Dad Tip of the Day: Kids will likely destroy your house, so get the good house and nice things once they are out of the house.
I don’t know about your kids, but my kids can destroy things. The floor, the kitchen table, the walls, you name it. The key is to not have too good of a house or too nice of things so that you are sad or angry when the stuff gets ruined.
Honestly, I am still learning this. When my beautiful hardwood floors started getting scratches from the ride on Lightning McQueen, I was not happy and promptly made the toy an “outside toy” only. Of course, pretty much any wood or metal toy that falls from a kids hand can make a significant dent or ding, so I have come to realize that I will just need to sand down the floors and refinish them once the kids get older.
This situation though was something the kids did not intend to do – it just happens when they play. There are other times when they do things on purpose or aren’t old enough to fully understand – those are certainly “no-no’s” with some potential form of discipline! Like this time when a green crayon was used on the cabinet:
Or how about the time they hung from the towel rack and pulled it off the wall - breaking it in the process. I had then had to put my handyman skills to work to put in a new one – things will just need to be replaced sometimes.
So know that things will get worn, broken, scratched or ruined, but that is OK and things can be fixed or replaced – just learn to take it in stride and enjoy the parenting journey!
Do you have any stories of things your kids broke or that you broke as a kid?
Take care,
Brian