AITA for refusing to repair my MILs phone after my 18 month old broke it?

A Redditor shared a conflict with their mother-in-law (MIL) after their 18-month-old accidentally broke her phone while under MIL’s care. The MIL had handed the child her phone to watch YouTube, leading to the screen being badly cracked.

Now, MIL insists the parents pay for the repair, but the Redditor argues they weren’t present, never approved the phone use, and can’t afford the repair costs, especially with MIL being much more financially secure. The situation has sparked debate over accountability and fairness. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for refusing to repair my MILs phone after my 18 month old broke it?’

So, My MIL was baby sitting our LO last night and for some reason she gave the LO her phone to watch YouTube. Our LO decided she was done, and threw the phone from her high chair, cracking the screen badly. Now we absolutely do not do this. Our LO gets maybe 2 hours of screen time a week, and it’s always on the TV, never a phone.

For context, my MIL is very well off …. Way more so than us, and the repair bill of her phone is alot of money to us, especislly this close to Christmas. My MIL told my partner that we must pay to repair her phone screen as our daughter broke it. I argued 3 points.

1) We were not present at the time. We were not the ones supervising the LO and shouldn’t be accountable.
2) My MIL decided to give our child the phone. It was not suggested by us , and as mentioned is not something we ever do ourselves, my MIL knows this.
3) The cost of the repair is a significant amount of money to us, but not to her. Our combined income is less than half her solo income.

My partner suggested that my MIL pay for the phone and we pay back in installments. MIL refused because she thinks this is our issue to figure out. Personally I also don’t agree with us paying her back, the phone was broken due to her own negligence.. So AITA?

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

HA2HA2 −  NTA. Don’t give a baby expensive stuff and then make a shocked pikachu face when they break it. Any chance MIL deliberately got it broken because she wanted you to pay for a new one, is she that much of an AH?

Kris82868 −  NTA. It’s a fragile item, not a child’s toy. I don’t hand things to 18 month olds that I don’t wish to see thrown (or whatever else crosses the 18 month old mind) that might break or damage it.

TrainingDearest −  NTA. The person supervising the child and/or the person who gave a valuable piece of electronic equipment (that was never intended for use by a small child) is 100% responsible for the damage. Oh look! It was your MIL who irresponsibly gave her phone to a small child.

There’s the responsible/guilty party right there… It seems like your MIL might need to take a babysitting course, because her decision making is questionable, and I would have to ask what else she plans on allowing your child to play with next: a lighter perhaps? or a steak knife? Maybe some small magnets??

glamourcrow −  Handing an 18-month-old child a phone means you don’t need it anymore.. NTA.

Snowkit10 −  NTA. In this case I’d say its on her.

latents −  NTA. She knowingly caused the situation with her poor choices. She handed the phone to your child. She should have to deal with the natural expectable consequences. You may be best served by paying for the repair so you don’t have to hear about it at every family gathering for the rest of your lives.

However, I would make it clear to MIL that while you appreciate her help, she can no longer babysit until your child is much older because you can’t afford the expenses caused by her choices. 

extinct_diplodocus −  NTA. Don’t give her a cent! If you were supervising LO, then you’d be responsible. She was supervising and made some really bad decisions. Not the 18-month-old’s fault, not your fault, entirely her fault.

Did the phone do any damage to your stuff? If LO destroyed something of yours while MIL was in charge, MIL owes you for that. Don’t let MIL evade responsibility for what happened on her watch. Your partner should not be excusing his mother for what she did or even rewarding her for her awful stewardship.

scarlettceleste −  Nta, with a caveat. While mil absolutely did a stupid thing, if it were me I would likely offer to pay a portion, just as a gesture of good will as this happened while she was doing you a favour. Pick the bridge you want to burn , she may not help you out again in the future.

Glittering_Ebb9748 −  I’m a grandmother and I would never in a million years just hand my phone over to an 18 month old, that’s just stupid. NTA.

syntheticat7 −  INFO: what does LO mean?