How to handle this?

My son decided to make a bad bad toy trade. He is now remorseful. I told him he could take the toys he traded for back to see if someone wanted to trade back but he shouldn't count on it. I don't want to always be rescuing him but I am questioning if I should step in.

Any advice? He will have to earn allowance to rebuy what he gave away and he knows that (hence some of the remorse).

 

I don't know.
What were the circumstances?
Just asking as a mother, whose children have show up after school this things their friends have given them. Since I wasn't there, and I don't know what went down--I make them take the things back the next day and offer them back to the giver, especially the should check that it was okay with the givers mom. I let them know that their friend's mom might be mad, and that a lot of the kids in their class have less than we do. Once the other child did take the toy back. The other times they did not.

I know this is not quiet the same as what's happend to your son, nor the type of advice you are looking for--but thought it's give you some more perspective to deal with.

 

We do the same thing! I'm not sure what I would do if I was on the other side of it. I do tell my kids that we do not trade toys at all, and that has helped.

 

They were playing nerf guns and he traded almost all of his bullets for some guns (LMAO--that sounds worse than it is--i swear he is not a gun runner...). He realized that he wasn't getting his bullets back and I am guessing at some point the boy he traded with will ask for his guns back. I realize how minor this is and no, I didn't rescue him but I've never been in a situation like this where he was so remorseful and I could not help him (it was done). He went to sleep without dinner/bath/anything. I am hoping tomorrow he will have a better perspective.


We are instituting a no trade rule because I realize he will get taken advantage of again if this happens again.

 

We never let the girls trade forever. We might have swapped toys in the past just to borrow. I would just chalk it up to lesson learned and maybe buy him another one if it turns into that big of a deal.

 

Since we just live on the same property as their older cousins they just take turns and borrow each others things. I'd say they will eventually make a trade back or like you said, he can earn his allowance and buy more.