At what age do u think a child be responsible for what she loses?

Question

my daughter is in second grade and she lost her library book, should I make her pay for it out of her allowance money or just pay it myslef and let it go?

Answer 1

no she cant be responsible for that until 4th grade

Answer 2

I think now is a good time for her to start learning the consequences of losing things. This is exactly why most 1st grade teachers do not let their students take library books home. I would make her at least pay for half of it the first time. Any future lost items would come out of allowance.

Answer 3

My kids know that one time, I will cover for them. Any time after that and they are responsible. We have a set area in our house for Library books and anything else that comes from school. If they don't use this area, if they say The last time i saw it was in my bedroom then i make them pay for it. Even if it just means doing extra chores and helping out more.

Answer 4

Kids make mistakes. As a parent I would pay for it myself the first time, but if it happend again it would come out of my childs allowance.

Answer 5

I just paid for a library book that my 2nd grader lost recently.  She has to do extra chores around the house to help make up the money that I had to spend.  We don't do allowance in our house, but if we did, I would probably make her use that.  Because she seems to be a habitual "loser" (like 2 sets of gloves and two coats so far this year) She never even brought the book home, so I'm not sure how she even lost it.  I also make my children do extra chores for things they break that have to be replaced in our home.  I think it is important to start teaching them to take responsibility for their actions and to respect other people's property at a young age.

Answer 6

for the first time, and warn her that if she looses another one, then she will have to pay it out of her own allowance.

Its never to young to begin learning some form of responsiblity

Answer 7

My second grader recently lost a book too. He's selling lemonade on weekends to earn $5 to pay for it. It was just a little paper reader but I'd much rather he pay for a book now than be calling me ten years from now wanting to be bailed out of something worse. It was his book and his responsibility and our take as parents is that we'd much rather teach them now with the little things like this than the big things when they get older in life.

Answer 8

Better to get them straight while young than deal with a disobedient teenager.

Answer 9

children can make mistakes  and the first time then sure pay for it but have her look for it first. then if it happens again then take the allownce. the responsible age is polly 10 or 11 i know 11 yr olds who r not responsible or organized. just read the library book and right after immeditly put it in her book bag to take to school the next day

Answer 10

I'd make her pay for it out of her allowance.  Its very important to establish these rules on the first offense so that it doesn't happen again!

Answer 11

It's her loss not yours... i think that you should make HER pay for it with HER own money. She is old enough to realize that she WILL have consequences for her own poor actions. If she does not learn this young then she could grow up and think that HER bills are YOUR responsibility.

Answer 12

Technically she starts being responsible for what she loses when she turns 18.

Until then its up to you to teach her responsibility.

A second grader probably has no concept of money.  She probably does not have to work for it, does not have to pay bills with it, and probably doesn't care what happens to it.  Therefore making her pay something that has no real value would be a bad idea.

Much better to break it down into a simpler form.

For instance, if the book cost $20. 00, explain to her that a person who has to work for their money might make $5.00 an hour.  She will need to do 4 hours of chores for the book.  

Its a good teachable moment because you get to incorporate responsibility with Math.

Also depending on how the school does it, you may be able to replace the book yourself.  If so, then the book goes on the fireplace mantle along with a big jar.  The child does chores to fill up the jar with the replacement cost of the book.  When the jar is complete, she buys the book from you, and takes it to the school.  The down side to this is that she may want to continue doing chores for money.... so be prepared.

Answer 13

she is like what 7-8. i would pay for it myself, but give harsher consequences if it happened again.

Answer 14

I would use it as an example. So let her know that this time, she doesn't have to pay for it with her allowance. But now that she knows it CAN cost her her allowance, not to do it again because lost library book #2 will be. Let her realize that mistakes have consequences.