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.

Hmm, maybe you're right in that it is old enough to know better

but get a group of them together they get each other all excited and it only takes one maverick in the group to convince them all it's ok!

Somehow I suspect the only post the OP is going to take on board is from the single person who thinks the other parents should pay.

If you claim on insurance, a professional carpet cleaner will sort it, and if they can't, they'll replace it. When I moved into my first house we bought brand new cream carpet. A friend's child found a lipstick, hid under a blanket and coloured the carpet in. I tried to clean it with no success. After claiming on insurance, a professional cleaner had it sorted in a couple of hours.

Why you do think that parents who weren't in any way involved in the stupidity to pay for your carpet?

This is completely your fault. You knew the risk and didn't stop it.

OP won't be back. She is looking for logic where none exists and will not appreciate that the vast majority of responses are not in her favour.

How bad and how large is the stain?

The get a rental carpet cleaning machine.
Clean the carpet.

It might take a couple of attempts. Blot with old towels; try soaking with cold water and blotting.

Then pre-treat with carpet shampoo. Let sit then try shampooing carpet.

I don't think there's any point in seeking reimbursement. If anything, send the pic to a group Whatsapp to the parents saying "This is why I sent everyone home. 😵‍💫"

They are mostly glue, dye & water, like slime, so unlikely to come out. DD has had a squishy burst before so we're a bit forewarned to be careful.

I'd be making DD do the cleaning attempt. Once you know you'll have the pain of cleaning it, you're a lot more careful.

Fyi - the latest craze is to microwave squishies. Except they can explode and cause serious burns. A couple of kids have done & gotten life changing facial burns, all while parents are meters away.

Surprise!

Can you post a pic of the hall/stain? Would a rug cover it?

There is this thing where you can tell teenagers to do things they don't particularly want to do, and they won't be traumatised for life. This is on you.

You could see a disaster potentially unfolding and walked away.
You were in charge.
If they weren't prepared to go outside you should have stopped them from playing with them.

This is on you, not the parents. They weren't there.

Awesome. Any update?

If the girls were in your care then I don’t get why you think other parents should pay. If they’d done something really dangerous the other parents would be rightly fuming with you. As it stands, it’s only your own carpet that’s been damaged so that’s your responsibility to clean it.

I’d have a word with DD, maybe with the parents, but I wouldn’t expect them to pay for your mistake.

Conveniently not replying to the vast majority of comments calling you unreasonable.
Their parents had nothing to do with it.
You were the ‘responsible adult’. Your fault for not saying no.
It was equally your daughters fault.
Cream carpet?
I wouldn’t be texting you either.
The gall.

It’s annoying, but not the end of the world. I have long since stopped getting my knickers in a twist over damaged stuff. And I wouldn’t have sent the friends home. I just would have said how disappointed I was that they couldn’t be more respectful of people’s property. We have a few stains and scratches and what not, caused by our DC and their cousins/friends when they were a bit younger. Shit happens. The house is still standing and nobody’s in A&E. I’d call that a win.

Hello!

I'm with you in hating those stupid squish toy things. I can totally see why you feel so annoyed that such moronic items have caused this damage. 12 seems far too old to be so taken up with such pointless tat (though I know they are popular with that age group; I blame tik tok).

BUT this really isn't the other parents' fault. You were the one there, and saying "if that goes on my carpet ..." isn't enough. They won't have done it disobediently. Had you said no more playing with them, that would be different.

I also know what it is like to expect an apology call from a parent that never comes. I have had this with an incident in which my dc was physically hurt - and the call never came, and I was livid too.

The reality is the children don't pass it on exactly as it happened - in your view. You don't know it wasn't "We played with OP's DD's toy and Op's dd's toy exploded." Or OP's DD broke my toy." None of that would signal to them that they needed to get involved.

I'm not sure it is worth raising as, frustrating as it is, I don't think you can reasonably ask them to contribute to an accident in your house on your watch. It is just one of the annoying things about having children: sometimes they wreck stuff.

What a fuss.

I feel really sorry for your daughter's friend who you made cry. And for your daughter.

We all make mistakes.

I totally agree!

I wouldn’t expect the adults to pay but I would expect an apology text along the lines of “I’m so sorry to hear about your carpet, DD feels terrible and I’ve had a serious chat with her about respecting people’s homes.”

Ultimately kids are silly and clumsy and make mistakes. Hopefully the carpet can be cleaned and the girls all feel suitably bad about it that they won’t do it again.

How did she make her cry?? Give over. 12 is also too old to be turning on the waterworks when you’ve done something wrong. Ridiculous.

"how to passive aggressively message the parents to imply that I do indeed want to be indemnified for a professional clean."

Don't worry about how to do this. You predicted this would happen. If you weren't happy to pay for cleaning, you would have take the things off the kids or sent them outside. No need for the other parents to pay for your mistake. Obviously if you had made them stop playing with the things and then one child had got it out again you could charge that child's parent, but you obviously weren't bothered enough to actually stop them taking the risk.

The toilet tissue made me feel very sorry for them all!

I remember that helpless feeling of trying to fix spillages with toilet tissue as a child and always being a bit horrified how the stuff betrays you by going into a soggy, shedding mess!

It sounded like the OP completely lost her shit. That would have made me cry at 12.

I think you’re pissed off with yourself for not taking the toys off them.