Avi gave me the most recent one. I came into the living room one night to find that she had cut the cover of a book in half with her scissors - the girl loves cutting things! Only problem? It was a library book :( We discussed it a little in the moment and then didn't talk much about it again for a few days. A couple days ago we showed up at the library and I gave Avi the bad news. She would be telling the librarian what she did and asking if they would like her to fix the book or pay for it. I could tell she was mortified but she did it and the library wanted money. Since she didn't have any with her, I paid the $5 (thankfully it was a small paperback!) and informed her that she could let me know how she planned to pay me back. She had no idea how so I gave her the option of selling one of her toys to a friend to get the money or doing chores around the house to cover the cost. She chose the chores. I gave her some of the crappy ones I don't like too much and in the end, we shook hands and all debts were settled. Hopefully next time one of those books looks all too tempting to cut, she'll think twice!
we had that same thing happen a couple of months ago, but Josiah ripped all the pages our of the library book. I still have the damaged book sitting on his dresser and he reminds me it cost $10. I think the librarian thought I was the worst mom ever and wanted to give Josiah a hug because he had to pay for it. I wanted to tell her... this is what is wrong with our world, kids need more consequences for their actions.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 4 I cut a gaping hole in the bed-skirt that my mom hand sewed for my bed! :-( When my mom confronted me about it I told her "I just need to know what it feels like to do these things!" I don't remember what the consequences were other than losing scissor privileges for a long time, but I remember my mom being very angry and hurt which seemed (at the time) like consequence enough! She will still bring that story up when comparing notes on parenting. Thankfully it is a humorous story now!
ReplyDeleteWe had this EXACT same thing happen when lauren was three (remember my call for advice?!?) It was tough for her, selling her toy to pay for it and telling the librarian she cut them pages) but she's never made that mistake again... and I'm sure Avi won't either :)
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