how would you deal with this?

[Anonymous]

If a nanny accidentally breaks something in her employer's house, what should happen? Would you all just let it go? Would it depend on a cost of a broken item?

Our nanny is not very friendly with appliances and things keep breaking when she is using them.

[Anonymous]

I think that is a liability you take as an employer. If it became that big a problem where things were breaking left and right, should she really be caring for a child?

[Anonymous]

You know what? I am so much more likely to say, "Don't worry about it," if the person who breaks something offers to fix or replace it. It's when they don't that I'm all "That was my great, great, great grandmother's antique that she brought over from the Queen of England!"

Is your nanny too physically rough? Or mis-using appliances or what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that is a liability you take as an employer. If it became that big a problem where things were breaking left and right, should she really be caring for a child?

+1


OP - It's usually you who has the liability if something breaks especially if it's something the nanny is required to use. If she's sneaking into your bedroom and using your iPod/laptop and breaks it then she should definitely pay and be fired but that's not the case.

Also, if your child breaks the nanny's cell phone, glasses, etc it's usually the employers responsibility as well.

[Anonymous]

What exactly are you referring to, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what? I am so much more likely to say, "Don't worry about it," if the person who breaks something offers to fix or replace it. It's when they don't that I'm all "That was my great, great, great grandmother's antique that she brought over from the Queen of England!"

Is your nanny too physically rough? Or mis-using appliances or what?

OP here. I am the same way. She used to offer to contribute to replacement and I used to say "no" to it. Now, i guess she got comfortable and does not offer anymore. She does things like trying to turn a knob the wrong way, trying to force it when it does not work and then breaking it of. Just broke of the window knob. I guess she is just not thinking about it. She would put place plastic things on hot stove burners, attempt to vacuum without placing a bag in a vacuum cleaner, etc Based on the responses so far, I will just let it go.

[Anonymous]

I agree that you need to generally live with it and eat the replacement/repair costs, but if she is chronically careless or inattentive it's reasonable to have a conversation with her. You can certainly ask her to be more careful with things, be very careful not to put plastic items on the stove, not force things that aren't working (like a window knob), etc...

Things get broken/dropped/whatever... but persistent carelessness with your things/house is not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what? I am so much more likely to say, "Don't worry about it," if the person who breaks something offers to fix or replace it. It's when they don't that I'm all "That was my great, great, great grandmother's antique that she brought over from the Queen of England!"

Is your nanny too physically rough? Or mis-using appliances or what?

OP here. I am the same way. She used to offer to contribute to replacement and I used to say "no" to it. Now, i guess she got comfortable and does not offer anymore. She does things like trying to turn a knob the wrong way, trying to force it when it does not work and then breaking it of. Just broke of the window knob. I guess she is just not thinking about it. She would put place plastic things on hot stove burners, attempt to vacuum without placing a bag in a vacuum cleaner, etc Based on the responses so far, I will just let it go.

Okay 1) if she used to offer to pay, and you always said no, I'd probably stop offering too. You had made clear that you didn't expect her to pay but would now like her to make the empty gesture of offering to pay and you'd feel better? Sounds kind of silly to me. 2) Your nanny sounds incredibly careless and it'd concern me as to how attentive she is with your child. If she has worked for you for more than a few months, she should know by now how the things in your home work so she is either stupid or her head is in the clouds, neither of which are something you want in a caregiver. I'd eat the cost of what she broke, but have a discussion about being focused while at work, and maybe try to figure out what has her distracted (TV, phone, overwhelmed with things to do?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what? I am so much more likely to say, "Don't worry about it," if the person who breaks something offers to fix or replace it. It's when they don't that I'm all "That was my great, great, great grandmother's antique that she brought over from the Queen of England!"

Is your nanny too physically rough? Or mis-using appliances or what?

OP here. I am the same way. She used to offer to contribute to replacement and I used to say "no" to it. Now, i guess she got comfortable and does not offer anymore. She does things like trying to turn a knob the wrong way, trying to force it when it does not work and then breaking it of. Just broke of the window knob. I guess she is just not thinking about it. She would put place plastic things on hot stove burners, attempt to vacuum without placing a bag in a vacuum cleaner, etc Based on the responses so far, I will just let it go.

