This is so not funny

[MuffinBaker]

The kids have messed with the bathroom door handle so many times, DH has had to repair it so many times, that there are too many holes. DH pulls the handle to open the door, handle flies off, smashes into the loo and breaks it.

£100 for a loo.
£45 for a new door.
£ for handle as discontinued.

30p in my account

beyond that they wreck everything.

Why do they wreck everything?

because they have no respect for things

my fault for replacing stuff when my 2 year old broke things but that stopped years ago

How old are they? Can you make them pay something towards the damage or stop pocket money?

Are you sure they're not doing it for attention rather than a lack of respect for things iyswim?

Can't you go through your insurance company?

not sattention
they shout for that
nopocket money to stop
they are 3 5 and 8 and they won't see that hanging off and pulling on the handle has had this effect

thanks fluffy -asked dh and he said he might do

swap it for one of those ball handles, they can't hang on these as the little darlings will fall off.

The 8 year old is old enough to be made to help his dad fix the door.

he would enjoy that and it is beyond fixing now

off to put them in the shower.

I hired someone to put a shelf up in the kitchen for me, it was one of those heavy ones. It fell off after 8 months, tore the lino, chipped the top of my cooker, broke some plates, glasses, oil jars etc. My insurance company were really good, told me to go to Debenhams for a quote. I thought the guote was OTT, and I told the insurance company this but they paid me anyway. I got a lovely new cooker as the old one had 2 dents in the top. Seems crazy! Was not worth repairing though apparantly.

I know what you mean, my house is a shadow of its former pre children lovingly restored from the brickwork upwards self.

tbh it makes me very very angry at the time, but it has got to stop.

last week i put ds to bed and wandered back downstairs, when i heard some banging, repeated banging.

went up to investigate and ds was slamming his door as hard as he could because the coat hanger on the back of his door was smashing into the wall, making large holes in the wall.
plaster and dust all over his bedroom. This has just cost us 20k to convert the loft into a bedroom for him, brand new plastered walls, freshly painted, little hangers fro his dressing gown and jackets.
huge holes and cracks in the wall.

Im not quite sure how i held it together, not quite sure how i reacted in such a measured way, but when i saw the holes in the walls, i almost vomited onto the new carpet, sick actually came up into my throat.

Why, why do they need to be so destructive?

Every skirting board is chipped, dented or has huge gouges in them, every wall has dents or marks.

I have very little trust and so dont leave him alone, supervision is a must.
punishment is also a must.
Thankfully he is nearly 6 and this behaviour is now rare.

BUT i cannot understand why they do this?
so sympathies to you from me.

I found my DC were much more respectful of property if they understood the work and effort that went into keeping the place decent. They were always asked to mend things that they broke and always did the decorating with us. So when they did break something (accidentally) they understood the upset.

Does that make sense? [rambling emoticon]

god, you have got my children. I completely sympathise.

they cannot leave doors alone, I hear the telltale thumping and shout "NO DOOR GAMES!" instinctively.

The dds fell on the dishwasher (1 year old, cost 500 euros) and damaged the door recently. I mean, a dishwasher DOESNT WORK without the door

themoon, sounds good in theory, but my children remain distressingly unmoved by the evidence of the destruction they have caused. And completely cack-handed at repairing it.

They are only cack-handed at repairs coz they need more practice!

Its a pain in the arse standing over them and MAKING them fix stuff, but it works in the long term.

so on the way to shower them I find a broken coat hanger, last straw so hit the bannister. It snaps off and hits me in the eye..

themoon, they cant rehang doors, because they arent strong enough. They cant mend the dishwasher - they might make it worse, it is too expensive. They can't put my wardrobe door back on, its solid wood from the 1930s and weighs a ton. they cant mend the chair that they reduced to matchwood.

They can 'help' to repair things though. Leave them to struggle and at least have a go at fixing, whilst you stand over them with your angriest face - be scary. They need to have insight into just how damn difficult fixing deliberately broken things is!

This is not about them actually mending things to a high standard - its about learning a lesson.

you are full of good advice, themoon. As I say, it works in theory. Giving them a job they cant possibly do, would be like treating them as idiots. they know what theyve done - it just doesnt put them off doing it agian.

It doesn't just work in theory. I'm saying this is what I did in practice.

Anyway... It was just a suggestion that worked for me that I thought would be good to pass on and, maybe, just maybe would be of some help to you.

Well I told mine the next time they break something they will lose something of theirs to pay for it.

Telling them to fix it themselves, is what I do when dd picks her nose and wipes it on the wall.
the wholesale demolition wrought by the dss is another matter altogether.

'He would enjoy that' well that's no bad thing. Let him help fix it.

Fwiw I agree supervision is a must, but punishment not so.

I have tried all that punishment malarkey and it does nothing.

These days I suck it up and try and remember that me and ds are playing for the same team.

Makes me angry still but punishment pointless imo and makes you feel crap.