Linda M.

Linda watched our infant daughter from July 2012 until October 2012. She was always pleasant and did seem to care about our daughter. There were a few mistakes over the months such as sending the wrong baby wipes or bottles home in our baby bag. We discussed this were her and she was apologetic and said it was a simple mistake and it wouldn't happen again. One day my husband dropped our daughter off and forgot his sunglasses inside so he walked back in to get them. That very morning he had just gotten through telling Linda how mobile our daughter was becoming and warned her that it would be unsafe to leave her unattended. He was horrified to find our 5-month-old daughter sitting on the couch unattended while she went into the kitchen to warm up a bottle. This was not only a huge safety concern but also a complete disregard for our parenting plan that we had shared with her both verbally and in writing. My husband discussed this with her and reminded her how mobile our daughter was and stressed that this was unsafe and unacceptable. Linda ensured him that it would not happen again. At the end of the day, my husband went to pick up our daughter and Linda was down the street on the way back from taking her for a walk. He happened to park next to Linda's car and noticed that our car seat base was improperly installed. We provided Linda with a car seat base to take our daughter with her in case of an emergency or if she had a quick errand to run. He investigated further and found the base to be extremely loose and not even latched completely. When he asked Linda about this she claimed that she had taken the base out (that my husband had originally put in securely) to drive her daughter and some friends somewhere and had a hard time putting in back in. I also discussed this with Linda and she confirmed that she had in fact driven that day with our daughter in the improperly installed base but not to worry because she had pushed the driver seat back far enough that it was tight against the car seat to hold it in. I also discovered that she had taken our daughter that day to a friend's house without even letting us know or seeking our approval. I then came to find out that this was not the first time she had done this and had even taken our daughter to another family's house to babysit their child without us knowing. She had previously asked me if this would be okay but I told her I would only approve it if I had a chance to meet the other family and visit their home; this did not happen. After these occurrences we decided to end our business relationship and let Linda know that we would be finding a new child care provider. I asked her if I could come over the following day and collect the baby items we still had at her house as well as the money that we had paid her in advance. She agreed and set up an appointment with me the following day. An hour before I was supposed to pick everything up, she sent me a text telling me that it would be out on her front porch. I asked her to please not leave our things outside and stated that I had no problem knocking on the door. She claimed to be out f town but said her wife would be home. When I arrived her wife politely answered the door and returned our belongings however the check Linda had written me was for only half of what she owed. I called her and she did not answer. I then sent a text and she again claimed to be out of town and asked me to call her in a few days. My husband returned to their house to request the money and found that she had lied and was in fact home. She stated that she did not have the money but luckily her wife was able to write us a check. I am writing this review to warn other parents that Linda, although sweet and likely well-intended, is an unsafe and dishonest caregiver who has proven blatant disregard for parenting plans and requests. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this review. Thanks!