ARGH! 4 yo just poked a stick into plasma tv! Yes it's kncakered!

[Lilybunny]

We've had the tv 2 months (second hand). Totally gutted. We've not shouted but boy are we mad. This is her first 'biggy' but we are struggling to figure out what is reasonable 'punishment'. She's apologisied and understands she has done wrong. But what do you do when time out is just not enough? Suggestions please. We told her that some of her regular activities will be cancelled, and her response is she doesn't like them anyway (not true). Maybe it will have more impact in the morning. Help!

do you have accidental damage on your home insurance? it just might cover it. in terms of punishment, i would think that whatever your normal punishment is good enough- if she understands enough to not do it again, i think v harsh to impose a greater punishment than normal as she prob didnt know how serious the misdemeanor was (worse to eg bite another child or do something she KNEW was v v v bad before she did it).

bloody hell, that must have been one hell of a poke. Are you sure she didn't fall towards it with the stick in her hand?

I would think not having a telly for a while is punishment enough. I imagine you were pretty cross when it happened!

That is very annoying about the television.

Had you warned her about poking sticks, or doing things to the television before? If my 4 year old broke the television like that I would be annoyed, but I don't think I would punish her for it by cancelling activities that she enjoys.

Are you able to claim on your insurance for it?

Blimey!

That's pretty awful, 4 is old enough to know you don't poke sticks into something like that. I'd be very peed off too.

I'm not sure how effective cancelling upcoming activities will be - won't it just drag the punishment out and make it have less impact because it's not so immediate? Put her up to bed, straight away, no nice chats or bedtime routine? And no tv for a month?!

It really depends how rough she was being, if it was a curious poke and it just broke easily I'd be inclined to have a stern talk rather than punish her. And remind her when she wants to watch tv, why it is that she can't! DD broke our tv with a magnet recently, she had no idea it would break, just stuck the magnet on the screen to see what would happen. I didn't punish her as she had no idea it would break.

However, if she was battering the tv with a stick in an obviously rough fashion or when you'd previously told her not to then I'd punish her - with something immediate though. She's only 4!

Thanks for the input everyone. We have been telling her repeatedly recently not to touch or poke the tv with her fingers or anything else in her hand. It has been an ongong battle for weeks, particularly bad today. She had been told if she poked it it would get broken. She has been told tis over and over and over. She has also had time outs for ignoring us when we have told her to leave the tv alone.

PS as telly was 2nd hand it's probably not worth claiming on the insurance (I hate the whole no claims bonus thing!). She is already in bed and did get a story for telling us she has done it (when pressed). She said we were maing her feel bad and that it wasn't noce of us to do that. We reassured her that we loved her very much but were upset by what she had done.

awful typos - sorry (I'm still mad!!)

I know of one tv that was attacked by a plastic power ranger . the punishment was that they had no tv for a week while it was being replaced .