We have 3 boys, all under the age of 10. Since the temps have gotten cooler they’ve taken to playing in the garage, and inevitably only put away a fraction of what they pull out. It’s petty, but it drives me nuts when the first thing I have to do when before I even get into the house is pick-up a bunch of damn toys. While this has gotten a little better recently, I have taken to just letting the front skid plate push some form of kid toy or transport the last 2in to fit my truck into the garage.

It’s no surprise then to me that the front parking sensors go batshit crazy when I start to reverse out in the morning. It was a little odd this morning that one sensor stayed on as I backed down the driveway this morning. It was also a little odd that my 3yo was crying hysterically and banging on the window glass as I left. That’s sweet I thought, he misses me and hasn’t done that in maybe a year.

A little while later my wife texts me to tell me she retrieved the 3yo’s tricycle from the middle of the road. It must have gotten stuck under the truck. Evidently my 3yo wasn’t sad I was leaving, he was hysterical because he was watching me dragging his tricycle down the driveway. Probably didn’t help that I stopped to smile, wave, and then blow kisses to him and then proceed to continue dragging his beloved 3 wheeler down the asphalt. Oh well, I’m guessing the tricycle will get put away now....

Pisser is now you get to replace the ride

Tinyman

quote:

Originally posted by Tinyman:
Pisser is now you get to replace the ride

Tinyman

Why? That will just get run over too. May as well not bother replacing any ran over toys

This Spring, my grandson, his wife and two boys 4 and 8 stayed with us while waiting for their new-to-them house to get through the purchasing process.

Same deal - toys everywhere, especially bicycles. Usually right in front of the back door or in the middle of the path. Told them several times to put it ANYWHERE but right in front of the door or in the middle of the path.

Finally got fed up and told them the next time they left one of their bikes in the way, i'd lock it up and they wouldn't get it again until I was damned good and ready to let them have it.

They did. I did. They were pissed...

quote:

Originally posted by Tinyman:
Pisser is now you get to replace the ride

Tinyman

Evidently it is still intact. It’s one of old metal ones from the 70s/80s, so it can probably take a lot worse. The 3yo however is continuing to complain to anyone who will listen that “daddy ran over mah trikecel”.

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Probably didn’t help that I stopped to smile, wave, and then blow kisses to him and then proceed to continue dragging his beloved 3 wheeler down the asphalt.

Ok I laughed a lot reading that.

Been to a convenience store lately during summer months when kids leave their bicycles on the ground just outside the front door?

Grrrrr.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Probably didn’t help that I stopped to smile, wave, and then blow kisses to him and then proceed to continue dragging his beloved 3 wheeler down the asphalt.

Ok I laughed a lot reading that.

My wife and I did too!

When he gets his new ride stick a 5 ft fiberglass antenna with a flag on it. It worked great for the ATV guys back in the day.
Easy to see.

Unless it could damage my ride, it would get run over and then they would be the ones to throw it away. Natural consequences.

Try that and seem how many more toys get left out.

Jesus, what a prick...and daddy was just a few minutes late for work and wouldn't take the time to walk around his truck to look. Guess its time for the little one to learn. Tough lesson at an early age.

On the other side.. whoops, there is no other side. Or maybe daddy needs to get out and look when the alarm tells him his kid is under the truck. And don't let mommy off the hook either. If she's watching the kids, she needs to watch them as they come in, at the very least.

So I like the outcome. No one got hurt too bad, and the trike is still working. I sure hope the little guy learned. But I doubt it.

One has to have space to walk in order to walk around

Get a box and every toy you have to pick up goes in it on the top shelf.

"Well where did you put your toy...?"

Sorry, OP, but the image of you waving and smiling at your kid while you obliviously crush his tricycle is pretty funny .

My kids are always leaving stuff out. Rule is, if I have to pick it up, it's mine. If its a cheap junk toy, it goes straight in the trash (I'm not picking it up twice!). If it's something of actual value, I hang on to it and they've got to work it off doing chores to get it back.

Well, this got taken to a new level on my oldest son's 11th birthday. He had friends over, and they were playing outside. I went to back my truck out, was watching for all the kids, and did not see his bike where it was lying on the ground, directly behind my truck (for the record, while I wouldn't feel bad about running over a soccer ball or some plastic junk toy, I would never intentionally run over one of their bikes).

6500lbs of 2500HD bent the thing into a U. I got out, looked at it, and of course my son comes running over tearing up, and I lay into him about how many times I've told him not to leave his stuff out in the driveway, and how now he no longer has a bike. Turns out it was one of the other kids who left it there. I felt bad and ended up buying him a new bike. That other kid was already being a punk in numerous other ways at the party...he has not been invited back.

Might want to make sure where the kids are when you back out. I'm just sayin'.

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Originally posted by Fredward:
Might want to make sure where the kids are when you back out. I'm just sayin'.

That's what I was doing, and why I ran over the bike. I could see all the kids. Couldn't see the bike.

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I went to back my truck out, was watching for all the kids, and did not see his bike where it was lying on the ground, directly behind my truck.

I’ve also backed over sidewalk chalk and other various smaller things, usually for the same reason- hyper focused on watching for people- mostly little people. The one time a bike got left behind my truck our middle son left it literally under the bed. Not something you would see on the camera or if you looked around- because you’re looking for little people, not for things put under your truck so (in the words of my middle son) “it would be in the shade”. Only reason I saw it was I was walking back up the driveway.

On one hand, the boys are not professional people yet. On the other, they probably know how to open your phone and play games on it which means they are capable of learning and understanding consequences. It's a teachable moment.

I was pretty good as a kid about the toys, bikes, etc. so not much got run over.

What did happen is occasionally things would disappear. A neat little red pedal kart I had as a 8 year old disappeared when I was 9. Wasn’t stolen. Dad took it to work, some other kid got it. I didn’t realize it was gone for months.

Re-gifted to someone else.

In distant hindsight, not a bad idea.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

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Probably didn’t help that I stopped to smile, wave, and then blow kisses to him and then proceed to continue dragging his beloved 3 wheeler down the asphalt.

Ok I laughed a lot reading that.

You weren’t the only one.

Like I tell my son, “this is how we learn, and sometimes the best lessons have to sting a bit so that you actually learn them.”