My 4-year-old broke 4 TVs in one month... What should I do?

[LunaDream0]

Hi all,

I'm feeling a bit frustrated and overwhelmed at the moment, and I hope someone can offer some advice or support. My 4-year-old son has somehow managed to break four TVs in the last month! I’m not even sure how it’s happening, but each time I turn around, there’s a new screen crack or malfunction. It’s honestly starting to feel like we’re living in a nightmare!

I know kids can be rough on things, but I’ve never had this happen before, and it’s really making me question if I need to be doing something differently. Should I be more proactive in teaching him how to treat electronics? Or maybe I need to find a way to limit his access to the TV altogether?

Has anyone else dealt with something similar? How do you handle a situation like this without completely losing your mind?

Any tips or reassuring words would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Err... Supervise the child?

Don't buy another one. Can't break it that way.

Where is the TV?

Have you asked him how it is happening? We used to allow indoor dodgeball and occasionally cricket (soft ball) and still never managed to have a broken TV. Is this TV in the living room or in his room?

Put the TV higher so he can't reach it.

Don't leave him alone in the room with the tv? Are there age appropriate consequences each time he breaks the tv? 4 is old enough to understand the basics of 'if you break it then we can't use it'.

What is he using to break them with? Is he allowed to charge around with something like a bat, for example?

I would not replace the TV- natural consequence. Perhaps after a while if he can be less destructive you can get a new one.

have a TV in your room for now so you can watch it? Make sure it’s somewhere he can’t access

I miss the days when TV’s were in cabinets that could be closed away and safe!

Ban him from playing unsupervised in the living room?
Go without a tv?
Release him into the wild?

I think the answer is stop replacing the tv!

That's an extraordinary number of tvs broken in a month.

Do you ask him how it happened? Does he show upset that it's happened? Are there repercussions? Is it in a sensible location where he can't reach it?

Hang it high. Stop replacing. Tell him there's no more money to get another one until you can save up. Ban anything that can be used as a weapon from the room where the tv is.

Not enough information.

The obvious answer is to watch him or stop buying tvs.

I knew someone who had a fire guard cage thing in front of theirs

I’d say highly unusual- I have two boisterous boys, they’re much older now but I don’t recall either every breaking a screens, or anything at all of any real consequence

at 4 surely he’s old enough to realise that he shouldn’t be doing it? And there are consequences (i.e. no tv).

My dc broke 7 telly's last year.
Wall mounted telly, we have a playpen around the Base area and a screen protector for the telly now.

He can't be feeling guilty if he's done it 4 times. My almost 4yo cracked a window by hitting it with a hard toy a few weeks ago and felt so bad he wouldn't talk about it at first (I found out what happened from his sister) but then would check to see if it was fixed until it was and now seems to understand you can't whack glass with hard objects.

I'd delay replacement, emphasise how much it costs and that you'll have to save up to buy a new one. Is your TV just very accessible and surrounded by toys? Consider raising the height of it and storing toys away from it. Take away any long, hard toys or hard balls he can throw.

@fanaticalfairy I haven't bought a new TV yet; it's still in the living room.

How is he breaking them?

Tbh I just wouldn't replace it for the time being. He can't be trusted with a TV and you can't manage to supervise him, so the obvious answer is not to have one.

@Littletreefrog In the living room.

We need details of how he is breaking them?

Are you going to tell us how he broke them op?

Pulling them over, whacking with a bat/stick, throwing hard objects? You must have an idea?

You clearly had too many TVs!
Life will be better now.

My little one broke 2 brand new tv's in a month - we got a screen protector and fixed it to the wall and hasn't happened since.

These modern tv's are very easy to break!

Find a way to keep it out of reach or he's not allowed near it without very close supervision. You could hang it on the wall, put it in a glass cabinet, put it on stand with wheels so it can be put away in a room with a locking door. A friends son broke several, she ended up getting the TV mounted on the wall with a screen in front of it to stop anything being thrown from cracking it. That did the trick.

Should I be more proactive in teaching him how to treat electronics

Urm, yes? How else do you think he’s going to learn this thing that he clearly doesn’t already know?

Ok so how has he broken them? Have you asked him? Seen him do it? The advice is going to be very different depending on if it is deliberate or accidental

Don’t buy him anything for Christmas, until he learns to respect things!!