Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

crispy1989 t1_j19sw6p wrote

Like you and others have said, court is probably the only way to definitively resolve this and get recompense; but taking family to court is going to be very messy. It's more practical if that wing of the family is so bad that you're going to go low- or no-contact; but otherwise, the social consequences of dragging family through court might outweigh any monetary recompense you might get.

Regardless, the little goblin needs to be taught a lesson, both for his good and for others'. Destroying a laptop like that is just malicious, and may indicate that the child has no concept of what harm to others feels like. Aunt's family says they can't pay for the laptop - sure. Perhaps an appropriate consequence would be to collect enough of the goblin's favorite toys to approximately equal the value, and then give them to you in exchange. If you want to make sure the lesson sticks, you could visibly pour soda all over them, or destroy them/make them disappear in a manner of your choosing. This doesn't fix the laptop, but hopefully would be enough to teach the child a lasting lesson.

And if the parents are still unwilling to cooperate with disciplining their child or otherwise making right the situation; court's always an option.

24

thebearinboulder t1_j1bntww wrote

Or tell them that Christmas is canceled this year. The kid got on Santa’s naughty list. Tell the rest of the family - it’s this or court.

If they honestly do that and still didn’t have enough money let it go.

If they sneak in presents (a near certainty) then you can go nuclear. The kid fucked up, there was a natural way to teach him a critical life lesson, and they blew it. So the ADULTS made their own choices where to spend their money - and it wasn’t repaying their debts.

At a minimum you can ban them from your property. They have no right to complain if they don’t respect your very real property rights.

Edit for clarity - the money they would have used for gifts goes to you instead for the computer. If they repay you in full he can still get gifts with any remaining money. If they don’t pay in full AND the brat still gets gifts then there’s a problem.

A nasty variant is that he still gets gifts from extended family - but then has to hand them over to you.

In either case once you’re fully compensated he can get the laptop. It’s only fair, plus the older grades may have classes that can try replacing the keyboard for just the cost of the hardware.

6