Ok, so let's pretend you have a kid.  Let's call him "X".  And let's say he's almost 10 years old.  Next let's pretend that Santa Claus brought him a $250 Nintendo Wii for Christmas and X has this fairly expensive gaming console is in his room, attached to his very own (cheap) TV.

Then let's say X proceeds to not treat his remote (wiimote?) not so lovingly, leaving it tossed about in his room when he is not using it.  Next let's pretend that X's daddy who is on a 15 month long business trip sends X a surprise:  a copy of Super Paper Mario, all of X's little hopes and dreams burned onto one tiny disc.

Now imagine your kid, X, goes to play SPM only to discover that his remote is not functioning properly.  He is upset.  Let's pretend you tried to fix the remote, but nothing, not even liberally applied packaging tape, works. 

So your child, X, has a nice new game ($50?) and a nice gaming console, but is unable to use either of them.  Maybe the remote is broken due to neglect or maybe it is just malfunctioning, as that does sometimes happen with gaming accessories. 

Should X be punished?  Should you go to the store and buy a new remote immediately so X can play the game his daddy sent him?  Should the Wii be taken away until X can prove he is responsible enough to have it?

What would you do?

Scroll down for my answer...

I did not take the Wii away.  Actually I first told him he needed to wait until I spoke to his daddy so that he and I could discuss what the proper thing to do would be.  X is a fairly responsible child, and he doesn't intentionally abuse his things, but I did want him to understand the value of what he has. 

We talked about ways to show appreciation (expressions of gratitude, taking care of our things, etc.), and then I let him know I would make a list of chores/tasks for him to work through.  We looked the remote up online so he could see how very expensive it is ($40).

Initially the list was going to have 40 items to match the 40 dollars, but Adrian felt like maybe that was excessive, so I went with 20 tasks.  Some of the tasks are difficult and time consuming and some are easy.  Some are even fun (shred junk mail, draw a picture for daddy). 

I made him sweat it out for several days and then gave him his list today, which he was happy to have and started working on immediately.  Knowing him, I honestly feel like he will have learned a lesson from this.  Just a reminder that he is fortunate to have things of value that he enjoys and he should be grateful and take care of those things.

I may talk with him about how hard daddy has to work to earn money when he finishes his list.  Around here no one works, so maybe he it seems like we just "get" money. 

I don't know if I should have punished him or taken his Wii away or not.  I know he didn't intentionally destroy the remote.  He just didn't look after it as well as he should have.  And I know how much this game, and the fact that it was a gift from daddy, means to him. 

I'm such a softy.  I hope I am doing right by him.