What Have Your Kids Destroyed?

[Turquesa]

While perusing a favorite website, I got inspired to come to MDC and hear from everybody here.  

I really want to get an upright piano, but I just KNOW that they will both bang on it and climb on top of it.  I want to put little solar stick lights in my yard, but I just KNOW that they will yank them out of the ground and use them in a "sword" fight.  How do I know?  Because they have destroyed COUNTLESS possessions of ours.  Nothing---but NOTHING--is sacred around here.  It makes me wonder how Victorian families preserved so many heirlooms.

So tell me, what have your kids destroyed?  What were they doing that led to its destruction?  Do you remember the days when you FIRST became a parent?  Do you remember how naive you were about objects you thought you could safely store at kid-level?  Please post so that I don't feel so alone in this....

Lighthearted replies only, please! 

I'll get the ball rolling with a list of what my kids have ruined:

1. Two bottles of wine before we finally got smart enough to stop using the wine rack and store wine on the top shelf of the pantry.  (My house is VERY top heavy with various objects.  Everything seems to have moved upward.  Funny that! )

2. One giant potted tree that they dumped over while rough-housing. 

3. Cassette tapes of Daddy's radio show that he did in college and was so proud of. 

4. Books.  Lots and lots of Mommy's books.  Torn pages, colored "pictures," you name it....

5. DD's window box (painted white, of course ) with black Sharpie markers.

6. One unidentified culprit unraveled a really complicated lace shawl that I was knitting. 

7. And the winner is.....an 1876 clock.  Repaired, thank heavens, but that was one expensive repair. 

OK, who's next? 

[sortacrispy]

Ditto on the books!

The only thing that really bugged me was when my cell phone went for a swim in the toilet. The recently used, and not flushed, toilet.

It didn't survive the ordeal ;)

[34me]

um, I know you said to keep it light, but my house....  Lost everything in a fire but on the flip side I didn't have to pay to remodel/update  my 30 yo house!

[raksmama]

This was really  my fault because I should have known better, but the worst thing that ever happend was we had just sold our house and my son, then 6 got out his chalk board and started drawing.   the chalk powder fell all over the beige  carpet. I, what and idiot I was, tried to clean it up by wiping it up rather than vacuming it, and a large colored stain appeared all over the rug that would not come out. The real estate agent insisted tha I had to repalce the carpet.

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by 34me 

um, I know you said to keep it light, but my house....  Lost everything in a fire but on the flip side I didn't have to pay to remodel/update  my 30 yo house!

Oh yuck!  I wasn't expecting an answer this.....drastic!!  I'm so sorry you went through that. 

"Lighthearted" just means non-debatey.

[marinak1977]

DS drooled inside my cellphone and fried it.

[childsplay]

1 laptop

1 car stereo - they inserted about 20 bucks worth in change over the course of a year before we realized what was going on and pulled the thing out

Several ski poles - don't ask

1 Bose stereo - no kids, it isn't waterproof

The brand new carpeting in their tv/lounge room (only room in the house with carpet and they unraveled it....somehow??)

The sacred circle in my brother's Hindu wedding ceremony - barefoot ONLY - my DS tromps through with his flip flops on - kind of a running joke in the family now

Numerous fishing rods, lines and tackle

Several bicycle pumps

Too many white t shirts to mention

Pretty much all our cd's/dvd's

1 brand new natural finish cherry wood floor - decorated with red permanent marker (actually it's completely faded now thank goodness)

1 camera

LOTS of toys - if it's plastic with moving parts it usually had a limited life span around here

The paint on my new SUV (yeah kid, I KNOW you can print your name but WHY must you scratch it into the side of my truck???!!)

Our plumbing - due to numerous flushings of large non poop related objects - that was a fun day!

There's more but I'm starting to get a little wigged out seeing only this in print......

They're older now, so more .... careful? maybe? or perhaps just more mature, or just BTDT and really don't need to break anything else??

Oh, and my sanity.

[Tradd]

Originally Posted by 34me 

um, I know you said to keep it light, but my house....  Lost everything in a fire but on the flip side I didn't have to pay to remodel/update  my 30 yo house!

I'm so sorry to hear that. It must have been beyond difficult. I'm assuming since you posted here that one of your kids started the fire. Poor entire family!

[sunshinemum]

ok lets see:

they have slowly dug a hole in the couch under the cushions by poking things through the fabric. We have already had it redone once but the hole is back bigger than ever. 2 yr old also likes poking holes in our screen door with a screwdriver he steals from Daddy's tool box 

several keys ripped off my laptop

dvds scratched beyond repair

wii game remotes broken

clothesline now lopsided due to swinging on it.

