmental but there are other children and families to consider :(
Hope you get it sorted one way or the other hun!