Okay 1) if she used to offer to pay, and you always said no, I'd probably stop offering too. You had made clear that you didn't expect her to pay but would now like her to make the empty gesture of offering to pay and you'd feel better? Sounds kind of silly to me. 2) Your nanny sounds incredibly careless and it'd concern me as to how attentive she is with your child. If she has worked for you for more than a few months, she should know by now how the things in your home work so she is either stupid or her head is in the clouds, neither of which are something you want in a caregiver. I'd eat the cost of what she broke, but have a discussion about being focused while at work, and maybe try to figure out what has her distracted (TV, phone, overwhelmed with things to do?)

+1 to all of that.

You are the reason she stopped offering to pay, so please don't get huffy with her because of that. BUT PP is right that someone who is this careless with appliances (plastic bags on hot burners??) is not showing the level of attention to detail I'd want in someone caring for my children.

[Anonymous]

Some come of other part of the world does not know sone quipment how to use it . Talk with her thigs that is suppore to use it show her how it works , tell her why you show you dont want to buy it expensive stuff , tell her do not feel bad to ask from you how it waors and you willing to tell her and tell her watch it on you tube or show it to her .

[Anonymous]

OP here. I am the same way. She used to offer to contribute to replacement and I used to say "no" to it. Now, i guess she got comfortable and does not offer anymore. She does things like trying to turn a knob the wrong way, trying to force it when it does not work and then breaking it of. Just broke of the window knob. I guess she is just not thinking about it. She would put place plastic things on hot stove burners, attempt to vacuum without placing a bag in a vacuum cleaner, etc Based on the responses so far, I will just let it go.

She sounds like an idiot.

PP-don't try to pull the its a cultural thing...its a knob. In what country are people clueless that plastic melts on top of burners or fire? She's knows enough to take a bag out of vacuum cleaner but in some countries they don't put a new bag in before running it again? BS, this nanny is an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Also, if your child breaks the nanny's cell phone, glasses, etc it's usually the employers responsibility as well.

I'm a nanny, and I disagree with this. I don't allow children to play with my glasses or phone. I can't imagine telling a parent, "I allowed your kid to play with my iphone and she broke it, so you need to buy me a new one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As far as things breaking in the house, I think it would be the nanny's responsibility if she is being especially careless or reckless. But everyone drops things once in a while. If your nanny is constantly breaking things, I guess you could tell her she will be docked pay in the future. From what you write, she really does need to be more careful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. I am the same way. She used to offer to contribute to replacement and I used to say "no" to it. Now, i guess she got comfortable and does not offer anymore. She does things like trying to turn a knob the wrong way, trying to force it when it does not work and then breaking it of. Just broke of the window knob. I guess she is just not thinking about it. She would put place plastic things on hot stove burners, attempt to vacuum without placing a bag in a vacuum cleaner, etc Based on the responses so far, I will just let it go.

She sounds like an idiot.

PP-don't try to pull the its a cultural thing...its a knob. In what country are people clueless that plastic melts on top of burners or fire? She's knows enough to take a bag out of vacuum cleaner but in some countries they don't put a new bag in before running it again? BS, this nanny is an idiot.

Yup

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that you need to generally live with it and eat the replacement/repair costs, but if she is chronically careless or inattentive it's reasonable to have a conversation with her. You can certainly ask her to be more careful with things, be very careful not to put plastic items on the stove, not force things that aren't working (like a window knob), etc...

Things get broken/dropped/whatever... but persistent carelessness with your things/house is not ok.

+1 I had a brute of a nanny who broke 3 of the 7 knobs on my stove, 4 of my 8 water glasses, the chest of drawers in her room ... (On and on). She was just extremely forcefully with things. For the stove I showed her (again) how to turn on the stove. Everything else I just ignored. Very very frustrating to have my stuff broken, but she was great with my kids and having things break in my house is part of the price I pay for having childcare provided in my hose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also, if your child breaks the nanny's cell phone, glasses, etc it's usually the employers responsibility as well.

I'm a nanny, and I disagree with this. I don't allow children to play with my glasses or phone. I can't imagine telling a parent, "I allowed your kid to play with my iphone and she broke it, so you need to buy me a new one."

I think that would depend on the circumstances. Working with special needs kids who have a tendency to be very aggressive, some of my stuff has gotten broken (not just my stuff - a couple of my fingers and my nose, too!). Not that this is the case for most, but if, say, the child yanked the glasses off the nanny's face and threw them, that's different than if the nanny gave her phone to the child to play with. Just my opinion.