A while ago I had a mindee who would break things.
She was almost three at the time and (for example) if I said 'leave the sand box lid there because if it falls down and somebody walks on it it will break' she would go get the lid, place it on the floor and jump up and down on it.
I don't know enough about child psychology to know if she was experimenting to see if my hypothesis was true or just a little brat who liked to break toys (this wasn't an isolated incident and talking to parents got me nowhere except to be told 'oh well she doesn't do that at home - standard answer to everything...) Eventually I terminated this contract for a multitude of reasons...
I have other mindees who just walk all over toys or who throw things without a care that they may break - each month I throw away a lot of broken toys. I have actually gotten so fed up with it that I have stopped replacing them and have told the children that if they keep breaking toys there will be none left as I'm not buying new ones any more.
Last week I took two of the children shopping and bought some new books (not toys you'll note, lol!) Two days later another child I mind sat in front of me, stuck her finger down the spine of the (£7!) board book and ripped it to pieces.
Of course I took the book away and told her in no uncertain terms that she had made me very sad by breaking our new book and asked why she did it. Standard answer - I don't know... (she is only 3 but very articulate)
You may think that most of these children come from families who have no rules or from very poor SE families but they are a mix from right across the spectrum and there is no difference! The 6 year olds are as bad as the 2 year olds...
I think I am obviously doing something wrong here so am looking for some advice on how to deal with this. My own children did not break there toys and to be honest I am horrified!
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