Reply to How to bring up minor issues without seeming... crazy

Forum Index » Employer Issues

Reply to "How to bring up minor issues without seeming... crazy"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A few weeks ago we hired a young person to assist our Pre-K kid with online learning (we're in DC and are in a school we like and want to keep our spot.) We knew this person loosely and she is a very nice and gregarious young 20-something.

We're starting to notice some tiny issues and I'm looking for a way to broach them without sounding crazy. In the past, prior to Pre-K our child was in a daycare center so all of this is new to us. The issues are things like

- Overheating food to the point it's almost inedible or not portioning food, like we can't leave a full container of mac and cheese for instance, it has to be portioned otherwise it will all be reheated and left out
- Leaving a cup of milk out all day and not putting it in the fridge when our child is done with it 
- I think our child might have picked flowers from someone's yard on a walk. When I asked about it she said, "Well they weren't at the front of the house, don't worry." 
- Mentioning that our child doesn't know or forgot all of X like "doesn't know her alphabet" to the point where our child tells us that her caregiver doesn't thing she knows X. (I just don't want our child to get discouraged -- this COVID stuff is rough enough) 
- We've seen her kind of over-prompting our child for answers for the teacher or doing the work for our child for instance finding things the teacher asked the children to find
- She'll say that our child is bossy - I get why but I really hate that word being used in reference to children

For the most part, these things seem like common sense to me, so feel like bringing them up at all is insulting - that said,  they are things that are bothering us and I'd like for them to be fixed if possible. They don't feel like dealbreakers but things that can be tweaked (we can portion out food, maybe she can remember to put away the milk after breakfast, etc.).

Just for reference, this is a part time situation, about 25 hours per week. Really open to any suggestions regarding how to broach things gently and thanks.[/quote]

I think you've got to let some things go (or solve yourself) and pick some things to say something about. I would also aim to give no more than one correction a week (when you're talking about this small stuff) and have something positive to say the other four days a week. That should keep the relationship positive.

For me, I'd do the food portioning myself, let the flower thing go (unless someone complains to you), and let the milk thing go (milk is cheap). I'd start, tomorrow, on the bossy thing. ESPECIALLY if your kid is a girl. I wouldn't be okay with that. Then next week, I'd say something about doing the kid's work/over prompting. That one, especially the second part, is a bit subtle. You may need to address that a few times in a few different ways over a period of several weeks before she gets it. Give it some time. This is a good one for the positive feedback "I heard Larla struggling to sound out that word, and it was great that you gave her the space to figure it out. I can tell she's really learning, and I appreciate it!" [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics