Who should pay for accidental damage by child

Rambosmum

Someone who isn't willing to forgive my young child accidental damage of a small amount (with an apology from said child) isn't someone I'd want around my child.

Having said that I would have offered straight up to pay for any damage to the TPs belongings.

However if it were my partner I'd expect them to administer a "that was a bit silly wasn't it, watch where you're spinning around in future please" and that be the end of it.

FBaby

The adult wasn't behaving very responsibly, though, leaving their glasses lying around

It wasn't lying around, it was on the arm of the chair, probably the place where he normally leave them. There is no reason to knock something of it if you pay attention to what you are doing as you should when you are 8yo when you are at someone else's house.

peachyprice

Rambosmum wrote: »

Someone who isn't willing to forgive my young child accidental damage of a small amount (with an apology from said child) isn't someone I'd want around my child.

Has OP said that the partner hasn't forgiven the child?

This seems to be a dispute between the two 'grown-ups' over who should pay to replace them.

FBaby

Rambosmum wrote: »

Someone who isn't willing to forgive my young child accidental damage of a small amount (with an apology from said child) isn't someone I'd want around my child.

Having said that I would have offered straight up to pay for any damage to the TPs belongings.

However if it were my partner I'd expect them to administer a "that was a bit silly wasn't it, watch where you're spinning around in future please" and that be the end of it.

I agree with this, but that takes us back to David's post and where it should all have ended.

Spendless

I'm also someone who has been wearing glasses for 30+ years and though I don't ever use a case, I also don't leave them in an easy to knock off spot when I'm not wearing them. This is totally unlike my husband whose been wearing glasses for a couple of years and does leave them on the arm of the chair. I've told him before it's a daft place to leave them.

I think you should pay half each if that's how you organise your finances.

j.e.j.

fosswire wrote: »

My 8 year old daughter accidentally broke my partners reading glasses.

The glasses were left on the arm of a sofa and were knocked to the floor and the frame was cracked and the lens came out.

Were you there when it happened?

I only ask because as others have implied, glasses falling from the sofa down onto a living room floor would not cause that much damage to the glasses. Unless it's a stone floor!

Is someone telling you porkies (could be the partner or the kid)

It IS a daft place to put your glasses, though, I agree.

Jagraf

Is this hypothetical or for real?

How will you manage this relationship when you have a big problem?

Jagraf

fosswire wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

If my daughter was the child of both of us, would your reply be different?

If it was OUR daughter, it would come out of our joint finances.

But as it was MY daughter so should I pay when the glasses were left out of their case. Aren't accidents part and parcel of life when you have children visiting.

If my OH charged his stepdaughter (my daughter) for all his time, his effort, and everything she has done to disrupt his life, he would be loaded

But there are so many bigger problems (like who has the last bit of cheese) that we don't have time for such discussion.

Having said that, my DD stepmother said it was my daughters fault when her son knocked my dd phone off a table, the said I should claim on my household insurance (to her, not me). DD just kept broken phone screen until she had a new phone contract probably something she will always remember.

Jagraf

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Has anyone said "The child" yet? How else do we learn personal responsibility without assuming responsibility for our own actions?

8 years old or not, i'm sure there are chores that could be done, pocket money that can be withheld, birthday money in the bank that could be used.

Failing that - the parent, then followed by the appropriate punishments. Unless those glasses had been left on the floor to be stood on, it's not the 'owners' fault they got broken.

At what age should a child not pay for something they break by accident? What about their own glasses? How come an adult can claim on insurance for stuff they break?

bouicca21

Who said a pair of glasses is a small amount? Mine cost nearly 500 quid. That's a hefty sum to find unexpectedly. and the excess on insurance policies means it won't be worth claiming.

Though I would add that the only time my glasses got broken to the extent that the lenses fell out was when I stepped on them. So the falling off the arm of the chair doesn't ring true to me.