Not-smart daughter breaks smartphone

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.