Ask Amy: Did teen break cellphone on purpose to get a better one for Christmas?

Dear Amy: My teenage daughter recently came to me saying that she needed a new smartphone. I took a look, and it was basically smashed. She said she was at her friend’s house when this happened. I called the friend’s mom and she told me that both girls had deliberately broken their phones in order to get new ones (this was before Christmas, so I guess they were hoping to find a shiny new phone in their stockings).

I asked my daughter what had happened and she said, “It just fell onto the driveway.” She didn’t seem too concerned about it. I asked her if she had done this on purpose and she said no. My wife and I can’t quite decide what to do now. She is in favor of getting her a new phone, but I don’t want to reward this behavior.

– Broke Dad Dear Dad: Unless you have purchased insurance, replacing this broken phone could be a very expensive proposition (insurance is also expensive, and there is a deductible to replace a broken or lost phone). I do believe that it is something of a safety issue for a teenager to have a phone these days, and because of that, she should have one.

However, until you/she are eligible for a free upgrade for the latest model, you can offer to purchase a much less expensive flip phone for her to use until she can afford the phone she wants. (Flip phones are cool! They’re vintage! They’re so very ‘90s!) I think it’s important that your daughter should ultimately pay for the replacement – or negotiate a partial payment with you and her mom.

Experiencing the consequences of this incident should inspire her to be much more careful..