They either break things, lose parts so they are unworkable or leave them lying around to get broken/stood on.
DS1 announced sheepishly last night that he had lost all 3 of his Nintendo DS games - bought only after a lot of begging and promising to look after it. They were all bought new for him for Xmas and birthday - about £50 worth.
He made a fuss when I asked him to look for them and blamed DS2 who's 2. Thing is, he knows DS2 will half-inch stuff and has been warned repeatedly to put things away in the cupboard or on a shelf where DS2 cannot reach them.
I have had a tidy up this morning and picked up at least 5 DVDs/PS2 games that have been left lying around on the wooden floor without their boxes so they'll be nice and scratched now!
He wanted a lava lamp for Christmas and got one - that's now broken too. The scalextric he got for his birthday lasted about 3 days before it died. Ditto the remote control cars that I bought them from Harrods on a trip to London last year.
It's his whole attitude that gets me - a sort of shrug, oh well, someone will buy me another one... The thing is, they won't but he doesn't seem to care and has no appreciation for the cost of things. He's only 6 and I know I am probably being unreasonable but I actually wouldn't feel so annoyed if I felt he was sorry for losing/breaking the things.
Next year they are getting clothes and books for Christmas....