Guest with young kids driving us crazy

Hi All,

My flatmate and I have had many guests before and all have been great. We currently have a guest though who is a single mother with two young kids. They are lovely people but the kids scream the whole time and we are constantly having to chase them to stop them playing with the wrong thing or destroying things. The mother doesn’t really do much about it. She mostly lets them just run around playing with anything they like, including pots and pans and even my flatmate’s nail polish.

They just arrived yesterday and are meant to stay with us for two weeks. We would prefer they leave but not sure how to go about it. We are perfectly happy to give the mother all the money back.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeremy

Also, what is the website policy? We are a super host and would prefer that it doesn’t damage our rating

Why don’t you call and ask them? This seems like a case you should discuss with Air directly to see what your options are.

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We thought we’d ask in the forums first :slightly_smiling:

I think you need to talk to the mother. What has she to say about it all? She can’t honestly think it’s ok for her kids to interfere with your belongings surely?

I’d also be inclined to have one huge closet where you lock away your own items. Guests will be guests :slight_smile:

Closet, unruly children, tempting!

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You can cancel them based on a fact that its not a good match. Kids that do not behave should not be taken into other people’s home and for such a long time. Just call AIr and explain to them that they are disturbing your life tremendously and mother does not control them. I am pretty sure AIr will relocate them.
But first , can you talk to the mother. Honestly, i dont think she can do anything about it. If this is how she brings them up, she does not know any better/ Good luck

THIS is why we have NO CHILDREN on our listing. Well… that and the fact that the door to the cabana is less than 6 feet from the pool’s edge and liability is a major issue.

Agree with the others. Call - don’t write - Air and get their advice/ruling on what the best course is.

On the other hand you may already have a roll of duct tape handy to control unruly kids.

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Love the duct tape idea :slight_smile:

^^^ LoL jaquo. Yes that would do the trick.

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A sit-down with the mother would be a good place to start. After that, pick up the phone and ask that they be rehomed. I’m sure they would be happier with that than paying out a claim when the kids wreck your home.

Why do you let them have access to such things, Jeremy?

I hope you got the situation sorted out though. Let us know.

Boy thats really unfair, why just the mother? Why not the dad.

Because the mother is a single parent :slight_smile:

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Oh God sorry-- dont talk to me about single mothers. If you can in future avoid. Yes i know there must be some nice ones that work or maybe hubby dies- but on average – well maybe she does this ofen so others look after her kids.

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Well let me be the first to be offended. I’m a single mom. My kids’ dad walked away from our twin boys when they were 16 and hasn’t thrown us one thin dime since. I’ve crawled out of the pits of foreclosure, paid the mortgage and expenses, have enrolled both my boys in their third year of college… ALL with their sad excuse of a dad living in the SAME town and not even a phone call on their birthday, an appearance at their graduation, help with college moving in and out, or an attaboy. All of which mean way more than a single dollar… So sweet are the uses of adversity… We don’t need the likes of him or other misogynists with attitudes like this. I’ve done ALL THIS on my own without help from anyone and you are saying watch out for single moms. Thanks.

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On this topic, thank you konacoconutz for your reply. Dave, before you manage to further insult fantastic single parents , mothers AND father’s any more, may I suggest you think more carefully about the reality of what your saying.
I had two yes two, mother and father, parents staying, both academics one of whom was going to be the caretaker while the mother went to a conference. The barely 3 and 4 year old children were a total nightmare and I have 4 children so have a good idea about boundaries and behaviour. And yes I too bought them up half the time on my own and managed to buy my own house ect.
So my house has three floors with very heavy fire doors at the top and I was terrified they would trap they’re fingers at the very least. Slamming in and out up and downstairs.
We have had many family’s stay but this was the airbnb booking that I left the worst review for ever.
The dad proceeded to do his own computer work, that apparently he had forgotten to do , while he was supposed to be doing the child care.
I was very directional and told them not to allow they’re children to run around as it was dangerous with the doors and loosing they’re fingers, telling him they needed to get some fresh air and the park was at the end of the road ect
Basically they wanted somebody else to take responsibility for looking after they’re children ,while they focused on they’re careers and didn’t have the awareness that it was they’re responsibility and not strangers.
These are the people and kind of parents I work with in child protection who’ve had they’re children removed. Except that academics and people with money extremely rarely have that happen to them, 99% are poor people. But then that’s a whole other subject !

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Hear hear @Kerry and @konacoconutz - I’m a solo (divorced) mother too. My son is beautifully behaved, and my AirBnB feedback confirms that. There are children with less-than-ideal behaviours being bought up by every demographic, but solo mothers are an easily targeted cliche. Enough said!
P.S I’ve only hosted a child once - with her mum and dad. They said they were bringing their baby, turned out she was a giant 3 year old, must’ve been nearly 4. I have no idea how she squeezed into the portable crib I left out for a ‘baby’! Found the bed linens covered in yoghurt, potato chips mashed into the rugs, goodness-knows-what smeared all over the windows and cat biscuits (from my dwelling upstairs) poked between the sundeck floorboards. I put it down to experience :wink:

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I’m a new host and I have only hosted 6 groups so far. Three of them are families with young kids. All three groups left a mess for me, and it made me feel really upset.

The kid from the first group painted on my wall using ballpoint pen and her parents didn’t inform me that.

The kids from the second group were really dirty and stained most of my towels and sheets, and it took lots of effort to treat the stains but some towels still became unsalvageable. One of the kids also damaged my plant.

The kid from the third group put down fingerprints on everything he could reach, wall, furnitures, tv screen (with most fingerprints on it), mirrors, fridge, etc. these fingerprint came with food/sauce residue and they took hours for me to clean, and they spread all over the house! The kid also teared my sheer curtain apart! Again his parent didn’t inform me about the very obvious damage. Moreover, in addition to the kid’s part, the parents also played their part, the kitchen dresser door is broken and the 1 month old dryer is making loud unusual noise (it was perfect before these guests).

All the other three groups without kids are good and damaged nothing.
My question: does guest with kids always make a mess, like the ones described above? Are these problems described above considered to be damage or normal wear and tear? How do you cope with these problems described above if your listing is suitable for family with kids?
Thanks to anyone who offer their opinions!