An Ounce of Prevention is worth...

[MommyLiberty5013]

not having to buy a new baby biking trailer. I need to vent. Just vent, so please bear with me.

 

DH and I see eye to eye on nearly everything involving our kiddos. The stuff we disagree on is maybe in a list of 2 things long. But the thing in the number 1 spot is the kids playing with my, his, and/or our stuff. He seems to shrug it off. I care, a lot.

 

Perfect example...we had (as of today, had) a nice Schwinn baby biking trailer. We bought it brand spankin' new a few years ago to go on family bike rides when our unit #2 came along and was over 12 months old. So we got it in 2013 or so. Paid nearly $200 for it. Unit #3 rode in it too as a baby/toddler. The kids occasionally took it outside to pull around at our old house in suburbia. Maybe it got a few twigs in it and some grass clippings. At those points, I began the "I don't think the kids should play with the bike trailer like that. It is going to get ruined eventually." DH is like, "Eh they're fine." I try to play it cool and chillax. I am the more high-strung one, so I keep quiet and just be a go with the flow parent. DH seems to be okay with this, so maybe I am over reacting.

 

Now, fast forward to last summer when we moved to a rural acreage. Now, we have Unit #4 who came last summer. She is just about reedy to be able to ride in the trailer. But, all these months, the kids, despite my quiet opinions, have been using the bike trailer, attached to their mini kiddie ATV. Up and down to the creek. In the alfalfa fields. Over the gravel driveway. Mud. Debris. Rocks. It looks like crap. Okay, but whatever right? Because I can clean that out. But today I look at it and the pin and attachment devices are GONE. It cannot be affixed to an adult bicycle. It is useless. It is now junk.

 

When I asked Unit #1 about it, he said he had no idea where it is, when it got lost, or where to even begin to look for it. So NOW our baby has no trailer for family bike rides. All this time I have lamented to DH about the kids not using it and he lets them. Now, we are not going to go buy a stinkin' new one!!!

 

If we had just put it aside in the garage as one of the items out of the kid zone, this would not have happened.

 

Thanks for listening.

[Guinevere]

Frustrating, for sure!
 

$200 for 4 years of use equals a little over 13 cents a day.  Was it worth that?  And, worth the kids getting a lot of use out of it for that price?  Maybe you could replace it?

[EmilyGF]

That's frustrating.

 

You can buy replacement parts. We've had one for 12 years and have had to buy replacement parts multiple times (like when the bike was stolen with part of the attachment - argh).

 

Emily

[2_girls_mommy]

My dh and I have different expectations in taking care of stuff too. I feel it is a waste of money to not take care of stuff. I was raised to put things away and out of the elements, etc. So I am with you on this. On the other hand, when things like this happen, I try hard to look at it as a PP did, about did we enjoy the use we got out of it, and things like that. I don't want to dwell on it, but it is my natural tendency to. 

[ikslo]

... the kids...have been using the bike trailer, attached to their mini kiddie ATV. Up and down to the creek. In the alfalfa fields. Over the gravel driveway. Mud. Debris. Rocks.

 

Sounds like fun! They probably got more fun out of that than spending $200 on one day at an amusement park, though, right?

 

I get where you are coming from, but it had a good run.

[MommyLiberty5013]

Frustrating, for sure!

 

$200 for 4 years of use equals a little over 13 cents a day.  Was it worth that?  And, worth the kids getting a lot of use out of it for that price?  Maybe you could replace it?

It was worth it. We're in MN, so summers are precious. We allow extra purchases for outdoor family things here.

 

I just talked to DH. He's like, "Yeah, you were probably right."

 

Sigh. Yes, yes, I was.

 

He thinks he can fix it, or as a PP mentioned, buy a new part. It will take him over an hour to do that or more money for the part. Better to just take care of belongings the first time around.

[katilac]

If they've actually been using it, as in pulling someone or something, then it has probably seen a ton more use than it would have as strictly a bike trailer! I think that's very different from simply leaving it out in the rain to rust. 

[Guest]

Sounds like your spouse went for using the already owned item rather than buying something completely different and making the owned item sit and collect dust while the tires dry rotted.

 

The missing components can be replaced cheaply. What we did was take an old.coffee container and designate that for nuts, bolts etc and trained the kiddos to put those things in it. This came about bc dh had spent the whole morning one fine day looking for his lug nuts, and finally realized.he needed.to ask a toddler helper. Said toddler pointed him right to the 'bucket' he used...a stack of tires.

[Anne in CA]

Well, I am the one who normally falls into the camp of use it and not save it for something that may or may not happen. DH often saves silly things that probably won't ever get used but doesn't want anyone to use them either to play with or for another use. 

[Amy in NH]

I get replacement parts for things all the time and just fix them.

 

And the kids did get your money's worth out of it so far.

 

But, yes, I'd be annoyed.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't understand why you couldn't have just told the kids no to using it.