DD’s friends have absolutely destroyed my carpet.

[MyOwnBestFriend1989]

I don’t even know the point in posting this but DH is on a business trip and all my friends are probably watching the England match so have got no one to rant to.

my DD (12) had her friends over today and they went to B&M or wherever it was (honestly couldn’t care less at this point) and bought some of those stupid stress toys. They’re the ones filled with fluorescent, possibly radioactive, liquid and you squeeze them. when they came back they were instantly playing tug of war with them, jumping on them and just stretching them beyond their limits. I said, in no unclear terms, “if one of those pops and goes all over my carpet I’m going to hit the roof”. Obviously I got the whole “we’ll be careful!” reassurance, and please don’t ask me why I didn’t confiscate the toys off them because I honestly don’t know!

i was downstairs catching up on Eastenders and one of the girls comes down looking guilty and sheepish and disappears into the kitchen. She comes out clutching my Zoflora and I instantly ask her “what do you think you’re doing with that”, she claims the girls were “just making potions”. My response was “not with my Zoflora you’re not now what’s the real reason.” Cue her bursting into tears shouting “we didn’t mean to!”. My stomach dropped.

I’ve marched upstairs and there it is - a, what can only be described as marinated, ocean blue stain clearly smeared into my cream carpet. Not only that, there was also some scrunched up bits of toilet paper in it which had a faint blue tinge to it meaning they had obviously rubbed it in in an attempt to get it out.

i have to give myself credit for I didn’t scream or shout at the girls: I said “girls, you have half an hour to ring your parents and get them to collect you.” There were no arguments and rightly so.

it is now 11pm and I’m yet to receive an apology text from one of the parents - not that a “sorry” WhatsApp message will pay for my carpet to be professionally cleaned.

don’t know what the point is in posting this but just deflated to be honest. Unless of course anyone has any advice on how I can get this stain out or indeed on how to passive aggressively message the parents to imply that I do indeed want to be indemnified for a professional clean.

Surely you have home insurance that will fix it? That it’s in the hallway is luck because it’ll be the least disruptive to replace.

The children were under your supervision (or not, as the case was) so really you’re ultimately responsible. But yes, hugely annoying - I’d be fuming too.

This one is on you OP.

It is your house, your kid had invited her friends over, she took part in the game and you were the adult in charge who failed to simply tell them to play outside.

If you have a cream carpet anyway you are going to get visible stains if you have kids, pets or just go about your normal life!

That isn’t “coming back”
That is just confirming you are a drama llama who wants to keep the thread going @MyOwnBestFriend1989

I can’t imagine why you’d have cream carpet in a room you allow children to play in as a group. That seems doomed to failure so I’m amazed it’s lasted 12 years!

And yes - agree with the majority. Can’t see what the other parents have to do with this. You chose to ignore something and now there’s a mess to clean up.

My daughter and her friends broke our TV having a sleepover. I had let them carry on with a pillow flight though in retrospect, it seems obvious what would happen. My fault entirely. I didn’t tell the other parents, send everyone home or expect anyone else to pay for it.

I can't believe you sent everyone home - and are congratulating yourself that you didn't scream at them! You won't need to worry about future damage as none of her friends will ever want to come to DD's house again. If my child had told me this story I wouldn't think 'gosh, I must pay for that', I would think 'well, she's batshit'.

Exactly. Or ‘Do I want to send my child again to the house of someone this tightly-wound?’

It's really bizarre.

Also that OP made one of her daughter's friends cry.

Honestly can't imagine any of them wanting to come round again, so problem solved.

imagine this will spread around the other parents about @MyOwnBestFriend1989 insane reaction.

Although no one will be surprised. The tone of the gossip will be…. Yet another example of weirdness from from @MyOwnBestFriend1989

In all honesty, you could have prevented this by refusing to allow them to have them inside as these things are notorious for ruining furniture / carpets. A group of kids and some items likely to ruin the carpet, it was only going to end one way. I’d just be sucking this cost up, and kicking myself for allowing them to bring them inside in the first place. I would have of course messaged to apologise and offered some money for professional cleaning, but I’d decline the offer if I was you.

I'm surprised anyone gets 12 years into parenting before learning cream carpet and children don't get along well.

