I'm keen to canvas your valuable opinions.
I've fallen out with some good friends over this topic. While on holiday, they offered to take my nine-year-old son to a beach around 90 minutes drive away and left his backpack behind. Inside were all the most important items he needed for the holiday: good quality scuba diving mask and snorkel, swimming trunks and a towel, plus brand new football boots (they said they were thinking of going to a beach with tricky access) and the bag itself was a brand new "No-Fear" back-pack.
I had stayed behind to try and catch up with some work, plus there was no room for me in the car with their three kids and a grand-mother.
The mother - who I've only known for a couple of years - was very sorry but said they couldn't drive back immediately to check if it was still there because it was their daughter's birthday. She offered to pay for replacing the items we need to carry on with the last week of the holiday (my son only had crocs as alternative shoes).
But the father - whom I've known for nearly twenty years - said he asked all the kids if they had everything. But they then went to a beach shower, which is where my boy left his bag. The father drove back the next morning but - of course - everything had gone, except for the swimming trunks.
My son and I took the bus 20k into town the next day to try and find inexpensive replacements for what had been lost. I was very unhappy and my boy was upset that had lost his favourite possessions but we needed to get new things to carry on with the holiday, so there was no question of not replacing them. Even so, we couldn't replace the exact football boots and back-pack. The total we had to spend was 80 euro.
But now, my ex-friend says my boy is responsible and both he and his wife are now in agreement that they shouldn't pay for the replacements. Her closing remark was "You should count yourself lucky for having a fine son."
I'm livid. As they've pretty much ruined our holiday. I believe that if the boot was one the other foot (so to say ;-), I would have taken extra care. I would also have driven back immediately, rather that waiting until the next day. If the bag was not there, I would have paid to replace the items.
I'm keen to find some way out of this so despite the fact that I think they're in the wrong, I'd like to know what you guys think....
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Should a nine-year-old be held responsible for losing something valuable?
67 replies
Matrushka · 25/07/2014 17:46
OP posts:
kiplingmidst ·
25/07/2014 18:03
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Message withdrawn at poster's request.
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