Studies indicate that since 2008, damage to electronic devices by children has cost nearly 3 billion in repair and/or replacement costs. More specifically, 90% of families with children have had a child damage the “Big Three,” smartphone, tablet or laptop. If you have kids in the home, the chances are great that you will have to deal with a situation in which your child breaks or damages an electronic device. Here are some helpful ideas for what to do when that happens.
1. Keep your emotions in check
Although it’s easy to react loudly, negatively and forcefully, try to keep calm. Remember, you’re always teaching your child how to act. Would you want your child to act out if someone else broke one of his or her things? Your positive example can hopefully looked back upon as one for your child to replicate in a similar situation.
2. Assess the damages
According to researchers, the number one cause of damage to electronics by children comes from dropping them (next to spilling something on them and crushing them). Companies such as Contec Direct are available to help customers determine whether repair is an option or whether they need to replace the device.
3. Hold your child accountable
Ask, “Was this an accident or did you do this on purpose?” to know if you’re dealing with a deliberate, aggressive situation or an accident. You may identify different types of consequences based on the answer, but either way the child should face consequences of ruining someone else’s device. One of the most common consequences is offering options for the child to “pay off” the repair or replacement costs. That might involve extra chores around the house or the child making pizza for the family on Friday nights instead of ordering it until the debt is paid off. For younger children, this might mean that since they broke the iPad, they do not get another one right away.
4. Think of the incident as an opportunity
Remember that a big part of your job as a parent is to prepare your child for real life. If you don’t teach your child that negative or accidental actions have consequences, your child will have to learn the hard way. In adulthood, those consequences usually come in the form of legal or financial ramifications, and no parents want their kids to suffer larger consequences because they didn’t do a good job of teaching them that even smaller offenses have after-effects.
5. Prepare for the future
Since the chance that electronic damage will happen again in the future, protect yourself and your family. Buy that replacement warranty or protection plan, use protective cases or covers, don’t take devices into the bathroom, and don’t let your kids take the devices to school in an overpacked backpack so they get crushed.
Hopefully, you now have a game plan for dealing with the masters of disaster that live at your house!
