DS broke Laptop Screen ? Am I obligated to pay?
Question:
They had been playing with this child's laptop for the pior 3 days sharring fine. My ds commented he wanted a 'Webkins',
apparently they were going on-line.* (I figured it was a childs PC and the babysitter seemed ok w/ it.) I was under the impression it was a child's type toy Until day 4 when it was damaged, it was a "$3,000 toshiba widescreen laptop". (Why would the parent allow a child to bring an expensive toy to share w/other children in the 1st place.. )
Why wasn't sitter in room oversee activities of children (if online?) so disagreement did not "escalate to the point of my son's hand getting crushed against screen & keyboard?" Plastic screen crinkle that causes a black dark line when turned on - but still works.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed am I obligated?
What is are responsiblity?
Answer:
I do not feel that you are obligated to pay, but of course I am not a legal expert either.
I feel that the parents of the ten year old should have to accept the consequences of allowing him to have such an expensive device, and to take it with him when they were not supervising. I know that my children have some very nice things, and they do not take them elsewhere and sometimes if some children are coming over that we know are not gentle with things we will put their stuff away to avoid incidences like this.
If anyone other than the parents are responsible, I would say it is the babysitter. She was being paid to watch the children, and it seems some negligence may have occured.
Has anyone suggested you are responsible? If not, I would not worry about it. If they do, I would explain that you do not feel responsible and they will have to take you to small claims court. Again, I am not a legal expert but I do not think you are responsible.
how was it broken is sounds like it is both kids fault maybe you can pay half because you child was not totally responsible but responsible non the less
Do you have a contract with the babysitter? I am a family child care provider and in my statement it says that I do not allow toys from home, but if they do bring (as some parents insist that they couldn't get them out of the car without them) them I am not responsible, they are for any damages. Usually I let them play with it for about 10 minutes then I place them in their cubbies. Children are going to argue and fight over things, especially new and cool toys. I think the parent and the babysitter should be responsible for the computer. The parent shouldn't have let the child bring it. The babysitter should have supervised the use of it at all times. Also the babysitter assumes responsibility of your child's behavior when they are in their care. I would only hold parents responsible if a child were out of control and really broke something on purpose out of spite or revenge. A 6 year old is not old enough to know how to care for a computer and won't understand the consequences of their actions with one anyway. If the 10 year old was trying to close it with your child's hand in it I would say that it's more the 10 year olds fault anyway. If you want to help contibute, you could tell them you will pay 1/4 of the price to have it repaired, but not for a new one. Good luck. I would suggest having a legal contract with any long term sitter, to lay out things like this in writing.
I agree with the above poster. I think since your child was involved you should just accept 1/2 the responsibility, but make sure the daycare/babysitter starts a policy about not bringing expensive items to their center/house.
You should not have to pay anything. It sounds like the sitter is the one responsible for the negligence, You obviously understand that a 10 yr old and a 6 yr old have no business on line by them selves and therefore should not have a PC or a computer to play with without an adult. What parent would let their 10 yr old play with a $2,000.00 'toy'. Sounds like they have plenty of money to throw around. They should have known that 10 yr old break things, so they should repair, not you. Also, what else is going on that the sitter is not over seeing? If they missed a fight? Any money you offer would be just out of the kindness of your heart.
Good luck!
No, you are not obliged to pay anything. The responsibility lies with the parent of the 10 year old who brought the laptop to the babysitters. Even the babysitter would not be responsible. If a parent allows a child to bring an expensive piece of equipment to a babysitter's house to play with, they should accept the consequences if it gets damaged. Kids break things because they are kids. This is why you don't let them play with $3000 laptops.
This is not your son's fault, and certainly isn't yours. Pay nothing.
I would talk to the parents of the "$3000 laptop" and ask them why they allow him to bring such an expensive item to daycare? I would not offer any type of payment. $1500 is a lot of money. Then I would also read over the babysitter's terms of agreement and if she has a toy policy. I don't think you nor the babysitter should be responsible. Children break things, and if the parents allowed that child to bring such an expensive item, then they just have to accept that it's broken and learn from this experience...that their 10 yr old is not old enough to have such an item in that kind of environment and be responsible for it. If they threaten to sue you, don't be intimidated. People like to threaten to sue. Between their dicision to allow their son to take such an item and the babysitter's unawareness to the events, I doubt you will have to pay for a thing.
You can usually get free one-time legal advice from most layers also, if you feel that they are going to sue you.
More Questions & Answers...