Punishment for destroying an Acekard

[Mantis41]

My son has just turned 6 and is not very careful with his DS. Despite being told not to go outside he snuck out with his DS and dropped it. The slot one cover and the flash cart shot out from the unit. He managed to grab the DS and the slot one cover but the dog snatched the flashcart and chewed it to pieces.

I have warned him many times not to go outside with his DS, yet he continues to do it. He says he likes to play it while lying on the trampoline or sitting up on his climbing frame. I had negotiated that he could take it out side as long as he used the carry case and did not walk around with it. This lasted about 30 seconds, until he started sliding down the slide and running around with the dog, DS in hand. I warned him again that if he drops it and the dog grabs it then he will have no DS and I can't afford another one. This chat only lasted about a day or so, so I had to again ban the DS from outside play.

So after a little anger and a lot of what probably came across as blah, blah, blah, we thankfully still have a functioning DS. The flash cart is mangled and the SD is cracked and won't read.

He tried to brush the incident off with a little bravado but, become quite upset when I told him he has probably lost all of his save games including all of his precious pokemon. This is actually a lie as I have a back up of the card that is only a day or two old. But before everyone calls me a brute for lying, I had to drum home the point somehow.

What should I do now?

• Ban him from the DS for a week or so and see if he learns his lesson. This will probably kill me as well. The DS is often a handy distraction for a hyperactive kid placed in a boring situation.
• Give him the old R4 with out of date firmware and old games. Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.
• Hope that the rants and blah, blah, blah, have sunk in this time. Give him my new Acekard with his restored games and saves. Make up some bullshit about managing to get the data from the old card. Then go to ShopTemp and buy myself a DSONEi.
• Just kidding bout kicking the dog.
  

 

[Juanmatron]

Do the four!

 

[The Catboy]

The cat boy thinks these two are the best
# Ban him from the DS for a week or so and see if he learns his lesson. This will probably kill me as well. The DS is often a handy distraction for a hyperactive kid placed in a boring situation.
# Give him the old R4 with out of date firmware and old games. Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.
EDT: Also you should buy the Supercard DSONEi, it's that awesome.

 

[Scott-105]

Ban the DS. This will make him learn his lesson.

 

[geoflcl]

Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.

Good 'un. Don't give him a flash cart, make him save up for his own.

When I bought things with my own money as a young 'un, I'd always be more careful with it.

 

[dinofan01]

Number one and keep up the whole lost save thing. Oh and number 4!

 

[Destructobot]

Don't buy him a new flashcart, and when he breaks his DS don't replace that either. Give him the opportunity to find out why he should be careful with his toys. Tell him you already gave him a DS and flashcart, and he broke them, and if he wants new ones he can buy them himself. This may be hell on you, but lessons learned make for a happier life.

Alternately, if you do decide to buy him a new flashcart, order it from a store with really slow shipping. Make him think that even if you do replace the things he breaks he'll still have to wait a few weeks to get them (that's like, forever to a 6 year old).

 

[ProtoKun7]

I agree with Cat Boy; ban him for a while, then give him the R4 for a bit.

It's weird now that I'm someone who's helping to decide on a punishment rather than being a little kid.

(Thing is, I behaved as a kid too)

Oh, I meant to say, it seems like I haven't seen you for a while, Destructo.

 

[Randamin]

Do the four!

The last bullet point wasn't even an option

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

Get a new Acekard.
Fill it with 'Imagine:' games for a week.
Buy Nerf DS armor (Unless you give the dog nerf toys, of course)
Tape the flashkart in place, under the armor.

And finally, kick the dog.

 

[ProtoKun7]

Get a new Acekard.
Fill it with 'Imagine:' games for a week.
Buy Nerf DS armor (Unless you give the dog nerf toys, of course)
And finally, kick the dog child.

 

[Slyakin]

Kick the child senseless. No wait...


Just don't let him have his DS until he turns 10. Suitable enough.

 

[macgeek417]

Idea:
* Delete the save games... Torture him
* Make him use the R4
* If he gets the new Acekard, order from somewhere with sloooooooooooooooooooooooooow shipping

 

[The Catboy]

Get a new Acekard.
Fill it with 'Imagine:' games for a week.
Buy Nerf DS armor (Unless you give the dog nerf toys, of course)
And finally, kick the dog child.

Message approved by GBAtemp's Cat Boy

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.

Good 'un. Don't give him a flash cart, make him save up for his own.

When I bought things with my own money as a young 'un, I'd always be more careful with it.

I'd like to know how you guys expect a six year old to
A) Earn money
and
B) Save that money for any length of time.

 

[coolbho3000]

Do the four!

The last bullet point wasn't even an option

 

[The Catboy]

Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.

Good 'un. Don't give him a flash cart, make him save up for his own.

When I bought things with my own money as a young 'un, I'd always be more careful with it.

I'd like to know how you guys expect a six year old to
A) Earn money
and
B) Save that money for any length of time.

When I was six and I was short on cash, I helped out around my neighborhood, I was an odd 6 year.

 

[Deleted_171835]

Ban him for a week. When my brother was 6 years old he was rather bad and he didn't listen. He's old enough to know that when told not to do something, you're not supposed to.

 

[Mantis41]

Let him save up for a new flashcart. This will probably take him a month or more.

Good 'un. Don't give him a flash cart, make him save up for his own.

When I bought things with my own money as a young 'un, I'd always be more careful with it.

I'd like to know how you guys expect a six year old to
A) Earn money
and
B) Save that money for any length of time.

He has quite a good handle on money.

He gets around £2 a week pocket money and will earn 50p for helping me wash the cars or do the gardening. If he wants he can earn around £15 a month. The up side of this is if he wants an ice-cream or anything else while we are out he uses his money. He also gets a bit of money from relatives for birthdays and other occasions and will receive monetary rewards from us for going up levels or receiving awards at school, swimming or karate. He has become quite savvy and managed to save about £40 over a 3 month period for a spark scooter.

Edit: I put in the other tenner for the scooter. Seemed right after he had saved that much.

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

When I was six and I was short on cash, I helped out around my neighborhood, I was an odd 6 year.

What are you talking about? You're still odd!

Kidding.

Sidenote:

Spoiler: GBAtemp says

@Mantis41

I stand corrected.
(As a kid, I'd blow all my money on candy.)