My 8 yo granddaughter is always breaking things!

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Here is 20 minutes.

By many cheap plastic rosaries. Pray one rosary a day with her. She will lose them break them, think they are pretty… Etc and you won’t care because they are pennies. Plus imagine a pious beauty in college why prays the rosary every day because that is what she and her grandma did together…

 

[Rosebud77]

Here is 20 minutes.

By many cheap plastic rosaries. Pray one rosary a day with her. She will lose them break them, think they are pretty… Etc and you won’t care because they are pennies. Plus imagine a pious beauty in college why prays the rosary every day because that is what she and her grandma did together…

So she will think it is OK to break things, especially rosaries?

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

So she will think it is OK to break things, especially rosaries?

I have a lot if broken rosaries in my house. Some cheap some expensive. Many I have broken. Usually they get tangled with my keys in my pocket. The local catholic bookstore sells plastic rosaries for 50 cents each specifically for kids. Every year we buy hundreds for the religious Ed classes. Never crossed my mind how bad that was…

 

[Eliza10]

When I was little, I always accidentally broke stuff. My aunt once had this beautiful snow globe she was showing off that played a tune when a button on the bottom was pressed. Later that day, I picked it up myself and tried pressing the button. Nothing. So I tried a little harder. Nothing. So I tried a little harder and . . . OOPS.

To be honest, I always felt so terrible about myself whenever it happened. And people would get so upset.

I’m not saying every child feels that way. I am a self-conscious person in general. But I did grow out of breaking things like that eventually and learned how to treat things more gingerly and be more conscious about my own actions.

Aw. This reminds me that natural klutziness could be the answer. A contribution to that state could be habitually not being shown how to handle things carefully and appropriately. Not all kids need this because some are naturally carefully. It may be that the OP has to kindly show her granddaughter how to handle things and herself. Its important also to teach her to come tell when something is broken. That’s courtesy. She needs to be responsible for doing that. But she may need instruction for handing things before accidents happen, instruction which should be a positive thing (“Let’s look at this. See? This part will break easily. You have to hold it gently. You try. Yes, that’s right. And you have to put it down gently. Like this. You try. Excellent. That’s just how you do it.”). You can acknowledge the truth - that she does clumsy bungling things, but say, “We all have faults and talents, and the best we can do is work to improve our faults. I see you working to be more careful and I am proud of you.”.

A klutsy person must be accustomed to that dreaded shocked look on peoples faces when they do something other people woudl’t do, so that could be the understandable reason she is hiding the things she breaks - to avoid those awful looks/words. So she just has to be taught to do the right thing - tell - and be praised for doing that, the right thing.

However, if she is acting out then that’s a different issue. Observe and watch her closely and you might figure it out.

I agree she should not use your computer or anything you don’t want broken. She needs to know what’s okay to play with and what is not at your house.

 

[Allegra]

****Mirrors on medicine cabinets and fireplace tiles aren’t that easy to break. These are not accidents.

Don’t you see that there are serious issues here? I would talk to a professional family counselor.

I accidentally broke both of those things as a child. I was arguing with my sister about hairspray and she was trying to take it from the medicine cabinet and I reached to grab it first and slammed the mirrored door into the big mirror and cracked it.

And I used to lean against the hearth while watching TV and pick at the crumbling grout between the tiles. One day. I had picked at it so much that the tile slid out. I slid it back into place and it stayed like that for a while until my dad stepped on it while getting something off the mantle and it stuck to his bare foot and came off. Then it fell to the floor and broke in half. Daddy’s big feet got the blame on that one.

 

[Rosebud77]

I have a lot if broken rosaries in my house. Some cheap some expensive. Many I have broken. Usually they get tangled with my keys in my pocket. The local catholic bookstore sells plastic rosaries for 50 cents each specifically for kids. Every year we buy hundreds for the religious Ed classes. Never crossed my mind how bad that was…

Shaking my head here. I make simple wooden ones which are so strong they never break. On sturdy cotton. Threaded round more than once… Glad to repair rosaries too for folk but abhhor plastic,

And the cheap ones are usually made by small kids in Indian or other sweatshops, The money I earn from mine in fact goes to feed those babies and others in need… Small pouches fit neatly in pockets ,

 

[pianistclare]

Sudden misbehavior is a warning sign of an underlying emotional problem.
I would take this very seriously.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Shaking my head here. I make simple wooden ones which are so strong they never break. On sturdy cotton. Threaded round more than once… Glad to repair rosaries too for folk but abhhor plastic,

And the cheap ones are usually made by small kids in Indian or other sweatshops, The money I earn from mine in fact goes to feed those babies and others in need… Small pouches fit neatly in pockets ,

Weird. I’m just moving along.

