A mom writes in asking for advice on what to do because her friend’s 3-year-old came over and broke some of her child’s toys.
A Community Member asks:
“Can I get some advice? What do you do when you invite your friend and their three and a half-year-old son over, and their child breaks your child’s toys? Especially new toys they got for Christmas? I feel bad asking her to pay me back for them, but we work hard to get our kids the toys they have. What should I do?”
Community Advice For The Mom Looking For Advice On How To Handle The Situation Of Her Friends 3 1/2-Year-Old Breaking Her Child’s Toys.
To see what advice the Mamas Uncut Facebook community has for this mom, read the comments of the post embedded below.
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Advice Summary
The responses of the community were pretty much all the same. You can read some of these responses below.
“You should have packed the good toys away knowing a toddler was coming over, I’m sure the baby didn’t mean it.”
“There’s nothing you can do if you didn’t want anything to happen to that toy you should have put it up out of the way.”
“It depends on how much the toy actually cost… my daughter’s friend broke her brand new laptop when she fell on it. Her mom bought my daughter a second-hand one as that’s all she could afford. I was more than happy with that.”
“I highly doubt it was intentional. Expensive toys or toys you don’t want to be touched should be put away. Not worth losing a friend over a toy.“
“Honestly, if it happened in my home I wouldn’t care but if it was at a friend’s I would replace it even without them asking me to, that’s just me though.“
“This could potentially ruin your friendship and cost your child and yourself a friend. Kids break things all the time but I would never ask for my friend to pay me back for broken toys. I also would have put up any valued toys before a play date. But it’s definitely not worth causing drama over!“
“If it’s a new toy that is expensive over $50 and you can’t afford to replace it I would ask them to if my kids break a toy at a friend’s house or something I fully expect to be held liable for it as it’s my child that broke the toy.”
Final Thoughts
This was a very interesting question. I wasn’t sure how to respond at first. It seems like the answer should be easy. After reading some of the responses I had to really think about the situation. I would say that 99% of the answers were to let it go. Friendships are more important than broken toys. Then there were a few that said that it would depend on how expensive the item was and that, as a mom, they would offer to replace it.
In order to not risk your friendship, it would be best to let it go. Then as the parent of the child who broke the toy, you should assess the situation to see if it would merit being replaced. That would mean not just looking at the cost of the toy but also the response of the parent.
I think we all know our friends really well, and if they are the kind of parent that would get upset over a broken toy. If so, then no matter what, we should replace it. If we are the parent of the child that got his toy broken it is a good opportunity to teach our child how to forgive.
This is, of course, just an opinion. You have to do what you think is best but just keep in mind the bigger picture.
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