His Teen Niece Destroyed The Tablet He Gave Her, And His Sister Is Furious With Him For Not Gifting Her A Laptop
My mom taught me when I was little that it’s important to take care of your belongings, and you can’t trash something, then expect to receive a replacement.
A couple of years ago, this 34-year-old man loaned his 16-year-old niece one of his tablets. He wasn’t using the device, and he let his niece have it so she could take online classes and do homework during the pandemic.
When he gave the tablet to his niece, it was in excellent condition. He decided to check up on his tablet, and he was shocked to find it unusable.
The screen was shattered, the charger was MIA, and it would not turn on at all.
“No explanation, no apology. My sister just texted me saying, ‘Sorry, she’s rough with stuff.’ I let it go and didn’t make a big deal out of it,” he explained.
Earlier this week, his sister phoned to see if he had other devices to loan to his niece. She was particularly interested in a laptop for his niece to do schoolwork on.
He let his sister know that he couldn’t lend her his laptop, as he uses it for work, and can’t run the risk of getting it wrecked.
His sister got irritated and accused him of ‘holding a grudge’ over what happened with the tablet. She then tried to guilt him into changing his mind by pointing out that not every family has the money to invest in devices.
“Then she told me, ‘You don’t have kids, so you don’t get how hard it is.’ Look, I get that kids break things. But if it was truly an accident, wouldn’t there be at least a little responsibility or an apology?” he wondered.
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“I’m not trying to punish her, but I don’t think I should be expected to hand over expensive stuff after what happened last time.”
“Now a few family members are saying I’m being cold and that it’s “just a laptop.” But for me, it’s about boundaries and respect, not the money.”
He’s left wondering if it would make him a jerk to continue to decline to loan his laptop to his niece.
What do you think?
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