If your child (or you) breaks something in a store, do you offer to pay for the item?

[chobie]

Of course! I wouldn't think twice about it... I should be watching my child better if he did break something, so I obviously have great culpability

I was once holding my child's hand and he tripped over a skirt on a display table that was in a small area in the front of the store. I could not have been watching him more. A snow-globe came crashing down on him and he was cut by it.

I know my post will be picked apart by people trying to find fault with my parenting, so let me point out it was several years ago and I don't remember all the details, just that it happened really fast and I could not have been watching him anymore.

No, I did not offer to pay. I did not threaten to sue either. I took the band-aid they offered me and left the store to take care of my son.

Had he been running around and knocked into it and broke the globe, I would have offered to pay even if he was hurt.

So my answer to the OP, is --it would depend on the situation.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

I was once holding my child's hand and he tripped over a skirt on a display table that was in a small area in the front of the store. I could not have been watching him more. A snow-globe came crashing down on him and he was cut by it.

I know my post will be picked apart by people trying to find fault with my parenting, so let me point out it was several years ago and I don't remember all the details, just that it happened really fast and I could not have been watching him anymore.

No, I did not offer to pay. I did not threaten to sue either. I took the band-aid they offered me and left the store to take care of my son.

Had he been running around and knocked into it and broke the globe, I would have offered to pay even if he was hurt.

So my answer to the OP, is --it would depend on the situation.

I can definitely understand that there are different situations relating to this topic. We've probably all been in a situation where something was broken and it truly was an accident.

In my case, the child was playing with an item that he broke. IMHO, it was a section of the store a small child shouldn't have been in unsupervised (extremely fragile/very expensive). The parents just set the object down and walked over to another section.

 

[mamacatnv]

I was once holding my child's hand and he tripped over a skirt on a display table that was in a small area in the front of the store. I could not have been watching him more. A snow-globe came crashing down on him and he was cut by it.

I know my post will be picked apart by people trying to find fault with my parenting, so let me point out it was several years ago and I don't remember all the details, just that it happened really fast and I could not have been watching him anymore.

No, I did not offer to pay. I did not threaten to sue either. I took the band-aid they offered me and left the store to take care of my son.

Had he been running around and knocked into it and broke the globe, I would have offered to pay even if he was hurt.

So my answer to the OP, is --it would depend on the situation.

I think this response was totally reasonable. You are right, the answer really is it depends, I hadn't stopped to think of alternative methods of breakage. I was just remembering when DS was little and would get loose he didn't get to go shopping much!

In my response as with many I have read, I think the assumption was kid picked up something they were not supposed too or was goofing around.....

 

[Cass]

Never mind my child, I'm a clumsy clutz. I pay when I breaks things LOL

Seriously, I'm like a bull in a china shop

 

[wowsmom]

Thankfully, it's never happened, but I would absolutely offer to pay. I worked in my parents' business for many years - I understand that the store owner loses money when that happens.

Usually, my mom would just have the people pay what her cost for the item was, as opposed to the retail price.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Yes

 

[meandtheguys2]

Yes.
However, when I worked retail, if an object was broken the person was asked to pay the wholesale, rather than the retail price. I always thought that was a pretty fair policy.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

Yes. Once I had a jar of salsa at Target and my DD1 picked it up from the cart and dropped it on the floor. What a mess - salsa and glass everywhere. I asked for a mop/broom and the Target folks were so kind. I offered to pay and they wouldn't let us.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Are we related? lol

I'm a clumsy clutz. I pay when I breaks things LOL

Seriously, I'm like a bull in a china shop

 

[tkd lisa]

The only time it ever happened to me, we did pay. It was a long time ago. We were in a grocery store with DD (she's 15 now) back when she was about 2. For some unknown reason, she ran over to the cheap white styrofoam coolers and grabbed one and jumped in it. It broke, and we made her come to the checkout line while we paid for it.

The store said we didn't need to pay for it, but we wanted to impress on our DD that when you deliberatly broke something, you were responsible.

I have seen people not parenting their children, then ignore the broken object. The most obvious example was in the store at the Poly where a boy about 3 was playing with the snow globes while his mom just wandered around. And yes, she knew he was doing it, and yes one did break. And no she didn't pay for it.

 

[MamaLema]

I haven't had to yet for my kids, but yes, I would.

I, however knocked over a very expensive bottle of perfume at the perfume counter and it broke and shattered in a million pieces. I could feel the color draining from my face thinking about how much money I would have to pay.

They didn't charge me for it. I was so thankful to them

 

[epcotfan]

I witnessed an incident today where a child broke something in a store. I was just wondering if you or your child breaks something do you normally offer to pay for the item?

Absolutely.