Would You?

[Blackcat31]

I never said I want new clothes when the clothes are dirty. I don't want new clothes when my child is at fault. If you tell a child to do something and property is damaged, you're at fault. Maybe I'm a troll, because I don't see new clothes as a luxury. I do have my own daycare. Once a little girl lost one of her gold earrings. I know she didn't rip it out or have it ripped out as her ears were in tact, but one was there and one was missing. You know, looking back, the mom could have sent her like that. As I don't pay attention to people's ears. I would never dream of saying to her mom "She lost it. Not MY problem. You wasted money on jewelry". We talked about it. The mom thought the most fair thing was to split the cost to rebuy one earring. I felt bad and asked for the receipt and paid her the whole amount. I treat people the way I want to be treated. P.S. schools can be forced to pay for damaged property. My niece had her car keyed in the school parking lot by someone. Guess what? School paid.

You must live in a very unique area. Every school my child has attended from the first day they drove to school at 16 and up to graduate school now clearly states on the parking pass that the school is NOT responsible for damage that occurs when choosing to park in the school parking lot.

You are also a very unique provider with very unique parents because I dont know a single provider that would so willingly pay for a child's gold earrings without even knowing for sure tne child had both of them upon drop off. :confused: and in 20+ years have never had a daycare parent that would dream of even expecting me to pay for, let alone actually accept money from me in that situation.

I, too treat people the way I'd like to be treated; equally, fairly.

I agree with you that new clothing is not a luxury but if I choose, as a parent, to buy an expensive item of clothing I understand that its also MY choice as to where and in what situations my child will wear said clothing. Consequently, what happens to that clothing item in those places/situations is my responsibility and liability because I choose those things. EXCEPT in situations where the adult in charge acted negligently or did not have permission to do X.

The provider in this situation did NOT act negligently and more than likely had parental permission to go to the museum.

The entity that failed to act with due diligence was the museum by not posting signs....which are usually required by insurance, city, government and/or public safety laws/ordinances.

You, yourself said you had issue with the dangerous chemicals the children were exposed to... one would think the museum had an obligation to its visitors/customers to CLEARLY mark these hazardous substances for anyone that may get near them.

I dont think the provider (OP) is at all responsible for replacing the children's jackets.

[Unregistered]

Again I would never pay for jewelry or any item that a child brought/wore to daycare. It is NOT my responsibility. I highly doubt you are a provider. I also doubt even more that the school would pay for a keyed car, as that is what insurance is for, and if you have a car that is new enough to worry about that much, you should have full coverage. If you are really a provider, my guess is you will be out of business soon. After all going around acting better than everybody and calling people names isn't the way to win friends and influence people.

In the OP's cause, I do think it was the OP's responsibility. While I agree, I didn't have to pay for the earring, I wanted to. I thought of how I would feel if someone just said to me "Not my problem". I always think of if I would want to be treated that way or my family. The insurance would have gone up. This is just a classic do unto others. It's ok to treat other people anyway. Nothing is ever your responsibility, but the shoe wouldn't feel good on the other foot. I've read here before and sometimes I wonder (besides for a very few posters) if the posters here truly love children and their families.

[Blackcat31]

I dont mean the unique comments about the school rudely at all... Just honestly never heard of that before.

Nice of your nieces school.

[Thriftylady]

In the OP's cause, I do think it was the OP's responsibility. While I agree, I didn't have to pay for the earring, I wanted to. I thought of how I would feel if someone just said to me "Not my problem". I always think of if I would want to be treated that way or my family. The insurance would have gone up. This is just a classic do unto others. It's ok to treat other people anyway. Nothing is ever your responsibility, but the shoe wouldn't feel good on the other foot. I've read here before and sometimes I wonder (besides for a very few posters) if the posters here truly love children and their families.

I think we all love our families and children. That is part of the reason I tell them up front that they need to wear PLAY clothes and come dressed to play (meaning no jewelry). As far as do unto others, yes I beleive in it and do it. Part of that is that I would NEVER ask the OP to replace my child's coat over something that was NOT her fault. She took the kids on a normal field trip, that all parents had signed off on. If the parents have an issue with the coats, they could take it up with the museum.

