'AITA for refusing to repair my mother-in-law's phone?' 'My 18-month-old broke it.'
"AITA for refusing to repair my MIL's phone after my 18 month old broke it?"
So, My MIL was baby sitting our LO last night and for some reason she gave the LO her phone to watch YouTube. Our LO decided she was done, and threw the phone from her high chair, cracking the screen badly. Now we absolutely do not do this. Our LO gets maybe 2 hours of screen time a week, and it's always on the TV, never a phone.
For context, my MIL is very well off...way more so than us, and the repair bill of her phone is a lot of money to us, especially this close to Christmas. My MIL told my partner that we must pay to repair her phone screen as our daughter broke it. I argued 3 points.
1) We were not present at the time. We were not the ones supervising the LO and shouldn't be accountable.
2) My MIL decided to give our child the phone. It was not suggested by us, and as mentioned is not something we ever do ourselves, my MIL knows this.
3) The cost of the repair is a significant amount of money to us, but not to her. Our combined income is less than half her solo income.
My partner suggested that my MIL pay for the phone and we pay back in installments. MIL refused because she thinks this is our issue to figure out.
Personally I also don't agree with us paying her back, the phone was broken due to her own negligence. So AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
HA2HA2 said:
NTA. Don’t give a baby expensive stuff and then make a shocked Pikachu face when they break it. Any chance MIL deliberately got it broken because she wanted you to pay for a new one, is she that much of an AH?
Kris82868 said:
NTA. It's a fragile item, not a child's toy. I don't hand things to 18 month olds that I don't wish to see thrown (or whatever else crosses the 18 month old mind) that might break or damage it.
glamourcrow said:
Handing an 18-month-old child a phone means you don't need it anymore. NTA.
latents said:
NTA. She knowingly caused the situation with her poor choices. She handed the phone to your child. She should have to deal with the natural expectable consequences. You may be best served by paying for the repair so you don’t have to hear about it at every family gathering for the rest of your lives.
However, I would make it clear to MIL that while you appreciate her help, she can no longer babysit until your child is much older because you can’t afford the expenses caused by her choices.
Glittering_Ebb9748 said:
I'm a grandmother and I would never in a million years just hand my phone over to an 18 month old, that's just stupid. NTA.
RoyallyOakie said:
NTA....SHE handed her phone to a baby. It's time for her to grow up, learn from her mistake, and stop blaming an 18 month old.