I'm sure there's more but that will do! 

[funkymamajoy]

many potted plants

my walls are covered in marker

DH painstakingly sorted probably millions of cards (I'm not kidding, it took him over 10 years to collect them) and DS#2 dumped the whole thing on our bedroom floor

there are knitting needles in my wall

2 cellphones

lots and lots of broken toys

lots and lots of broken dishes and glasses

a pair of my glasses

[junipermuse]

Dd put a big hole in the porcelain sink of a house we were renting when she threw a glass into it.

Dd dropped dh's iPad and shattered the screen, the first week he got it

A week or two later ds threw my iPhone and shattered the screen

Ds also drooled so much on dh's iPhone that the speaker stopped working

Numerous items of clothing have been cut with scissors, colored with sharpie or otherwise stained

The carpet in the aforementioned rental house has had numerous food and beverages spilled on it and it is probably stained beyond repair.

I'll probably come back andbpost more as I think of them

[~Boudicca~]

The indestructible Casio G'zone cell phone is NOT microwavable.  Ask me how I know

[grumpybear]

Originally Posted by junipermuse 



Dd dropped dh's iPad and shattered the screen, the first week he got it

A week or two later ds threw my iPhone and shattered the screen

 

An Otterbox case really helps protect the iPad. My 5 yr old DS has dropped his iPad multiple times and it's still in good, working condition so far.
 

[AllisonR]

funny thread.

OK I don't want to jinxs myself, but my kids have never really ruined anything. Once my 4yo drew on her shirt, she was probably 2 or 3, and I told her we don't draw on clothes, only paper, and that was the end of it. They use their sidewalk chalk outside, and their markers on paper inside, water stays in the sink.... They have ocasionally broken a toy or two by accident, but then again I have as well.

My kids are ABSOLUTELY NOT saints, nor neat, so I don't know what magic trick I have?  Maybe because I have a ton of artwork hung around the house, and they know not to ruin it? Or maybe because they know what a pita it is to have to clean up their mess. Or maybe it's just luck of the draw.

[cappuccinosmom]

When my youngest was two, we were visiting my parent's house--he finished his food and left the table to go play with his beloved alphabet puzzle (so I thought).  It was reeaaaaaallly quiet in the living room, so we all started saying "Hmmmm, maybe someone ought to check on Biruk". 

Well, I finally did, and found him standing in front of my sister's laptop, with about half the letter keys strewn on the coffee table next to it.  I nearly died.

He had pried all those letters off, and when he looked at me, he had a look of total pride on his face.  I am pretty sure he thought it was some new-fangled kind of alphabet puzzle, a new challenge.

My sister was very gracious, and the laptop survived.  They got all but 3 of the keys reattached, and she used it for a year after that, and then passed it on to me.   :)

[ollyoxenfree]

My waistline

[onlyzombiecat]

Books and papers. When dd was a baby/toddler she would chew on books. Once a library book. She has drawn on, ripped or chewed on other papers.
Photographs. Dd has drawn on or otherwise destroyed several photographs.

Clothing. Dd has cut or drawn on clothing. She has cut the feet off of brand new tights.

Dolls. No arms, legs and drawn on. Very sad sight.

The wall paper in the upstairs hall apparently had come loose slightly so dd ripped off a section. She also dabbed green paint on it and drew on it.

Window blinds and shades.

The miniature china tea set that my grandmother had left me when she died. It was on a very high shelf but dd got it anyway.

Dvd remote. Dd spilled milk on it. We had to get a new one.

Game controllers. She has broken a few.

Broken jewelry.

Also killed one blender by I believe dumping juice and fish food in the base.

Edited by onlyzombiecat - 6/23/11 at 2:07pm

[Agatha_Ann]

Add me to the list of laptops with missing keys! The one I am on right now is missing a shift and the enter key...it's like he plotted which one's would be the most missed

My scriptures have damage done from each child. DS1 and DD both tore pages which are still tucked in where they go years later waiting to be taped, and DS2 and 3 both colored in them.

The seats of my poor vehicle. They are stained and the cushions are totally shot from carseats in the middle row. When we go to trade it in, I think we better have it appraised with the seats still installed!

One of the doors on our TV stand has a broken hinge. The door was left open and someone ran right smack into it!

Someone scratched "I love" into one of the closet doors upstairs. They must have gotten interrupted because that is as far as it goes. I guess we'll never know the rest...

[Amys1st]

my youngest gave my cell phone a bath a few years ago.

[mamazee]

Oh my goodness.

Ipod touch
Prescription glasses
Game Cube (already obsolete at the time)
Many books
An expensive chair
Several dishes
A dresser (broke a drawer)
Headphones

There are probably other things.