almost 5 yr olds

ok, question. ivana was playing with marina's rapunzel doll, and accidentally broke her head off. i made her apologize to her sister, and told her about taking extra care when using/playing with other people things/toys, blahblahblah... but now marina doesn't have a rapunzel doll. do i buy her a new one, make ivana buy her a new one, or just end it?

i know this seems stupid, but i'm not sure what to do.

 

I give it about a week, and if the kid is still asking about it, I'd go ahead and buy a new doll. If it's a super special toy I may not even wait that long.

Unless it was on purpose I won't punish the one that broke it. Accidents happen, my kids know even adults make mistakes/have accident's. We do have to apologize, even if it's an accident, but no punishing

 

This. If it was really an accident (she was playing with it in a reasonable way, just perhaps a bit rough) then I would not make her replace the toy, an apology would be enough. If she was trying to break it or if she was 'playing' with it in a way that's not allowed (throwing it against a wall or something) then I'd make her buy the replacement.

As far as you replacing it that would depend for me on how easily you can afford to and how important the toy was to Marina. If it was one of her favourite things then I probably would buy her a new one, if they have a bunch of dolls and she's just as happy to play with any of them then I might leave it.

 

^^ I agree

 

Exactly the same as everyone else. If it was truly a mistake, I'd let it go with just an apology, and probably replace the toy if it was a favorite. If you think that the mistake was really playing too rough or doing something she shouldn't have, and she has any money, perhaps ask her to contribute to the replacement.

 

Ditto everyone else. I would only replace it if it was a special toy. My kids have lost a lot of toys to the dog and I have yet to replace one.

 

If it was a super special one I would replace it. If not, I'd wait several days and see how much she really cares.

However, I might also have a consequence for the one who broke it IF she was playing with it explicitly against her sister's wishes. This happens a lot in our house. We also have a rule that if (for example) Amy breaks Sarah's doll/toy, and Amy has a similar doll/toy of her own, it now belongs to Sarah. That may strike some as overly harsh, but Amy has a real problem with keeping her hands off other people's things, AND she tends to break things when she's mad -- not exactly on purpose, but from an intentional lack of care.

 

thanks, everyone. it IS a favorite of hers, mostly cuz ivana "bought" it for her, for christmas, so i will be replacing it (not something i will do for just any toy).

i know it seemed like a dumb question, but now that they're pretty much in "kid" territory, i really don't know how to handle a lot of these situations!

and i thought twinfancy was tricky! lol