QUESTION:
How can I properly punish a child who broke their Chromebook?
Proper punishment for 4th grader not taking care of her school Chromebook and stepping on it?
RELATED QUESTION: What’s a Good Punishment for Teens Who Snuck Out?
TOP ANSWERS (AS SELECTED BY MODERATOR):
“Unpopular opinion. But I feel like it’s your lack of parental supervision and responsibility, that allowed her to break it in the first place. She should only be using it at the table under supervision and when she is done it should be put up until she has to use it again.”
“I broke my laptop the other day. Should I get punished? No, I just have to work and save up for a new one. Teach your child in the same way. She doesn’t get her chrome book anymore since she broke it, she must do chores and take care of her responsibilities strictly but taking away TV? Etc? That’s a bit ridiculous. It happens, you’re the one who gave her the Chromebook in the first place. As long as she knows she has to put in the effort to make up for it.”
“School Chromebook should only be at the table with parental supervision in my opinion.”
“Make them do chores around the house and make money to pay for it. Take all their other electronics until they do!”
“My son broke his last week. He actually tried to close it with a notebook and pencil in it and it shattered the screen. I honestly didn’t even think about punishing him. He’s 13 and a total accident but yeah it was careless. I scolded him and I was upset but I paid for insurance and it’s the 1st time he’d ever broken it. But He learned he can’t do that again.”
“Maybe try supervising your child around expensive school equipment!?? That would be a start for me.”
“Since it’s school-issued, there’s usually a fine attached to braking the Chromebook, in our district, it’s $250. If you give your daughter an allowance, you should keep it and tell her that since she is the one that broke it by not taking care of it… she needs to help pay for it. You can punish her by grounding her and teach her at the same time… and if they issue you a new one, only let her use it at the kitchen table and under supervision.”
“Accidents happen. Does the school allow you to have accidental insurance? Ours does and it would cost $40 to repair if it was the child’s fault. The first year my daughter had to have hers fixed several times. Once was because it was stepped on. The teacher had them place them on the floor when they went to a different room and other children stepped on them and broke a few of them. I understand money is super tight for a lot of people. When it got out of control I started having her earn money to pay for the cost by doing chores so that she understood that money isn’t free and the hard work it takes to make it. She has then only had to fix it once since she had to fix it if she was responsible for breaking it.”
“She is old enough to take care of it properly. My 1st grader knows how to properly care for hers and does so. Make her earn the money to replace it by either chores, selling her stuff, or she does a lemonade stand. She has to be held accountable. But I would not use the word punishment; I would tell her it’s her responsibility and make her take responsibility.”
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READ ALL ANSWERS BELOW:
if so I’m sure she feels bad about it.
he learned his lesson. FYI he did it because he was bored and he takes everything apart to see how it works 
my son broke his headphones the first time I replaced them and we sat down and had a discussion about taking care of our things and the second time he was responsible for replacing them because its important children learn to take care of their things and that there is a cost involved when they don’t
