Sons birthday he got amongst other stuff headphones they were cheap so did not work well. Wanted to get some better ones so I gave him the cash. Better ones bought and used but then thrown in dustbin. I have retrieved them along with packaging albeit cut open.
What would you do about this? I know the receipt is in his bin but not allowed in room.
Not the first time something like this has happened. Laptop bought and then thrown. I confronted him over this said he didn't want it. I offered to sell it for him (receipt lost so could not get refund). This was ok but he changed his mind said he wanted it back. OK find. Then I find another note in his room to dump laptop in the country. I think this is what happened.
New clothes bought and some 'old' ones thrown away when there is nothing really wrong with them. confused
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Teenagers
Throwing valuable stuff away
mersea208 · 18/09/2013 15:10
He cannot be that stupid for it to be just about throwing 
expensive things away. It seems it's about control and manipulation. 
My DS1 went through a phase a bit like this. He threw away some things 'accidentally' - forks and spoons off along with pot noodle tubs, for instance. He also carelessly damaged things and then threw them away rather than making any attempt to mend them - tears in jeans or cracked plastic on gadgets, for example. Thirdly, he claimed to have thrown away or 'lost' things that he had actually sold, to get cash for tobacco or junk food or drugs. 
Apart from the drug use, I think it was due to an unpleasant mindset that didn't value anything we (I) bought: it was as if he thought that if we could afford it, then it must be crap, so he didn't have to look after it. It reflected a total lack of respect for me and himself, and a lack of any understanding of the 'value' of money, the work it takes to get it, and the choices families generally have to make.
In the end, I stopped giving him money and buying him things. His 17th birthday was a real low point, and I didn't get him anything at all because I knew he would sell it or break it or lose it.
It took him about 6 months to get the point, and/or grow out of that. But he is still more careless with things than I would like - I reckon he will need to be buying his own things with his own hard-earned money before he really gets it...
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