Oh help - DS has been breaking toys at the CM's.

[gwenneh]

Have just had a text off of the CM to let me know that DS1 has now deliberately broken two toys at her house. Neither are expensive but the fact that he's deliberately broken two things on two different days concerns me.

He's four, nearly five, and I've never encountered this type of behaviour out of him before. It's very out of character.

Can anyone suggest an appropriate consequence that will help me get through to him that this is unacceptable behaviour that affects the other children as well?

Why is she telling you this by text. Hardly an emergency. Do you do the pick up , why could it not be mentioned then.

By deliberately, she means he sat there and snapped the head off of Buzz Lightyear last week, and a policeman figure today. Wasn't a case of playing too rough, unfortunately.

As for telling me by text, she often updates me or sends me reminders via text, in addition to the regular diary she does every day. That's not out of the ordinary.

So, I started off by asking him why he did it, and he strenuously denied it the whole way home. I texted CM to confirm it was definitely him, and then let him read the text so he knew he was caught.

He's going to be writing a note of apology and we'll be picking out some replacement toys at the weekend, plus getting one to donate, and he'll have to do some extra 'chores' to offset it.

I'm more concerned about the lying though. I mean, he really did it with a straight face for ages until he knew he'd been caught.

at 'snapped the head off Buzz Lightyear', sorry not very helpful but that made me laugh.

Is he happy at CM s?

I'm reasonably sure he's happy there; he's been with her since he was 1 and it's always been relatively smooth sailing. That's why this caught me out a bit -- he doesn't act out often.

Thanks for the advice, all. Feeling a lot better about it this morning!