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AIBU?

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Original poster

Wwyd? Broken toy.

113 replies

SpiceLinerandHoneyLove · 18/08/2016 23:46

Keeping this very short to avoid outing.
DD had two friends to play today. In the garden and sandpit. All well and good. Her friends are sisters, about 18 months between them. All children aged under 4.
Sandpit/outside toys all outside.

Bit hectic, repeated asking other children not to throw gravel, bring toys from house outside etc. Trying, but normal.

Then mum of friends extracts from her youngest DD one of my DD's toys, a pullalong she's had since birth with buttons that make it talk. Well, not anymore. It's full of sand. Her DD had taken it from inside and buried it in the sandpit. It's beyond repair.

I'm not normally precious but it was one of the first toy we got DD and we hoped her new brother/sister would also play with it.

I've googled a replacement and it's not made anymore. Amazon is only place at £25+

WIBU to ask for a replacement?

OP posts:
ImissGrannyW · 19/08/2016 01:33

in the gentlest possible way, if something were important, then you (as the adult who lives in the house) should have been more 'on it'.

You could have noticed it was brought outside and what was being done to it. You didn't.

When you're hosting you should put away things you don't want played with by toddlers/little ones, and be on high alert for things that are precious.

Sorry, but like others, I think this is on you, and not for the other parent to have to replace.

LastAnni · 19/08/2016 01:33

I can totally understand why you're upset. Sadly though, these things happen and it's honestly best to just smile and move on. All part and parcel of having friends round to play.

tararabumdeay · 19/08/2016 02:02

I'm sorry my last post was mean. I realise that I haven't got over having to let precious objects from my children's childhood go.

Amprev - thank you for putting it so eloquently into perspective.

Champagneformyrealfriends · 19/08/2016 06:40

YABU-sorry op.

Have you tried taking it apart as other pp's have suggested? I understand your sentimentality - I can be like that too.

veryproudvolleyballmum · 19/08/2016 06:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NoahVale · 19/08/2016 06:49

we had a draw bridge broken on a model castle.
my radio also broken

by visitors.
not much you can do

fabulous01 · 19/08/2016 06:59

Omg. I am so glad I don't go to your house. The sentimentality could be saying to child when older .... You loved this toy and after a lovely summer day with friends you all buried it in sand. It was such a lovely day with friends who are now some of your besties...
Ideas if future play are far too idealistic.

If you really want a replacement that is your choice so you pay.

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 07:03

It comes across as really mean to ask someone to replace a toy that was broken by accident by a toddler. Sorry Confused. If you went to their house and your kids were messing with something and it got wet, for example, would you seriously expect to have to replace it? It's just an accident.

Wellywife · 19/08/2016 07:20

Unfortunately toys get broken. Children experiment so who's to say your own DC might have dropped it / bathed it etc at some point.

Booboostwo · 19/08/2016 07:23

My mother had this attitude to our belongings. Toys were kept in pristine condition, other kids were vandals, everything should be clean and in its place....can you see where this is going? Playing with toys was just too stressful, having friends over impossible.

Don't go there OP. It is a bloody piece of plastic, as said above, and there will be millions more.

tigermoll · 19/08/2016 07:27

So, it was the youngest DD. Since they are all under 4, with an 18 month age gap, this makes the "culprit" two and a half AT MOST.

Either:

A 2.5 year old was able to go into the house, get the precious toy, bring it out and bury it in the sandpit, all without an adult noticing. If so, you should all be watching a bit more closely or worse stuff could happen.

Or:

Another, older (and hence less heavily supervised) child brought the toy out of the house, and it was simply the youngest child who was apprehended burying it. In which case you have no way of knowing it wasn't one of your kids who brought it out in the first place.

Either way, let this one go. It's a talking pullalong toy that got broken, not a family heirloom.

longdiling · 19/08/2016 07:30

Yeah amprev has it! I also think there's a difference between an older child being deliberately destructive and a toddler not realising the sand would break a toy. An older kid taking that pull along and stamping on it til it smashed would be something very different.

Hockeydude · 19/08/2016 07:35

Unfortunately yabu

You cannot expect such a young child to understand that sand will damage a toy.

I have a sand/water table and have toys with it (like boat etc). No inside toys are allowed outside as they will likely be damaged by sand/water and no outside toys are allowed inside as they will probably have water in them somewhere and could damage a battery operated toy.

You need to watch like a hawk or put away certain toys if they are important to you.

Amelie10 · 19/08/2016 07:35

Yabu, don't be so tight and embarrassing to ask her to pay. How long did you expect to keep the toy for? Will your DD even want it in a few years time. Your face must have been a picture for the friend to have offered to pay. As someone else said its a bit of plastic!

Hockeydude · 19/08/2016 07:37

Have you tried vacuuming to suck out the sand

DollyBarton · 19/08/2016 07:38

Not t in a million years would I ask for money for it.

jesterkat · 19/08/2016 07:41

Try hoovering it to get all the sand out.

amprev · 19/08/2016 07:41

tararabumdeay - I'm still a work in progress at not over sentimentalising objects but once you get into the swing of it, it becomes easier Smile

Catsize · 19/08/2016 07:43

Your friend offered. That is enough.

Pointless buying another - it won't hold the same sentiment.

Can't quite believe you are even contemplating it.

GoldFishFingerz · 19/08/2016 07:44

All under 4? Then the responsibility lies with the adults only.

ktfs · 19/08/2016 07:46

yes it would be.....its a toy....keep precious toys out of reach. instead of repeatedly asking them - TELL them properly the first time then STOP THEM DOING IT.

Footle · 19/08/2016 07:47

tararabumdeay, that was the name of my first or second doll ! She was a rag doll - I joggled her about , saying Tarara a few times, then chucked her up in the air for the BOOM bit, with a sad little 'de-ay' as she hit the brown lino floor.
Thanks for the memory.

acasualobserver · 19/08/2016 07:51

All this "had since birth" and "we hoped her new brother/sister would also play with it" sounds very silly to me. It's available from Amazon so hardly a family heirloom.

guiltynetter · 19/08/2016 07:58

YABU. the toy isn't a heirloom, I'm
sure you can get a similar one to replace it. you should have noticed she had done it.

BlancheBlue · 19/08/2016 08:02

If it is that important then pay £25 for a replacement?