How To Deal With Your Kids Destroying Your Gadgets

Let’s face it, we love our families, but accidents happen. Well, they may not seem accidental but you know that your son or daughter does not know that blackberries and toilets do not go together. Maybe they got done playing with your iPod touch and chucked it onto the floor from a high chair, making that popping noise that we’ve all heard horror stories about.



One of my favorite tools was my Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. One day, my daughter took it off of it’s charging cradle on my desk and decided it would make a good straw. Sierra Mist and electronics obviously don’t mix well. We tried to save it. We did all we could, but it was lost. For a moment, I felt like screaming, then crying, then I realized what would happen if I did those things. Screaming at my daughter wouldn’t bring my pen back, and Daddy sobbing uncontrollably wouldn’t do anything either. (It also helped that it happened while I was at work.) I had to take a moment and think about how to handle his. I couldn’t just punish her. She wouldn’t understand, she’s still too young for that. Luckily I didn’t lose anything, it had already synced all my recordings and notes. What to do… What to do…

 

You’re a parent now. Your kid is gonna do a hell of a lot more damage to your wallet and/or job/school in the future. Grow a pair and get over it.

Thus far my experience as a father has taught me at least a few gems: kids break shit, often it’s your stuff, not theirs. There’s no instruction manual for this job. Sure you can read books and crap, but ultimately, you’ll catch yourself emulating your parents. When your kids test you in the worst kind of way, you’re gonna reach inside and pull something out, it’s better a sad grunt or sigh rather than the back of your hand. Your kids are only interested in playing with your gadgets because you are interested in them and they wanna be just like you. So learn how to let crap like this go now, so that when your kid runs your car into a pole, but still has the guts to tell you, you handle it right then too. Practice makes perfect.