[jjk166]

At some point in time you made the determination that the value of the child possessing that item was greater than the cost to purchase said item. While them breaking the item may have changed the equation, generally it doesn't. In real life if you accidentally break something, you replace it and move on. If the child is old enough perhaps have the replacement come out of their allowance/have them do something in exchange, but if they are too young to take care of the issue themselves, they are too young to be responsible for taking care of the issue.

[em-bee]

well, i might make that determination for a laptop used for school, but surely not for a thing to play computer games or watch tv. if that breaks there is unlikely to be a new one for at least a year.