dcg Breaking Toys and Ripping Books Apart on Purpose

[legomom922]

I have it in my handbook, that if anything gets ruined, the parents are responsible for the replacement cost. I'm sure the first time you sent them the bill, they would take it more seriously, and it would stop, if not, get rid of her!

[misol]

i would give her only "unbreakable" toys to play with, like wood blocks, and thats it. i wouldnt allow her to play with anything else. how old is she?


or better yet, i'd save all the stuff she breaks, and put it in a box. THAT would be what she got to play with. her own box of broken junk.

I like this idea!

[MarinaVanessa]

I like the idea of a box of broken junk. I'll have to remember that one.

I've had this happen to me before too. I also just let DCB play with non-breakable toys (blocks and large legos). He was not happy. I also had a talk with mom when he got picked up. I never bothered to tell him I was doing it so that he wouldn't cry or fuss or argue about it. I just let his mom come in and when he ran over to her I told him to tell her what happened.

The first time it happened I warned her (in writing) that if I caught him again that I would replace whatever it was that he broke and add it to the next week's rate. Doing this made sure that mom wouldn't just go home and leave it at that. Many times parent's don't take things like this seriously until you say something that'll affect their pockets :confused:. I don't think he was punished at home or even talked to about it and he kept destroying things and each day I'd let her know that something else was broken/torn. At the end of the next week I gave her an itemized list of everything and broke the cost down. If I remember correctly it was around $30-$35 dollars worth of stuff (mostly books). She wasn't too happy but I did notice a HUGE imrovement with him the following week. He threw a small toy car or something that was worth a few dollars (yes I charged her for that too). I would still catch him about to do something or theowing something and remind him about it but he didn't break actually break anything intentionally for a while. I could tell at that point that he knew it was serious business with mom after that.

I have a policy about it. This is what it says:

Damages
Please respect the childcare provider’s profession, home, family and self. A certain amount of normal wear and tear is expected where children are concerned however; we would not want to have the home destroyed.

Intentional Damages
We believe children are responsible for their actions and we teach them to respect other peoples’ property and the value of those items. If a child intentionally damages the home, toys, furnishings, equipment, or other property the parent will be responsible for paying for or replacing the damaged item(s). The amount for damaged item(s) will be assessed and researched by the provider and will include only the cost of replacing the item, or similar item if an exact replacement cannot be found, and any fees such as tax, shipping, delivery etc. if applicable.