Dad Is Furious His Sister Is Asking Him For $4k In Damages After Nephew Wreaks Havoc

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Hosting people for dinner is hard work. You not only have to cook the meal but prepare the whole place, too. It needs to be clean and welcoming, with thoughtfully arranged table settings and comfortable seating. Some also set up warm lighting and create an appropriate music playlist to enhance the atmosphere.

Point is, the whole experience requires a considerable investment of time and effort. But when Reddit user Jolly-Case93 organized such an evening for her family, it took something even more — her 8-year-old nephew broke her partner’s favorite statue.

In a post on the subreddit ‘Am I the [Jerk]?‘, the woman explained that she demanded her brother reimburse them for the expensive decoration, but he refused and they soon got into a bad fight.

Kids can be a handful, leaving you with a hefty cleaning and damage bill

Image credits: LightFieldStudios / envato (not the actual photo)

Something this woman, unfortunately, had to learn the hard way

Image credits: benuski / flickr (not the actual photo)

Image source: Jolly-Case93

The woman’s nephew caused years’ worth of damages in just one night

Image credits: Allen Taylor / unsplash (not the actual photo)

The sum that the woman mentioned in the post definitely reaffirms the boy’s “walking tornado” status.

For example, a 2013 report from the UK estimated that three-year-olds are the most destructive, causing £526 ($665) worth of damage each during those 12 months of their lives. Adjusted for inflation, that’s £703, or $889.

The report also listed the most common ways the little ones wreak havoc:

Spilling food and drink on the carpets (63%)
Smashing plates and crockery (35%)
Drawing and painting on the walls (33%)
Breaking vases, pictures, and photo frames (24%)
Tearing wallpaper from the walls (22%)
Jumping on beds until they break (15%)
Breaking windows playing sports in the garden (10%)
Damaging the TV playing computer games (9%)
Putting food and drink in electrical objects (7%)
Hiding valuables in the washing machine (6.6%)

According to the research, the average child caused £5,000 ($6,326) of damage to their parents by the time they reached 18 (or £6,683 ($8,454) in today’s money).

However, the author of the post and her family might have a few calmer and cheaper years ahead of them, since the report also showed that after the age of 10, levels of kids’ destruction gradually fall. (Until they reach 16, at which point the costs rise once again!)