An actual conversation between myself and my 15 year old son, 13Aug08:

“Dad, the dogs chewed up my 360 wireless headset.”
“Does it still work?”
“No, it’s ruined.”
“Where was it?”
“I put it on top of my 360, toward the back.”
“Nate, your 360 is at dog-level. It sucks that your new headset is ruined after only two days of use, but it’s your fault. The dogs are going to chew on anything small that is down on dog-level, that’s what dogs do. Don’t be mad at the dogs.”
“Can we return it on warranty?”
“No, Microsoft doesn’t warrant owner negligence and canine destruction.”
“But I’ve only had it for two days. They won’t take it back?”
“If the unit failed because of a manufacturer defect you’d be ok, but items used as chew toys aren’t covered, son.”
“I hate the dogs.”
“You don’t hate the dogs, and don’t be mad at them because they only did what comes naturally to dogs. If you have material possessions that are important to you, you need to keep them somewhere when you aren’t using them that you know is safe. I know this sucks, it’s a hard lesson for you. Just be sure to learn the lesson and not leave stuff you care about laying where the dogs can get it when you aren’t there. It isn’t the dog’s fault for doing what dogs do, it’s your fault for being careless with your stuff.”
“I’ll never have anything nice.”
“Stop it. You will if you take care of your things. Use your head, you’re a smart boy. All you need to do is put stuff like that in a desk drawer or high up where the dogs can’t reach it. Listen, I am not going to replace $50 headsets because you didn’t think to take care of them, but I’ll replace the headset for you this once. Just promise me that you took the lesson to heart and you will take care of your stuff from now on.”
“I don’t want it. Just forget it.”
“Quit whining. We’ll talk more about this later tonight when you’re done feeling sorry for yourself.”

Sigh.

Those of you with pets and small children know that your tech goodies are in peril if you aren’t paying attention. I came home from work one day to find my wife in tears. I was alarmed and asked her what was wrong. My then two year old son had pushed in the titanium dome tweeters on three of my Tannoy loudspeakers. Being something of an audiophile I wasn’t happy about the news. However, $300 dollars in replacement drivers was nothing compared to the devastation I would have felt if something would have happened to my two year old.

Stuff is stuff, no matter how cool or how expensive or how much you like it. People are what really matter in this life, and you have to keep this in perspective. I bought the $300 in replacement drivers and had a long talk with my two year old about not messing with daddy’s “tv stuff”. He must have understood, because since that day he hasn’t so much as touched one of my dvds. I keep all my stuff well up from dog level, and the one incident aside, I have a lot of money sunk into gear, movies and games that has not seen any child or pet related devastation.

Ever have a tech goodie tragedy related to your kids or pets? Let’s hear about it.

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