The plastic rosaries at our Catholic bookstore come from a group of nuns.

I’m not sure why this is the thing you chose to battle on.

Good day.

 

[pianistclare]

Right. One again, completely off topic.

 

[seagal]

Sorry I haven’t been back on since I posted this, but thank you all for your comments. To the ones who are worried about anger issues and such, she is a very happy child and as far as I can tell isn’t harbouring any anger. I realize how limiting it is to put out a small paragraph about my own frustration and try to give a true impression of what kind of person my granddaughter is. The bathroom mirror and fireplace tiles are over 50 years old, the mirror had a loose handle which is where it broke, and the grout around the tile is probably failing. I’m frustrated because she didn’t tell me that these things happened and when I ask her she gives the standard kid answer: “I dunno”. Or else it’s a little giggle and “oops”. (BTW, Wesrock the story of the snow globe is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about )

Also, this isn’t sudden, this is a pattern for years, but she’s getting bigger and that means bigger things are getting broken. I do make an effort to explain things to her but that doesn’t always help. She likes to be active and be outside but she has to come home at some point. I don’t know if she’s the same at school but she definitely is at home. Her mom thinks I’m comparing her unfavourably with another granddaughter (9 months older) so she’s a little defensive about her.

She’s definitively a bit of a klutz, absent-minded, over-enthusiastic, and highly energized. I’m just looking for hope that she’ll grow into herself, and trying to keep my frustration level to a minimum.

Hoosier Daddy, I like the idea of the rosary. I’ll give it a go.

 

[Rosebud77]

Weird. I’m just moving along.

The plastic rosaries at our Catholic bookstore come from a group of nuns.

I’m not sure why this is the thing you chose to** battle **on.

Good day.

Battle? Odd word to use.

Twas thee who suggested breaking rosaries was OK for children to do… shocking . I would never treat the Holy Rosary like that or teach/allow a child to do so.

 

[Allegra]

Sorry I haven’t been back on since I posted this, but thank you all for your comments. To the ones who are worried about anger issues and such, she is a very happy child and as far as I can tell isn’t harbouring any anger. I realize how limiting it is to put out a small paragraph about my own frustration and try to give a true impression of what kind of person my granddaughter is. The bathroom mirror and fireplace tiles are over 50 years old, the mirror had a loose handle which is where it broke, and the grout around the tile is probably failing. I’m frustrated because she didn’t tell me that these things happened and when I ask her she gives the standard kid answer: “I dunno”. Or else it’s a little giggle and “oops”. (BTW, Wesrock the story of the snow globe is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about )

Also, this isn’t sudden, this is a pattern for years, but she’s getting bigger and that means bigger things are getting broken. I do make an effort to explain things to her but that doesn’t always help. She likes to be active and be outside but she has to come home at some point. I don’t know if she’s the same at school but she definitely is at home. Her mom thinks I’m comparing her unfavourably with another granddaughter (9 months older) so she’s a little defensive about her.

She’s definitively a bit of a klutz, absent-minded, over-enthusiastic, and highly energized. I’m just looking for hope that she’ll grow into herself, and trying to keep my frustration level to a minimum.

Hoosier Daddy, I like the idea of the rosary. I’ll give it a go.

I broke a lot of things growing up because I was a fidgeter. I remember going to bed without supper once because I had gotten ahold of a plastic headband and was bending it back and forth as I watched TV and it broke. I actually broke a lot of toys and things in the same way while watching TV. I used to lay in front of the TV and open and close the doors of the cabinet underneath with my feet. It drove my mother crazy. She’d scream at me from the other room to knock it off, but I always went back to doing it a few minutes later. Finally, she kick me out of the house so I could play outside and squish my spirit.

 

[seagal]

I broke a lot of things growing up because I was a fidgeter. I remember going to bed without supper once because I had gotten ahold of a plastic headband and was bending it back and forth as I watched TV and it broke. I actually broke a lot of toys and things in the same way while watching TV. I used to lay in front of the TV and open and close the doors of the cabinet underneath with my feet. It drove my mother crazy. She’d scream at me from the other room to knock it off, but I always went back to doing it a few minutes later. Finally, she kick me out of the house so I could play outside and squish my spirit.

I hope your story has a happy ending, but the “squish my spirit” part doesn’t sound promising.