[Unregistered]

You must live in a very unique area. Every school my child has attended from the first day they drove to school at 16 and up to graduate school now clearly states on the parking pass that the school is NOT responsible for damage that occurs when choosing to park in the school parking lot.

You are also a very unique provider with very unique parents because I dont know a single provider that would so willingly pay for a child's gold earrings without even knowing for sure tne child had both of them upon drop off. :confused: and in 20+ years have never had a daycare parent that would dream of even expecting me to pay for, let alone actually accept money from me in that situation.

I, too treat people the way I'd like to be treated; equally, fairly.

I agree with you that new clothing is not a luxury but if I choose, as a parent, to buy an expensive item of clothing I understand that its also MY choice as to where and in what situations my child will wear said clothing. Consequently, what happens to that clothing item in those places/situations is my responsibility and liability because I choose those things. EXCEPT in situations where the adult in charge acted negligently or did not have permission to do X.

The provider in this situation did NOT act negligently and more than likely had parental permission to go to the museum.

The entity that failed to act with due diligence was the museum by not posting signs....which are usually required by insurance, city, government and/or public safety laws/ordinances.

You, yourself said you had issue with the dangerous chemicals the children were exposed to... one would think the museum had an obligation to its visitors/customers to CLEARLY mark these hazardous substances for anyone that may get near them.

I dont think the provider (OP) is at all responsible for replacing the children's jackets.

Google parking lot settlements/lawsuits and you'll see those agreements are mostly worthless. Especially as a lot of times, the spots aren't free. You can't just take someone's money and say "Not my problem" when their property gets damaged. I think the OP is at fault, because she told them to go by the wall. As I've said before there were other ways to handle the coat situation. We can go back and forth on this, however it's about treating people how you want to be treated. I think a lot of you are showing your true colors.I stand by comment, I think you guys are petty. Maybe you're not jealous of the parents. It seems you're jealous the children have expensive items.

[NoMoreJuice!]

Just want to jump back in for a quick update. Boy, was that a fun ride reading through all the comments I've missed!

I apologized for the very human error that was made, on behalf of the museum and on behalf of myself. Luckily this was not a fatal mistake, just a very annoying one.

I was able to clean a few of the coats with rubbing alcohol, and joked with the parents that if they smell alcohol, I promise I wasn't drinking on the job. We all laughed. Every one of my twelve parents forgave the mistake, and refused to let me help pay for a new coat.

Because we're all human.

[Laurel]

Just want to jump back in for a quick update. Boy, was that a fun ride reading through all the comments I've missed!

I apologized for the very human error that was made, on behalf of the museum and on behalf of myself. Luckily this was not a fatal mistake, just a very annoying one.

I was able to clean a few of the coats with rubbing alcohol, and joked with the parents that if they smell alcohol, I promise I wasn't drinking on the job. We all laughed. Every one of my twelve parents forgave the mistake, and refused to let me help pay for a new coat.

Because we're all human.

Glad it all turned out all right. I think I would have at least mentioned it to the museum people. Something like "I know you had a sign up but with supervising all the children I really didn't see it at first as it was up so high. I teach them to sit with their backs on the wall so I know where they are at all times (etc.). Do you think you could put the signs in a better place next time? That would help me out a lot as they all got paint on their coats." If you said something like that sweetly they might 'offer' to replace the coats. If not, at least maybe they'll put the signs in a better place next time.

[Blackcat31]

Just want to jump back in for a quick update. Boy, was that a fun ride reading through all the comments I've missed!

I apologized for the very human error that was made, on behalf of the museum and on behalf of myself. Luckily this was not a fatal mistake, just a very annoying one.

I was able to clean a few of the coats with rubbing alcohol, and joked with the parents that if they smell alcohol, I promise I wasn't drinking on the job. We all laughed. Every one of my twelve parents forgave the mistake, and refused to let me help pay for a new coat.

Because we're all human.

That's a great update!

[Josiegirl]

Google parking lot settlements/lawsuits and you'll see those agreements are mostly worthless. Especially as a lot of times, the spots aren't free. You can't just take someone's money and say "Not my problem" when their property gets damaged. I think the OP is at fault, because she told them to go by the wall. As I've said before there were other ways to handle the coat situation. We can go back and forth on this, however it's about treating people how you want to be treated. I think a lot of you are showing your true colors.I stand by comment, I think you guys are petty. Maybe you're not jealous of the parents. It seems you're jealous the children have expensive items.