This is on you.
You knew what could go wrong but you allowed them to take the toys upstairs anyway.

Of courses they didnt anticipate them breaking and I doubt they did it on purpose.

Its annoying and I get your upset but its not the worse thing that could happen.

As a side story, for some reason that I cant remember a tin of blue gloss paint was on our landing and it was opened and spilled by accident all the way down our beige stair carpet by ds who was about 5 at the time. This was 20 mins before 20 odd people were due to arrive gor a party. We only had one upstairs bathroom. That was a stressful day!
Shit happenscwhen you have kids!

Kids playing unsupervised with toys you knew to be risky had an accident

this is your mess to clear up

@MyOwnBestFriend1989 try this
Dr. Beckmann Carpet Stain Remover... www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006ZMNWYS?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Sorry Op but the situation is you have learnt from this. The carpet is sadly your responsibility. You should have watched what was happening. It is down to you to sort out a new carpet or cleaning .I wonder if you are going to punish your DD. I would be livid if I was asked to pay and it does seem as though your DD was in the wrong. I think you need to make your daughter more responsible for her actions. Maybe no outings during the holidays would be suitable and when she says she is bored you can explain it was due to her behaviour. If she has sanctions given it is her fault.

Im not sure what the consistency of those things is inside, if it's a Gel obviously carefully remove as much of the colour residue on the carpet as possible first. Once done I'd start with cold water and washing up liquid in a bowl and start to work on it from the edges inward. Don't use hot water as you'll bake it in. Id also 2nd Dr beckman stain remover once the worst is out. I'd imagine this might be one of those that you have to keep coming back too between letting it dry.

Yes, this. It is not worth the anger or causing children to cry/be scared of your reaction. There is way to teach responsibility without being mean.

@MyOwnBestFriend1989 You should have taken it off them, but you didn't. You need to be the grown up here and be in control of your emotions. In your position, I would have used AI to look up the correct way to clean the carpet and then supervised the girls as they cleaned it up.

Oh dear. What are you going to do today to fix this so DD hasn't lost her friends OP?

DD must be at least equally responsible and you were supposed to be supervising. 12yos do stupid things and everyone makes mistakes. You can be excused for overacting in the moment, but you need to fix it now. Imagine being a 12yo banished from a friends house, would you want to go near that family again?

Please don’t do this

Don’t ruin her entire summer holiday because of one accident. She is 12. She doesn’t deserve such punitive action.

When I was 12, I remember flinging something round in the living room, my mum told me to stop but I was all hyped up and didn’t. I smashed a vase.

As punishment. My mum took my favourite toy and threw it on the lit fire.

I have never forgotten it. My mother was also one for yelling at me and my friends, harsh punishments etc

I have absolutely no relationship with her now and would never subject my own children to this.

Please please please don’t let your daughter think a carpet is more important than her happiness.

She can learn from this without being punished by having a whole miserable summer.

We only get 18 summers with our children.

Don’t waste one of them.

Yes agree with this. Life is short, they aren’t kids fo long, a horrible over reaction which will stay with all those girls for life, especially the one who cried and humiliating for your own child.
id be pissed off at the cream carpet debacle but most carpets are pretty hardy, there’s plenty of professionals out there and the internet is awash with great tips.
you were unreasonable, ott and a bit mean.
hth.

You cannot expect the other parents to pay. The girls were in your house under your supervision when an accident happened

don’t know what the point is in posting this but just deflated to be honest. Unless of course anyone has any advice on how I can get this stain out or indeed on how to passive aggressively message the parents to imply that I do indeed want to be indemnified for a professional clean.

You don't sound like a very nice person.

My mum was like this too. My best friend told me in adulthood she was terrified of my mum. I certainly was and in all honesty I wasn’t devastated when she passed on

Indemnified omg.

This 100%. You had foresight and did nothing.

Claim on the insurance?

you were the adult in charge so the responsibility lies with you just like it would if they brought matches to play with. It was down to you to remove them and say she’ll get it back when she goes home! I’ve had a squishy toy explode in my house, it cleaned up well with Beckmann carpet cleaning solution. You cannot ask other parents to contribute.