The blame game....it is strong with the Beaver
Happy Holidays everyone...uber busy here in Halo land....as I work IT for a global shipping company. Yippeee......usually this time a year its a slow af around here..but ah...shipping delays, ramp ups and general covid shennanigans have left us busier than Santa's elves.
Ah...onto the Beaver...
SD has never been good about keeping her things nice and undamaged. The drive me nuttier than a fruit cake..but i don't have to pay for the replacements, etc so I just grit my teeth and move on.
The latest...SD has broken not one but two laptops in the last 6 months.
1st laptop...fubar'd the screen when she tried to shove 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound bag. That one was the one we bought her. We didn't really care much as it was about 4 years old and was getting replaced this christmas. She also has an ipad with a keyboard so not like she has nothing over here.
2nd laptop...she left it plugged in on the floor in our family room for what was like a month or so. She didn't put it on the table...but on floor right next to it. Ok..there..not my job to police an almost 16 year olds electronics. I left there. Well in the course of a month it seems the charging port got broken. **halo shruggs shoulders** I'm sure it got joslted around when the thundering heard..aka the 3 boxers came charging through the family room to go outside and play. Who knows....what happened. I didn't want SD to bring it here just for that reason.
Ah the old Beaver is having real tail thumping time over this. How dare we break SD's laptop. ***halo rolling her eyes** Yep couldn't be because SD doesn't take care of anything...(her room looks like a bomb has exploded in there...clothes and crap all over the floors). Nope...its the evil halo and Mr. Halo's fault.
So...using this logic..if SD broke it at school would it be school's fault? If it got broke at her house..would it be her fault??
the blame game is so very strong with Beaver.
Now I checked and the port can be replaced in this model laptop. So do we
1. Take it in and have the port replaced..
2. Take it in and have the port replaced but make SD pay for it. (This is my vote all the way)
3. Take it in and find how much it will be to replace the port and send the laptop and the quote to Beaver since its the laptop SHEEEE bought.
4. Do nothing...and send that sucker back to Beaver land.
Cast your votes... 
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Comments
2 or 4 w/ me leaning more
2 or 4 w/ me leaning more towards 4
Me too
But either one is pretty good.
I vote for SD paying for it,
I vote for SD paying for it, personally. SS once accused DH of smashing his school-issued laptop with a hammer. Right, sure. BM had to pay for it because she paid his tuition at the school. I think she replaced it about 4 times lol. Stupid to give a 12 yo a laptop to schlep around.
#2.
#2.
Hidden Option #5:
Hidden Option #5:
Hand it back to SD and tell her it's her problem to figure out. You can present option #2 to her as what The Halos will do to help, but it's her decision if she wants that help. If not, she can come up with another alternative.
I like this option
I will let Mr. Halo know this one.
Yes, make it her problem to
Yes, make it her problem to fix and fund. At 16 she can do the legwork, maybe with some guidance. Problem-solving is a necessary adult skill that so many skids are shielded from.
And I want to meet the thundering herd. They sound marvelous.
Excellent option
I vote for this!
I like 4. Why do you have to
I like 4. Why do you have to do anything? Is sd asking for your help or is her mom just screaming about stuff?
Its a bit of both
Beaver is a whining to SD..which in turn means SD is asking for help on what to do. Although SD's response to Beaver was "what's the big deal I have an ipad."
Have SD pay if you replace.
Have SD pay if you replace. Charging port isn't a big ticket item or repair and teach her a good lesson, maybe.
#4. She's going to bitch
#4. She's going to bitch anyways. Its her & SD's problem.
If the laptop is absolutely
If the laptop is absolutely necessary for school, as in SD will fail without it, help her but have her put up the money or involve Beaver. If she can find another way to do her work without it, let her stew a while. The only way to get kids to take care of things is for them to face natural consequences if they break them or leave them vulnerable to others breaking or stealing them. Another option is to have fixing it be her present for her next gift occasion like Christmas or birthday.
With my own kids, if they lose or break something that's for entertainment, i put it on the back burner and let them either stew without it, or, if they want it badly enough, they learn to take the bull by the horns and get it done themselves. Like, they have to troubleshoot, figure out what's wrong, figure out where to take it to fix it, figure out the cost of repair vs replacement, etc. Doing the legwork is annoying but also instructive. This way is also the least stressful for me, as just doing nothing is easy.
Also to add, if one of my
Also to add, if one of my kids does come up with a plan that's actually a good one (take it to x place for repair, it costs this, this is when they open, this is why it's cheaper to repair vs replace) I will maybe take it/pay in exchange for extra chores. This is something SD's parents should be doing though.
Knowing Beaver...
anything you do should go directly between your household and SD.
I'd be tempted to gaslight Beaver
Take it in and get it fixed on the sly. But tell SD and Beaver that there was nothing wrong and they just couldn't switch the laptop on.
Like the old IT helpdesk lines about making sure the machine was switched on.
OH that is SO tempting
and honestly DH would be down with it in a heartbeat.
At the height of my
At the height of my disengagement, I would not have replaced a broken q-tip. Pffffft.
Her circus (carelessness and disregard); her monkey (her money).
SS17's girlfriend was holding
SS17's girlfriend was holding his MacBook last week and one of the dogs dropped a bone on the screen... yeah screen broken. It still works but barley.
SO found a place that will fix it for $215, he told SS17, now it's on SS17 to fix *shrugs shoulders*
He has his school issues chrome book so he doesn't NEED his MacBook. I'll be honest... he leaves it on the side of the couch.. ALL THE TIME... it was only a matter of time before something happened. Our freshly turned 1 year old dog does weird things when no one is home.. I was waiting for her to do something haha.
I vote 2 BUT I do really like accidentalSM's suggestion. That's good haha.
4, 4, 4!
Go on, do #4! Just because you can.... Merry Christmas, Beaver! *biggrin*