who is responsible?

[ziggy]

following on from my earlier thread: soft parents

I am wondering who is responsible for mindees while parent/s are still on premises

When child ran out of back door in front of parent and out onto road this morning, if he had been ran over would I be responsible? Same with regard to safety at pick up time. Must admit now at pick up time I just wave goodbye at back door and leave parents to get children out of garden and into car BUT it worries me that if child runs off (as they do most evenings) it wouldnt look good on me.

I know this is a problem for many of us on here and there isnt an easy answer

[Koala]

Yes, I have often been concerned about this as there are many parents who in my opinion allow their children too much 'independence' without consequences.

I have often said (tongue in cheek) to parents when their child is possibly in the process of doing something that may cause harm that "you are here now he is your responsibility"

I would say if he was left in your care at drop off and he ran after parent - this was your responsibility to make sure it didn't happen.
And I would say if a child ran away from parent at collection time after you had handed over he would be parents responsibility.
However no matter who 'is responsible' I am sure you would feel dreadful if anything happened on either occasion so I would risk assess and put plans in place to safeguard everyone and particularly yourself. If you can't trust others - Do it yourself!!

[AliceK]

I tend to go with once a child is bought inside my house by a parent they are my responsibility and once they leave my doorstep with their parent they are the parents responsibility. I try to hand responsibility over to the parent once the parent comes in to collect but after a while watching a child having meltdown because they don't want their shoes / coat etc on and parent trying to gently persuade them to co-operate I usually have had enough and will retake control. I've got better things to do at the end of my working day than stand around for another 10 mins in my hallway watching a child who has been as good as gold for me all day scream and throw themselves on the floor for their parent.

xxx

[dawn100]

I don't know and it is something that worries me, but short on taking the child and placing them in their parents car I'm not sure what more I can do but I feel once their are in their parents care and my door is shut they are their parents responsibility. Although one time the screaming was so bad and it was almost 10mins since I'd shut my door my heart sank and I thought they'd had an accident so felt responsible so went out to check to find they were ok just having a tantrum, it took mum nearly 30mins to get little one in the car, I went back inside and left her too it as had others to care for.
I have got tough and drop offs are much quicker with parents out of my house ASAP.

[Ripeberry]

I have a parent who collects her three boys (1yr old, 3 yr old and 5 yr old) from me twice a week. They are hanging off her as she goes to her car, so I always take their bags out and put them in the boot of her car (I have no other children). But sometimes I find myself 'hovering' when she is struggling to get them into the car. They always have arguments on who is sitting where. It's worse with the dad, as he lets them climb in the boot of the car and then he sits outside my house letting them beep the horn. He can sometimes take as long as 15 mins just to get them in their seats.
Drives me potty as I know they will sit where I tell them no problem. Aarghh!!

[Mouse]

As I said in the other thread, once children come through my gate they know my rules apply. The majority of the time they will stay off the grass, stand nicely with parents etc. Parents are responsible, but my rules apply, if that makes sense. If a child is running on the grass, I will tell parents to get them off. If a child falls over, or more likely, treads in fox poop (the main reason I tell them to stay off the grass), parents deal with it. If parents are namby pambying around, I will tell the child to behave, although I try passing responsibility to the parent first.

Once the child steps into my house, they are my responsibility and they stay so until they step out the door again when they go home.

There are always grey areas, but it works pretty well for me.

[ziggy]

spoke to mum and she was very understanding. Told her that i had chat with children and explained than only adults open/unlock gate and they are not allowed out without mummy at home time.

Child then bit his younger brother and she did threaten to with hold his birthday cake but of course both the child and myself know that wont happen!!!

So for my own peace of mind I will keep reminding him and his mother that my rules apply whether parent is here or not.

[lilac_dragon]

The same as some of the other replies.
When they step over my threshold then I'm responsible and have even been known to overrule a parent if a child has started acting up. The parents tend to leave very quickly after they've handed over now! lol
When parents arrive to pick up I consider I'm still in charge until I close the front door behind them, especially as pickup is when some of them start to play their parents up. I'm very firm and tend to say, " Don't do/say that in my house please, it's not acceptable"

[helendee]

Personally I don't take responsibility for the child until their parent has left. I don't see how you can and I remember checking this out with Pacey Legal Team a few years ago as I had a child whose mother let her run wild at hometime. They told me that if the parent was present the child was their responsibility.

[bunyip]

I have a 'dropping off & collection' policy stating that lo's are parents' responsibility whenever parents are present, but they are still subject to my house rules.

That said, I'm well aware that if they had an accident on my premises whilst mum was here, Ofsted would probably still look to me to be accountable.

At a practical level, beware of losing focus on the children and the tendency for each adult to think the other is responsible. Children see adult weakness as an opportunity. We can say the parent is responsible, but if they aren't practicing that responsibility then we might have to do it for them or take the consequences.