Broken item

[TwatbadgingCuntfuckery]

More of a who is rather than am I.

I'm keeping it vague so I get unbiased opinions. I do know both people and have heard both arguments.

Person A offered to babysit for a fee. Person A is not a register childminder but a babysitter.

Person B agreed and left 2 children in care of person A. The children were cared for in their own home in the evening.

Whilst A was looking after the 2 children (ages 6 & 18mths) child 6 broke a tablet A had given them permission to use. It was dropped when Child retrieved it. It was balanced on a fireplace surround. This was confirmed by A. It was on charge.

A is demanding B stump up the cost of the tablet.

B states A was caring for them and fully responsible for what the children were doing. That A was doing a job and B doesn't feel responsible for breakages on As watch.

B also states that A shouldn't have let child 6 use it knowing how expensive and fragile it is and it is As responsibility.

B also said if they were there at the time it was broken they would pay for it because that meant they weren't watching their own kids and 'let it happen' but because B wasn't there doesn't feel responsible.

Child 6 has their own tablet but this is restricted at night. Childs tablet it already damaged but working due to the child dropping it. A knows this but allowed use of their tablet instead.

B doesn't want to spend £300ish on a replacement tablet.

A is demanding that they do.

Who is in the wrong or are they both in the wrong?

A has to pay

I would always offer to pay for anything my children broke accidentally.

Seriously? To take that to its logical conclusion, if a paid babysitter went mad and brought along a priceless vase which they chose to let your child play with and it then broke, you would feel that you were 100% responsible?

This is why person b has insurance. A minder is not responsible for breakages in the home by the children

Oh sorry it's not b's ipad. Then I don't know.

It's your mum's fault.

She bought the ipad into the house and put it in a precarious place.

She offered it to her dgd despite dgd ipad being on restricted time.

She expected and told her to grab it.

100% her fault and responsibility to fix.

What reasoning does she give for your sister to pay? If her dgd had taken it from her bag without permission then I'd say your sister should be paying bur your mum gave her permission and offered it up knowing the risk

The reasoning given. Sister can afford it she cannot.

Mother does not have insurance.

Fwiw my mother did this before with me.

My DC stayed at her home overnight. DC broke a toy they were given to play with. Mother demanded that I spend £50 replacing this toy (a Lego robot type figure) when it was broken in her watch.

I offered to replace the broken part which would've cost around a fiver from the Lego spares website.

Mother refused and badgered me to replace it. The toy wasn't replaced when I handed over the cash.

Also my mother borrowed an item from me. Whilst she was in possession of it it broken and was written off (engineer confirmed it wasn't repairable) at the time a like for like replacement would've been £130. Mother did not replace it.

My sister knows this and is reluctant to hand over the cash because she feels our mother will only accept responsibility of it is in her favour.

I agree with my sister and my mother needs to learn but after 50odd years is unlikely

This is the reason I stuck to facts rather than history to get a clear picture.

Your mother sounds incredibly unreasonable.

Goodness me, I'm sorry if this is rude but your mum sounds a nightmare! Charging for looking after her grandchildren, charging for broken items she gave them, charging for but not replacing broken toys, then not giving you money when she breaks something of yours?!

Surely your mum knows that the dc has restricted access at night, so shouldn't have been offering up her tablet anyway. Daft to trust a kid with such an expensive item, and a fucking stupid place to leave it on charge.

Not a priceless vase no. But I don't think it's out of the ordinary for a 6 year old to play with an Ipad. I'm just of the opinion that when my kids are at school/being babysat etc ultimately the responsibility still lies with me.
Odd that the mum would ask for the money imo and odd she was charging for babysitting. Also odd that the sister isn't even offering to contribute if she can well afford it and the mum can't but I guess people have different mother/daughter relationships.

Your mum is BU to expect your sister to pay for a breakage that happened when she was in charge and your sister wasn't even there. Even more so after her past antics with the Lego etc. Good for your sister for standing up to her this time.

Your mother sounds even more unreasonable op. It ls one rule for her and one for you both.

I would not replace at all. I would not rely on her for childcare either.

That's the thing though bumsexatthebingo my sister really can't afford it even though she is better off than my mother. She is a mum to 2 small children and is limited to school time work. She pays a whacking great chunk of her income in nursery fees. Mother can work longer hours but chooses not to. Mother only works part time. My mother could afford to replace it by picking up extra hours for a couple of weeks to replace it herself. (she always complains they call her up to offer extra hours) There's other issues here that I won't go into.

plus when your children are at school accidental damages are covered by the school inc on school insurance if it is the school's property. It is part of whole kid package they break things. If your child maliciously damages stuff then you are responsible for that damage. I guarantee your child has broken things and the school hasn't even mentioned it because it was an accident. However, like most public spaces anything that belongs to you, that you bring into a space you are liable for it.

this is what my mother did. She brought her property into my sisters home, put it in a really stupid place. Was daft enough to give my DN permission to use it already knowing their tablet is cracked because DN had dropped it.

If this was in my house and I was out. I wouldn't pay either. When I was in my mother's shoes - I Let the kids look at my old iphone to watch a minecraft video it was dropped and needed the screen replaced - I absorbed that cost because I gave them permission to use it. Ok there is a big difference in cost between £50 screen fix and £300 tablet but that's why I don't let anyone's kids play with my expensive tech. I still put my DVDs on for DN 6 and DC because I don't want my DVDs scratched even though DN and DC are capable of doing it. DN and DC can put on their own dvd's any scratching is their fault but when its my stuff I take steps to ensure it doesn't get damaged. Its not hard.

A is definitely responsible and should pay.

I may be biased as I'm quite relaxed about young children breaking things accidently - I've had a friends toddler smash a piggybank that was within their reach, and my toddler nephew break a Blu Ray disc in half l, both within the past 24 hours. Whilst their parents were there. I didn't "let" them play withost these items but it's not their parents fault, you take your eye off a child for a couple of seconds, accidents happen. So I definitely wouldn't hold B responsible even if they WERE in the house at the time.

Given your mother's history with breakages, i'm wondering if she did it deliberately. The screen's cracked, she wants a a new one, decides to place it recklessly so that it inevitably gets broken so that she can stiff her daughter for the replacement.

Whoever left it there in reach of a child should stomach the cost.

A is totally responsible.

Just wanted to say you have my sympathies, your mum sounds exhausting.

*WhereYouLeftIt8 I didn't want to say that but yes... it had crossed my mind.

Our relationship with our mother is difficult when it comes to money. We try really hard not to have money in the equation iyswim. There is jealousy with one side because the other has been fortunate enough to earn more. My sister an I are 'lucky' we are in a good income bracket but it doesn't make us rich just able to pay the bills and some luxuries.

I frequently lie about how much stuff costs to my mother because she gets jealous. I bought 2 new items this year (total of £700) as far as she is aware I got them second hand for pennies to save the prying questions. I have been tempted to tell the truth and tell her I'm selling my kidneys.

Paying for childcare for work, my sister didn't think it an issue because it helped mother fill her tank to enable my mother to get over to do her a favour iyswim. So I don't think that is an issue tbf.

Who's iPad is it?

If it was babysitter's then babysitter is responsible as she took it to the house and gave permission for child to us it. It's not the mother's fault it got broken.

Taking the family relationships out of it if your friend was over at a playdate and broke one of the parents Ipads accidentally surely you would offer to pay rather than questioning supervision levels or where they left it etc?