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| Photo courtesy of m_bartosch; freedigitalphotos.net |
I have no deep thoughts today. Today, I need your help.
Last night some kids were over at my house horsing around. In my basement I have a large stroller that, quite frankly, doesn't need to be anywhere in my house; it's just one of those things I haven't gotten rid of yet.
All the kids came running to me, saying, "BeanzG11 broke NeighborBoy12's iPod!"
I did not know what to do!
I don't have the cash to replace this.
When I heard the full story I was unsure...am I responsible for taking care of this?
Here's what happened......
Apparently all of the kids were taking turns riding in this stroller and pushing one another. Please, don't comment on this! I'm aggravated about it too!
During this horseplay, my daughter BeanzG11 was one of the pushers and a boy from our neighborhood was the rider. He's 12. I have not yet checked to see if the stroller is broken.
BeanzG11 rocked the stroller back onto 2 wheels, like you would if you were stepping up onto a sidewalk. Our neighbor boy had his iPod in the top of the stroller in the tray; it fell out and the screen cracked when it hit the floor.
I feel kind of like all of the kids were goofing off and it was an accident of no one's fault.
I immediately offered to take it to the Apple store and see if I can get it replaced for no charge (hey, it's worth a shot!)
I was told by the kids that the mother of the boy was really mad and asked the kids if I was going to pay for it. She has not contacted me personally though.
Please comment and let me know what you think. Am I responsible for taking care of this?
11 comments:
I don't think this is your responsibility at all. The boy who owns the iPod should have been more careful with it. The same type of thing happened to my son's iPod. I did not look to blame anyone other than my son who learned a hard lesson in taking care of expensive possessions. You should call the mother to clear up the situation.
Thanks for your input! I agree. Initially I was unsure, but as I thought about it I started to think...would I hold them responsible if the situation were reversed? The answer is no. I would tell my child they should have been more careful and they would have to play with a broken touch screen.
In fact, a couple of years ago BananaG13 let her friend play with her brand new phone and the touch screen was broken, and she kept that phone until the 2 year upgrade came and just couldn't use the touch part of it. C'est la vie, right?
A few year back, I bought my daughter a ipod touch for christmas. Within two months the screen was busted due to her carelessness and her allowing others to play with it. I did not place the blame on other kids, it was my daughters responsibility to take care of it. I believe she was in 8th grade at the time, so definitely old enough to be responsible for her actions. In no way do I think that your daughter is responsible for breaking that ipod. It was an accident, and accidents happen. I would call the mother and explain the situation. Hopefully, she sees things the same way as you! Unfortunately, I have found that too many parents these days have a "not my kid" mentality and want to blame everyone elses kids for mistakes made. Good luck.
I agree that the child is responsible for his own possessions. You will have to talk to the other mother. She may have heard a completely different story.
AJ
Yep I agree with the others, the iPod is his responsibility. Although my daughter is only 4 there are certain things she doesn't want her little brother to play with or get. So I tell her to put them somewhere high up so he cannot get to them. Well one day she didn't & something got broken. Life's lessons are hard sometimes.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.
I did take the iPod to the Apple store and ask if there was any way they could exchange it for me, which was met with a condescending "No" from the tech who was "helping" me and then he actually just walked away without a discussion of options! I cannot believe it!
I have told the boy, who was just here, that I was very sorry it was broken here and that I really felt that it was a result of everyone goofing off and not one person's fault...he agreed, but I don't know if he really agrees or not.
I feel so bad that his iPod is broken.
I realized as I thought about this through the day that the three neighborhood kids who are here frequently I really love, and I don't want to lose them because of something material; that is why it was bugging me so much about what to do.
They are here very frequently and I enjoy having them, wild and crazy as that makes it over here when they are addded to my 4 and MDL's boys!!!
Thanks again! I really appreciate those who took time to share their thoughts.
Stuff happens. If it was yours and this happened, would you expect it to be replaced? No. All the children were goofing off and the ipod was the loser.
Call the mom, let her know what happened. And if she becomes a REAL pip about it, kindly point out the cost to replace a broken expensive stroller.
I agree! Thank you so much for commenting. I think it may all be o.k. - a lot of times kids will say things to other kids but not to adults, and my son told me that NeighborBoy12 said he did not think it was my responsibility. :)
I was thinking about this and I came to the conclusion that it being BeanzG11's fault is akin to me blaming someone else if I parked my car under a tree that they were cutting down and the tree fell on my car. Totally not her fault, one needs to be responsible for their belongings.
Interesting! Thank you! I think BeanzG11 is over it :)
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