Missing Belongings after Montessori

Ms2011

For those of you with creche etc. going kids how often does your child come home missing a belonging & what is done to resolve the issue.
My son has been going to Montessori since September, his first day he came home & his drinks bottle was broken & the top missing. A few weeks later when I was picking him up I asked where his jacket was & they couldn't find it, out of the corner of my eye I spotted another little boy walking out the door wearing it. I told the carer who went over to talk to the person collecting the boy & came back to say she was the boy's grandmother & hadn't dropped the boy off that morning so was unsure if the jacket was his or not & she'd bring it back tomorrow if it wasn't. I didn't want to leave it at that so went over myself & assured the grandmother that the jacket was indeed my sons & got the jacket back myself.
Then yesterday my son came home without his hat & lunch box, his lunch box is usually in his bag so didn't spot that straight away but asked about his hat & was told it was in his bag but when I checked when I got home it wasn't. I pointed this out to the carer this morning & she said she'd look for them but when I was collecting him she said she couldn't find them & the only thing she could think was one boy who wasn't in today might have them in his bag & he'd be back in tomorrow.
I'm starting to get annoyed bg this, his name is on all his things so I don't understand how it's going home with the wrong child. What if this child comes in tomorrow & he doesn't have the hat & lunchbox, what then ?
Am I wrong to be getting annoyed by this or is this something that just happens when there are groups of small kids together?
I'm pregnant & a bit hormonal so I don't know if I'm blowing things out of proportion or if I'm right to be upset.
Sorry for the long post

pwurple

Congrats on pregnancy!

That happens a couple of times a week here. Drink bottle missing, or lid missing from a container. She has also come home in the wrong coat, or come back missing something.

It drives my husband bonkers, but I am not that bothered about it generally. I don't send her in expensive clothes, or with anything that I would be upset about losing. Stuff generally makes its way back.

yellow hen

Oh that'd really annoy me too. I mind all my sons belongings so i'd expect the crèche to do the same. Out crèche is tiny and we don't have to label items as they know his stuff by eye.

How Strange

It rarely happens in our crèche and when it does it's usually a lunch box which is usually resolved the next day when we ask for our own on. It's never happened with coats or clothes and I've nothing labelled.

I understand it can happen but I'd be annoyed if things were being broken or misplaced constantly. They've only got one decent winter cost each so it'd be more than annoying if they went missing.

Ms2011

Yeah the creche he was in last year was small so like that the staff knew his things by eye, maybe that's what's bothering me is that personal touch seems to be missing.
It's not that his things are overly expensive but at the same time I don't always have multiples of things so this morning instead of wearing his hat he had to keep his hood up & instead of having his lunch in his lunch box it was in a plastic bag & that annoys me because he has a perfectly good hat & lunch box but they were mislaid & may not turn up again.

Neyite

Never had that problem in our creche and I'm one of those mammies who forget to label his clothes:o

There was once where he and a classmate had near identical hoodies and they got mixed up but that's about it. I'd be annoyed about the jacket because this time of year he only has one suitable but I'd overlook a hat I think because we'd have a couple spare.

I'm off to write his name in his new jacket!! A good tip for uniforms and jackets I heard was to turn the sleeve inside out and write the name there in permanent marker good and big. Then if the label falls was cut out at a later stage, you can still prove ownership.

Millem

I would go crazy!! warm coats that aren't puffy are do hard to find in the first place and expensive. It is hassle that you don't need

lazygal

Is there not a set place for things? Montessori is all about a place for everything. The one we'll use has one peg for everyone for coats and hats so things can't get mixed up, and the teachers would monitor tidying away to ensure things don't go astray. My girl just got a new coat as a present from her granny so I'd be annoyed if another parent held onto it. Do parents not wonder why the coat, lunchbox etc are different?! I'd ask them to make sure his belongings come home with him, especially a coat.

seventeen sheep

We try to remember to write his name on everything, but when we forget (too often!), the girls working there write the name on the label of anything they take off him. They've also written his initials on his bottles, lunchboxes etc so that they don't get mixed up.

A few weeks ago, a hat of his went missing, and his dad asked them about it. When I was talking to them that evening, they were full of apologies - they said they'd searched the whole premises and asked every other parent to check at home for it - they said that they absolutely hate to lose anything belonging to any child, that it very rarely happens and that they are mortified when it does. Actually, I was mortified that they'd gone to so much effort - it was only a hat, and who knows, maybe he'd thrown it out of the buggy en route to creche!

