Real-life MMD: Should friend cough up for broken iPhone?

Mark_Beech

I'm still bemused by the number of parents who bow to pressure and spoil their kids rotten and buy them an iPhone or similarly expensive smart phone.
How can parents really afford £35 - 40 every month just for their precious offspring to have a phone.
I just find it mind boggling.
No wonder this country is in the grip of a credit driven crisis.

Lorac29_2

I have to admit, I read the replies with interest as have no idea what the best idea is!
To add my 2 cents to the forum....

Under the assumption we are not talking about an attempted drowning here, more mucking about, I think approaching the other boys parents and asking them to contribute half the money towards a replacement/ repair would be fair, as I feel your son must share some responsibility for his own belongings.
We all like to have nice things but with that comes taking care of them and its a lesson to learn no one will care about your stuff as much as you do.
I would feel differently of course if the other boy had thrown the phone in the river, or there was some kind of bullying involved.

I would also ask about insurance and whether he thought about taking that out (its one of the main reasons I dont have an iphone as its so expensive) as I would not have thought of that by myself at 13 and would have probably assumed it was covered by mum and dads insurance- but what do I know, I didnt have a phone at 13!

sim_lou

Sorry children shouldn't go and play out with expensive things. Unless the pushing in the river was done malicious then there is no way they should be held responsible. Friends having a laugh by a stream in hot weather somebody is going to get wet.

If I was the parent I'd hold my child learnt the lesson of being more careful with expensive things.

hannerrbabes

Firstly, he's 13 years old. WHY DIDN'T YOU INSURE THE PHONE?!?! It doesn't cost a lot to do that. I insured my iPhone for only £8 a month which covers every possibility.
Secondly, go and talk the child's parents. If anyone pushed my child into a river (even without damaging their iphone) I would go absolutely crazy. They are responsible for their child, so have to pay the consequences of their actions. How they then discipline their child after that (taking their pocket money to pay for example) is not your business.
Also, in regards to your insurance... You obviously know how much your son loves his iPhone and saved for ages to buy it. I would have thought his happiness means more than a worry about your claim costing more than its worth.
Think about it!:mad:

hannerrbabes

Mark_Beech wrote: »

I'm still bemused by the number of parents who bow to pressure and spoil their kids rotten and buy them an iPhone or similarly expensive smart phone.
How can parents really afford £35 - 40 every month just for their precious offspring to have a phone.
I just find it mind boggling.
No wonder this country is in the grip of a credit driven crisis.

Um, if you read it properly, you would have saw that her son SAVED up for the phone. She didn't just buy him the phone willy nilly.
I doubt people taking out iPhone contracts is the reason that the Government is in debt to other countries my love.

hannerrbabes

Primrose wrote: »

I'm not sure why any parent in their right senses would bow to the pressure to buy an iphone for a 13 year old, but I'd contact the parents, inform them this might be viewed by the police as assault if it were reported, but you will not do so if the offending child is disciplined and a cheque for a replacement identical phone is forthcoming within 48 hours. Then, if your child must have a phone, buy him the cheapest one available on the market.

Oh dear Primrose. you're obviously not a parent are you, and you're another person who didn't read this properly. Her son saved for AGES to buy the iphone HIMSELF. His parents did not buy it nor pay for it. He had obviously wanted it for ages and its right for him to learn the value of money and save for it - rather than his parents saying "yes of course darling. have it right now."
Please read properly now.

babushkava

As mouse707 said -
Kids will be kids and accidents happen. Of course, another side to this, which hasn't yet been discussed, is the 'accuracy' of the story. I'm not accusing anyone of bending the truth, but I can can anecdotally say that if I had an expensive item like that as a kid, my parents would go mental if I broke it so I might be inclined to say 'it was an accident caused by someone else'.


I agree completely.

tallgirld

Oh come on they were just playing around.. Maybe the boy didn't even know he had his I phone on him.

I wouldn't ask for a contribution in that situation. I would be annoyed that he took such an expensive phone to school!!!! If it didn't end up in the river at some stage it probably would have got lost, broken or stolen anyway.

happyinflorida

As with any individual valuable item - it should have been insured, that's common sense IMO - so why didn't you, his mum, do that as the phone was to be used by your child aged 13 and WE all know what kids can get up to?

You know more about this friend than we do - as to what type of person he is ie stupid, careless, thoughtless, etc - if he's like that, then you should have had the forethought to advise your son about going out with this phone when with friends like this.

Is the friend in a financial situation that he's got the money to pay for the phone or does he get enough pocket money to mean your son can get a replacement phone within a fairly reasonable amount of time - I mean I don't expect your son wants to wait 2 years for a replacement. If the family can't afford this - then it's up to you if you want to push them into paying anything or choose not to considering their financial position.

Was it a big river or a little one - was the friend being very stupid in pushing your son in, was it dangerous to do this? If yes, you need to discuss this with his parents as something needs to be done about that first.

Kids do muck around - that is normal - but I wouldn't let my son go near a river on his own or with friends - at 13 he's far too young. So what was going on?

More information is needed - these questions are so annoying as there's never enough information given!

SmartAlex

I think there are two different issues here. The first being the loss of the iPhone. With all respect, I think it is fairly foreseeable that a 13-year-old boy is going to engage in childish behaviour which will, from time to time, lead to things getting broken, clothes getting ripped and the odd bruise. If your son is going to carry around an expensive items such as an iPhone, he and you as parents have to accept that there is a high risk it will become damaged or destroyed. I don't think it's particularly fair to blame the other boy for the consequential damage incurred. He is a young boy and cannot be held accountable for his childish actions. That is not to say that the issue should not be addressed or the child should not be punished to stress the importance of what he has done but I think this is really a concern for his parents and all you can do is draw it to their attention.