Tuesday, November 15, 2011

PLEASE help settle a mother - daughter dispute!?

There is a two-cup drink holder in the front seat armrest. I never leave home without a bottle of water. My 13 year old daughter usually has one, as well. Last week on vacation, I got an almost-frozen bottle of water from the cooler I had packed for the road trip. At the time, my daughter did not have a bottle of water occupying the cup holder on her side. My water bottle sweated and left a puddle of water in the holder. My daughter put her iPod in the cup holder, realized it got wet, was upset about it getting wet, yet did it again w short while later. After realizing the iPod had been damaged by the water, she got very angry at me. This was several days ago and the iPod has since resumed working almost like new... it takes a few times of pushing the power on to make it work, but it is working. She thinks I should have apologized and admitted it was 100% my fault that her iPod got wet. She says it was not her place to look for water in the cup holder and I am to blame. I, on the other hand, think she should have looked (twice) to see if there was any water (or anything else) in the cup holder before using it. She read that silica gel packs would dry it out when placing them in a bag with the iPod. I had bought a new purse that day and told her to get the ones out of the trunk and bring them back to the hotel room, which she did. I propped the bag containing the gel packs and iPod on the nightstand so any water could drain downward during the night. According to her, I "don't care" because I didn't "admit" it was all my fault and I showed "no sympathy". Fast-forward to today and the argument was even worse this time around. According to her, I am the ONLY one to blame, it is ALL my fault for having a frozen bottle of water in the cup holder without telling her it would sweat, and she is well beyond mad and angry at me right now. We both ended up in tears. She's mad. I'm hurt. When it happened, I told her it was not the end of the world and it was something that could be replaced. I told her then, and again today, that I KNEW it was important to her but still, it was not the end of the world. It's not the end of outside contact with the world, either. She has a laptop, as well. I'm a single mother of two, trying to make ends meet, stressed beyond comprehension, and being told I "don't care" hurts me to my core. She knows this, no doubt, and therein lies a lot of the problems we face. Unbiased opinions welcome. :)

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