I don't think I'd be too happy if things were going missing or getting mixed up on a regular basis. As an occasional thing, I absolutely wouldn't mind - these things happen, and I don't send him into creche wearing anything with great sentimental or monetary value. However if it were happening all the time, I'd be very annoyed. I'd also be concerned - if they're so careless with clothes, how careful are they with children with special dietary requirements etc; would they mix up their food so easily?

I think in your position I'd make a big fuss every time something is lost or damaged. It's not acceptable for it to happen all the time. Keep a log of every item going forward (to bring to the attention of the manager, if necessary). And make sure to clearly label everything!

cerastes

Make a complaint, put name labels on stuff, bit of a hassle but better than losing a coat, kids stuff isnt cheap Ive realised.

IvyTheTerrible

We label everything for the creche. It's a bit much to expect staff to remember who owns every item of clothes/bottle etc, especially when you can have several children with the same stuff.

lazygal

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

We label everything for the creche. It's a bit much to expect staff to remember who owns every item of clothes/bottle etc, especially when you can have several children with the same stuff.

This is a Montessori though. There are different ratios for such schools and as the children are a little older they would be able to know their belongings to a certain extent. When I taught Montessori it wasn't that difficult to keep track of who wore what and who had what lunchbox. In fact, as said above, when there are children with allergies or dietary requirements it is essential to keep track of anything food related.

Ms2011

Yes that's it exactly there are about 8-10 in my son's class, 2 full time teachers & a trainee so it's not like they are over run.
His lunchbox was labelled on the front & back so I'm hopeful that that will turn up, as said if my son came home with an item that wasn't his I would return it a.s.a.p.
His hat admittedly wasn't labelled as normally I would take off his hat, scarf & jacket, put his hat & scarf in his jacket sleeve so they'd stay together & hang them up ( they don't have a set spot) but on Monday there was one boy crying being dropped off so there was a bit of a bottle neck at the door with people coming & going so one of the girls took my son in & took off his coat etc. & hung them up.
I've a feeling I might just be chalking it up to experience & these items not turning up.
I really do like the Montessori, in every other aspect it is brillant & my son loves it, it's just grating on me that this is the second & third thing to go missing in 3 months, there doesn't seem to be a system for making sure a child leaves with what they came in with or retrieving it if it does get lost.

pwurple

Cripes, I haven't labelled anything. Maybe that's the issue!

I think in our case though it's my little girl hiding/losing the stuff, rather than the teachers. They have cubbies and hooks for their stuff, but she shares food and swaps containers. She goes to other children's houses after playschool as well, or they come over to us.. so it all gets a bit muddled there too, as other parents don't know to ask for the hat. And it's usually different people doing the drop-off and collection for us too. I'd drop off, husband or granny, or other parent picks up.

Sounds completely chaotic really, but I've tried to make it her own responsibility as much as I can. She has to remember what she came with.

Ms2011

Got his lunch box back
His hat however seems to have fallen into a black hole.
I do think they will be more mindful in future as I did pursue the matter until I got one of the items back though I was always polite about it as I wouldn't want there to be an atmosphere.
Well I guess it's off to the shops to do some hat shopping!!

lazygal

If the door dropoff is busy next time, I'd say to the staff that you'll come in and hang up/put away his things, and make sure you say to him "There's your coat and your hat, see, they are yours, make sure you bring them home". Its a pain to have to replace stuff and you shouldn't have to - it took me ages to find a hat for my child that was suitable. I'd be raging if the staff weren't as careful with the child's possessions as you'd expect them to be about other things.

Ms2011

Yes that's how I felt about the lunch box too. He doesn't eat bread so instead of a sandwich he gets a pot of creamed rice. It was so hard finding a lunch box that would not only close with the rice in it but was small enough to fit in his little bag. It wasn't that it was expensive or anything but just akward to find.

sillysocks

I don't think we've lost anythung in a year and a half of Montessori, and there's almost 30 in the class! One day my daughter came home wearing a cardigan but she hadn't had one going in, but I returned it the next day and that's the only mix up we've had. If things were going missing very regularly I'd be getting annoyed too.