I completely disagree and that does NOT make me petty and jealous. I try to live by the golden rule too. But this is also how I make my living. If OP had to come up with all that money to replace everybody's coats, I can see where(at least for me) a lot of my own bills would have been put on hold. I would have offered in some way to help but I have to tell you, if the parents had been stinkers about it(which thankfully for OP it sounds just the opposite)I would have referred them back to my policies which state I am not responsible for personal belongings but I try my best to take care of them. But honestly, doing my best to protect the children comes first and that's what OP was doing just as she had done multiple times before in this very same way.
As a side question, I wonder if our daycare insurance covers situations such as this? Maybe not because it didn't happen on site?
I think we need a Judge Judy judgement on this one!

[Josiegirl]

IF we're showing OUR true colors, at least we're not hiding behind unregistered to speak up.
We are small businesses, many unable to afford an expense of that possible magnitude.

I'm glad there was a good outcome OP.

[Play Care]

I have a child in my day care who had their ears pierced, and because it was never an issue I didn't think anything of it.
Until she decided to play around and take her earrings out unbeknownst to me. And I stepped on it.
Not only did I NOT replace it, I made it clear to her parents that they are lucky to still have child care.
I have young toddlers here who could have picked it up an swallowed it. Or one of the other kids could have stepped on it and been injured (I was wearing rubber soled slippers)

They decided not to wear earrings to day care.

OP, glad it worked out!

[daycarediva]

Then you wouldn't be offered a spot in my daycare. I don't care what kids wear at home, but my handbook says "children should come to care in comfortable play clothes. We have lots of fun at daycare, and sometimes having fun means getting dirty. I cannot promise that your child's clothing will not become dirty or stained, and I cannot be responsible for damages to clothing". It is daycare, not a fashion show.

It is even in my handbook and reiterated at interview. We get messy EVERY SINGLE DAY. Inside and out. In ALL weather. KIDS WILL BE KIDS.

My own kids have North face coats, boots, hats and gloves. They are great quality. Most of it I bought on consignment, and since i have three boys, that $200 coat marked down to $40 will last 3 boys 3 winters). I would never expect them to be replaced if damaged anywhere. That's part of the expense of having kids, IMHO.

Just want to jump back in for a quick update. Boy, was that a fun ride reading through all the comments I've missed!

I apologized for the very human error that was made, on behalf of the museum and on behalf of myself. Luckily this was not a fatal mistake, just a very annoying one.

I was able to clean a few of the coats with rubbing alcohol, and joked with the parents that if they smell alcohol, I promise I wasn't drinking on the job. We all laughed. Every one of my twelve parents forgave the mistake, and refused to let me help pay for a new coat.

Because we're all human.

happyface

I have a child in my day care who had their ears pierced, and because it was never an issue I didn't think anything of it.
Until she decided to play around and take her earrings out unbeknownst to me. And I stepped on it.
Not only did I NOT replace it, I made it clear to her parents that they are lucky to still have child care.
I have young toddlers here who could have picked it up an swallowed it. Or one of the other kids could have stepped on it and been injured (I was wearing rubber soled slippers)

They decided not to wear earrings to day care.

OP, glad it worked out!

I have a no jewelry rule. NONE, at ALL. I don't want the safety liability.

[Play Care]

I have a no jewelry rule. NONE, at ALL. I don't want the safety liability.

It was definitely a lesson learned on my part. The only other child who had pierced ears never touched them, so when this dck came in with them I congratulated her and told her they were beautiful.

But yeah, I wasn't even offering to replace the earring.

[Blackcat31]

It was definitely a lesson learned on my part. The only other child who had pierced ears never touched them, so when this dck came in with them I congratulated her and told her they were beautiful.

But yeah, I wasn't even offering to replace the earring.

Well obviously that makes you jealous and petty!! ::

[Play Care]

Well obviously that makes you jealous and petty!! ::

Ha!
And I showed her how much I DON'T care about her by complimenting her pierced ears/new earrings! ::