Mom Thinks Three-Year-Old Lost Her Favorite Stuffed Animal is a Good Life Lesson, but Dad Says She’s Being Too Harsh
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Losing a favorite toy is tough, but it’s something almost every child goes through sooner or later.
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That’s what happened after this mom took her two young children for a walk.
Her toddler insisted on bringing one of her favorite stuffed animals, and everything seemed fine at first. Sure, the little girl dropped the toy once, but they turned around to pick it up.
Unfortunately, she must have tossed it out of the stroller again later because by bedtime, it had completely disappeared.
Now the parents can’t agree on what should happen next.
Dad wants to replace the stuffed animal, but Mom thinks this is one of those life lessons that every child eventually has to learn.
Read on to see what you think about this whole thing.
AITA for refusing to replace my daughter’s lost stuffed animal?
I (28F) and my husband (28M) have a toddler (almost 3F) who loves her stuffed animals. She has four “main” ones who are her favorites.
This morning, my toddler, our other kid, and I went on a walk, and she wanted to take one of her favorites, who is named Donut. She dropped Donut once at the beginning of the walk, but she said something, so we turned around to get him.
For some context, I have a big double jogger, and both kids are under their sunshades, so I can’t really see them or around the stroller. I often miss it if things fly out.
She’s almost positive the toy was thrown out again.
Well, she must have thrown Donut out again, and I missed it. To be honest, I forgot all about him until tonight when my husband was putting her to bed.
Our daughter was obviously upset when she realized she couldn’t find Donut, and my husband was too.
I drove our walking route but couldn’t find him on the side of the road. My husband tore the house apart, but there was no sign of him.
There’s a chance he’s somewhere weird in the house, but I’m 99% sure he got dropped during the walk because I don’t remember seeing him when I took my toddler out of the stroller this morning.
Now, her husband is furious.
To be honest, I’m not really that worked up about it. I feel like this kind of stuff happens and is a good life lesson with natural consequences.
My toddler tossed her toy (which she knows she shouldn’t chuck out of the stroller), and now he’s gone. Our daughter went to bed and is over it for now, but my husband is furious with me for being so nonchalant.
He called me heartless for not caring that Donut is gone and said it was irresponsible of me to let our toddler take him when she has a history of throwing things. I told him it’s a good life lesson for her and that she needs to be more careful with her things.
He wants to buy a new Donut on eBay for about $35, and I told him that stuff like this is bound to happen with kids and that I’m not replacing him after he was thrown.
AITA?
Eek! It’s easy to see what she’s trying to say, but that’s pretty harsh for such a young child.
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Let’s see if the people over at Reddit agree with her or her husband on this.
According to this reader, the girl is too young.
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Here’s someone who agrees with the husband.
Yet another person who mentions the little girl’s age.
For this reader, it’s the mother’s fault.
This is way too harsh for a three-year-old.
A lesson like this makes a lot more sense when a child is old enough to understand why it happened. Right now, she’s probably just sad because her favorite stuffed animal is gone.
What they should do is give it one more good search. But this time, they should walk the same route again and look from ground level instead of trying to spot it from the vehicle. There’s a good chance Donut is still sitting there.
And if they still can’t find him, they should just order another one. There will be plenty of opportunities to teach bigger life lessons when she’s a little older.
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