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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Daycare Family Took My Kid's Stuff
Jo123ABC 09:17 AM 10-15-2020
What would you guys do if a daycare family accidentally took and then misplaced your kid's stuff? I'm pretty annoyed about it. They are cute booties I bought from a family member that makes them. My baby hadn't even worn them yet. They were sitting on my entryway shelf waiting to be worn outside when the parent of one of the kids I care for mistook them for hers and took them. Not a big deal though I wonder how she didn't know they weren't hers. I asked her to return them the morning after they were taken and now they're not able to find them.
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CountryRoads 09:25 AM 10-15-2020
The only thing I can think of is to ask for the money so you can buy another pair? I would hope they would offer that on their own.

It also sounds fishy that they can't find them the next day? I don't know. I'm not very trusting, so I always think the worst

Ugh, I hope you get them back!
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Cat Herder 10:06 AM 10-15-2020
What would this family do if you lost their kids stuff?
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Ariana 10:17 AM 10-15-2020
She deliberately took them and now wants to keep them. I would ask her to pay for them!
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Pandaluver21 10:21 AM 10-15-2020
My contract states that parents are financially responsible for lost or broken items. Definitely sounds like she took them on purpose...
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springv 10:41 AM 10-15-2020
I'm like some of the others on here. Why would anyone take anything that doesn't belong to them either by accident or deliberate and why would anyone refuse to pay for them is beyond me
I've had stuff stolen before and it's not a very good position to be in.... I hope karma gets them
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Sunshine69 11:02 AM 10-15-2020
A parent mistook a pair of handmade baby booties as her own? I call BS.

Time to send the kiddos out the door when the parents show. No need for them to come in and mistake more of your stuff for their own.
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Josiegirl 11:54 AM 10-15-2020
Give her till the end of your work week to 'find' them or you'll add the charge onto her next bill so you can replace them. I call BS also. And if she gives you any grief, I'd terminate them immediately.
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Jo123ABC 12:16 PM 10-15-2020
I try not to assume the worst of people but if it were me and I know I had accidentally taken someone else's things and couldn't find them I would offer to pay. In this situation I don't think that's going to happen so I think I'm just going to call it a mistake on my part for having those items easily accessible for the parents to confuse them as theirs. She does have similar booties for her baby though not brand-spanking new ones in that particular pattern.

I definitely trust them a lot less now which is strike two. Im beginning to hold resentment which sucks. Strike one was that they didn't pay me when they were supposed to last time and got grumpy about it when I asked for the payment. I feel like that just shows that they don't value my work as their care provider. They also wanted me to withhold food from their baby for the longest time even though she was developmentally ready and then huffed at me for how hungry she seems at home. I did not withhold food. I kept it simple (cereal mostly). She hasn't been hungry here though I'm sure she was at home if they weren't bothering to feed her "real food". She hasn't been here that long so hopefully we can get past this little irritating stuff without getting mad at each other.
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Blackcat31 12:54 PM 10-15-2020
Originally Posted by Jo123ABC:
I try not to assume the worst of people but if it were me and I know I had accidentally taken someone else's things and couldn't find them I would offer to pay. In this situation I don't think that's going to happen so I think I'm just going to call it a mistake on my part for having those items easily accessible for the parents to confuse them as theirs. She does have similar booties for her baby though not brand-spanking new ones in that particular pattern.

I definitely trust them a lot less now which is strike two. Im beginning to hold resentment which sucks. Strike one was that they didn't pay me when they were supposed to last time and got grumpy about it when I asked for the payment. I feel like that just shows that they don't value my work as their care provider. They also wanted me to withhold food from their baby for the longest time even though she was developmentally ready and then huffed at me for how hungry she seems at home. I did not withhold food. I kept it simple (cereal mostly). She hasn't been hungry here though I'm sure she was at home if they weren't bothering to feed her "real food". She hasn't been here that long so hopefully we can get past this little irritating stuff without getting mad at each other.
I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt as well since I am a naturally optimistic person however, when resentment starts, it really is the beginning of the end and just reading your list of trivial things that have already occurred, I am willing to bet the relationship isn't going to get better and it probably won't end well.

I am sorry you are dealing with this situation at all but like a previous poster said, if someone really did accidentally take and lose something that belonged to you, they should be jumping at the opportunity to pay for a replacement.

I would be so embarrassed and wouldn't feel comfortable around you unless I did give you money to replace it.
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Pestle 04:16 PM 10-15-2020
I'm a knitter/crocheter. You may have gotten the booties at a discount because you're a family member, or the person who made them may have been undercharging, because there's not a lot of demand for handcrafted baby items at the price they should be going for. Crafters end up undercutting each other on Etsy and selling blankets that took 20 hours of work and $60 of yarn for $30.

So please get a FAIR price for the replacement if you haven't already quoted it to the offending daycare family. Have the maker tell you what it would cost if they calculated it fairly for labor and materials, instead of the competitive price they sold it at. After all, it's not mass-produced and you can't walk into a retail store and buy an identical replacement. This crafter should get compensated for the duplicated labor, and the person who "walked away" with the booties and immediately "lost" them needs to truly reimburse you. It's not like there is a suggested list price on bespoke handcrafts, and it's inconvenient to have to remake something, especially at this time of year with the holidays upon us.

If the cost is pretty high, that should make it easier for you to forgive them once they pay it, and if they swiped them deliberately, it might make the booties miraculously reappear.
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Annalee 04:29 PM 10-15-2020
When my own sons were small, my brother lived in a different county and his sons played middle school football at the time. He had given my sons' football hoodies with their teams logo on it. A child came in daycare wearing that hoodie one day. I was like. When I asked they argued up and down it was his and I said "where in the world would you get a hoodie from across the state like that". Parents don't pay any attention to what their kids grab on the way out....That's been over ten years ago, but an eye-opening experience.
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Jo123ABC 04:39 PM 10-15-2020
Originally Posted by Annalee:
When my own sons were small, my brother lived in a different county and his sons played middle school football at the time. He had given my sons' football hoodies with their teams logo on it. A child came in daycare wearing that hoodie one day. I was like. When I asked they argued up and down it was his and I said "where in the world would you get a hoodie from across the state like that". Parents don't pay any attention to what their kids grab on the way out....That's been over ten years ago, but an eye-opening experience.
what happened!? Did you get it back?
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Annalee 06:58 PM 10-15-2020
Originally Posted by Jo123ABC:
what happened!? Did you get it back?
Nope; when my kids started school and played in the elementary Saturday league basketball we would see him with that hoodie on in 1st grade.
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Jo123ABC 07:43 PM 10-15-2020
Originally Posted by Annalee:
Nope; when my kids started school and played in the elementary Saturday league basketball we would see him with that hoodie on in 1st grade.
Oh wow that would irritate the heck out of me! Maybe I'll get to experience it if she comes with cute flower booties on in the future (sigh)
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Annalee 04:47 AM 10-16-2020
Originally Posted by Jo123ABC:
Oh wow that would irritate the heck out of me! Maybe I'll get to experience it if she comes with cute flower booties on in the future (sigh)
It kind of just became an inside joke to my family
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Tags:lost items from home, reimbursement
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