having a really bad day!!!

**sarahstanbridge** · 24-03-2009, 04:58 PM

got up this morning as happy as larry. went on school run ok saying no kids today till 3pm... then 12.15 my mobile goes. one of my mum says. where are you ? my child is still at playschool. then the penny drops OHHHHHH NOOOOO its tuesday not Wednesday. feel really bad as i was meant to be at nursery at 11.50. i have grovelled to parent never in all my time that i have been registered have i ever forgotten to collect a child. i feel really bad but i have said sorry what else can i do! i have worked with this family for nearly 5 years so i just hope that they realise that it has never happened before!! anyway off now to drown my sorrows in a bar of fruit and nut and some vino.

**Pudding Girl** · 24-03-2009, 05:30 PM

oh goodness!

What did thye say when they picked up tonight?

Make sure you log it as an incident and get parent to sign, try to not beat yourself up though, you are only human and it was a genuine oversight, and I assume the child was fine?

**Mrs.L.C** · 24-03-2009, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by sarahstanbridge

got up this morning as happy as larry. went on school run ok saying no kids today till 3pm... then 12.15 my mobile goes. one of my mum says. where are you ? my child is still at playschool. then the penny drops OHHHHHH NOOOOO its tuesday not Wednesday. feel really bad as i was meant to be at nursery at 11.50. i have grovelled to parent never in all my time that i have been registered have i ever forgotten to collect a child. i feel really bad but i have said sorry what else can i do! i have worked with this family for nearly 5 years so i just hope that they realise that it has never happened before!! anyway off now to drown my sorrows in a bar of fruit and nut and some vino.

Oh no you poor thing but you are not alone. I did a similar thing when we ahd all that snow in Feb. All parents except 1 had phoned to say they were keeping their children at home. My own child wanted to go out and a neighbour and her kids had been knocking at the door asking if we wanted to go out with them and walk to the shop. I didnt think and just said yes and off I went, forgetting that I was just about to phone the last parent to see if they were coming or not. I also forgot my phone and half hour later I see them at the shop driving around looking for me. They had called and been round and no answer.

Luckily they were really understanding and I did offer to take the child there and then but they decided to go home as it wasnt worth the drive back out later. Then to make it worst their car got stuck.

Makes you feel really guilty doesnt it

**PixiePetal** · 24-03-2009, 06:01 PM

I nearly left an after schoolie once. An occasional child.

Got as far as the school gate, did a count up and thought I had one missing

Myself and 5 children made a hasty return to playground. She had left class and, after a wait, gone to the office. They were about to ring me!!

**sarahstanbridge** · 24-03-2009, 06:06 PM

The grandad picked up and was fine about it. he was with mum when she got call. mum aparently said she wasnt happy about it (quite rightly so) but grandad said they have known me for x number of years nothing like this has happened before so he was sure it was a one off. so i hope that is the ensd of it. still feel bad about it.

**estrelas** · 24-03-2009, 06:36 PM

this is my worse nightmare as I have a quite bad memory!!!

I'm sure the parents will realise you've never done it before

One childminder I know rights initals on her hand cos she collects so many

**Twinkles** · 24-03-2009, 06:37 PM

This happened to me the other week

lo's mum called and said why hadn't I collected what was the problem? Like you I got my days muddled up.
Mum could hear how stressed I was on the phone and left work to collect him. I did lots of apologising ( and grovelling !) but luckily mum just thought it was funny

**huggableshelly** · 24-03-2009, 06:51 PM

lol now I can honestly say I have never forgotten to pick up a child but I do forget the days of the wk

see I know i have to pick up every day at 11:30 ... i take the last child left on the mat its normally the right one

then at 3pm i stand in the playground wait for everyone to leave then any kiddies left are mine to take home

its a great method and means i dont have to remember much other than how to get to school to start with!

**Alibali** · 24-03-2009, 07:01 PM

OOPs

It's not really all that bad is it? All it would've taken was a phone call and they'd have got you! Dont beat yourself up about it, the lo was in a safe secure environment. I just blame my age when I forget things

It'll all blow over soon and I'm sure you'll end up having a giggle about it in the future

**huggableshelly** · 24-03-2009, 07:06 PM

oh I meant to say (but got put off by a pm lol)

dont beat yourself up, mix ups can happen, the child was safe and came to no harm. Your first booboo for pickups in your whole childminding career ... thats great .... you must do a great job too as the parents have been with you for 5 years .......

open a bottle of wine and relax its wednesday tomorrow your official relaxation day until 3pm.

(maybe we can all pm you each day to let you know what day of the wk it is ... wel not me cuz I never know lol)

hugs from me xxx

**vix84** · 24-03-2009, 07:24 PM

This reminds me of an incident very similar - except I stupidly let a new mindee's mum draw me up an invoice - on there she had included all the dates to collect the child. So one week was half term and she asked me to do different days etc. so I just followed the invoice dates and shed got it wrong!

I should have clarified, but the grandparents used to collect as and when - anyway - the mum was so mad and we ended up disagreeing and I terminated thecontract. Lesson learnt!

We all do it at some point

**angeldelight** · 24-03-2009, 10:41 PM

Oh you poor thing

Hope parent was ok about it

Angel xx

**huggableshelly** · 25-03-2009, 07:59 AM

just popping in to wish you a better day today

hugs from me

**Demonjill** · 25-03-2009, 08:27 AM

Just an unfortunate accident (not as if you did it on purpose).

I forgot to collect my ds from nursery one day dunno what happened just went out my head. Nursery phoned and as soon as they did i thought OMG and had a "Home Alone" moment. I got there in record time but was so ashamed made a feeble excuse and vamooshed!

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 25-03-2009, 08:29 AM

We are all human and I bet there are a parent or two who have forgotten - I know when mine were at nursery time got away from me

Hope you are feeling better about it today