There are certain items that are not made to be “kid friendly” but certainly should be such as glasses, retainers and cell phones. We’ve already had to replace our son’s glasses out of pocket ($300+ Ka-ching!) and one of our daughter’s retainers ($200+ Ka-Ching!). Thankfully we haven’t had to replace their cell phones. I hear stories from other parents about how their kids dropped their cell phones and they shatter into a million pieces. I have also heard stories about kids loosing their cell phones.
Our daughter left her cell phone on the school bus once. I had to trek all the way across town to retrieve it. THANKFULLY she neglected to lock the phone so the bus company was able to find “Mom” on her contacts list and call me. I’m grateful that she neglected to lock it that one day or the bus company would have had no way of knowing whose phone it was.
My teen daughter lives and breathes her cell phone, as most teens do. Her life revolves around that little piece of plastic and metal. I wouldn’t be surprised if she text people in her sleep. Ha Ha. Actually my kids are not allowed to have their cell phones in their room at night. When we put them to bed they are to go to bed. They are not allowed on the cell phone, Nintendo DSi, computers – NOTHING!
My husband and I have told our daughter time and time again NOT to bring the cell phone into the bathroom with her. Often we have found the cell phone on the bathroom counter as she is brushing her teeth or styling her hair. We constantly tell her to leave the phone in her room or on my desk which is near the bathroom. There is no text that she will get that is THAT important that it can’t wait three or four minutes while she brushes her teeth.
To be honest with you I tell her not to bring the phone in the bathroom because of the tiles on the floor. I’m afraid if she knocks it off the counter it will hit the tile and shatter. Never, ever, did think THIS would happen. She dropped her phone into the toilet!
Ewwww!!!! And UGH!!!!
Thankfully the toilet was “clean” (meaning she wasn’t using it at the time). The toilet lid was up because my our son neglected to put it down.
My daughter said she never gave it a thought. As soon as she saw it hit the water she plunged her hand in the toilet to rescue it. I’m grateful the toilet was clean but still – EWWW!!!
The first thing she did before anything else was to see if it worked. It did but when she went to power off and then back on the phone wouldn’t turn back on. It was dead.
The Earth stopped rotating at that moment in time. Or at least in her world it did. She also has rainbows, pink clouds and rainbows in her world. Ha Ha.
There was not much we could do at that time. We were already running late to go upstate to meet my father and step-mother for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (LOVE that place!). We told her to leave her phone at home and we would look at it later. Well that wouldn’t fly with her. She had to take her dead phone with her, as if it would miraculously resuscitate it’s self on our trip upstate.
It goes without saying that our daughter was been a pure JOY (note the sarcasim) pretty much all day because she was going through texting withdrawls.
My husband and I pretty much assumed the phone was dead and she would have to wait until she can afford to buy a new one. It was not turning on or doing anything.
We felt like we shouldn’t replace her phone. She was not being responsible. She knew she was not suppose to bring the phone into the bathroom. Therefore she should be responsible for buying a new one. She makes $20/week walking our neighbor’s dog three days a week after school. She could easily save up for new phone in about two months. Her birthday is in May. I’m sure she would get more money for her birthday too.
Ha! Try telling a teen girl that she has to go without her cell phone for a few months. It’s pure torture! LOL!
My husband posted on his Facebook wall about what happened. Several people told us to put the phone and the battery (remove it from the phone ) in a bad of rice and leave it alone for a few days. The rice is suppose to absorb the water from inside the phone. Interesting…
Since we already had a dead phone we had nothing to loose except having rice as a side dish for dinner one day this week. We removed the battery and put the phone and battery in the bad, poured in rice and sealed it.
I lost track of how many times our daughter went into the kitchen to look at the phone. It’s as if she excepted it sitting on the counter waving “hello” at her.
We’ve had the phone in the rice for several hours so far today. About an hour ago my husband took the phone out of the bag. It wasn’t working. For the fun of it he put our son’s cell phone battery into our daughter’s cell phone (they have the same phone). To our surprise the phone turned on. It appears to be working just fine. Apparently all she did was kill the battery. I don’t know how much cell phone batteries cost. I’m hoping a lot less the the cell phone.
Our daughter knows nothing about this miracle. We figured we’d keep her in the dark about if for a while to teach her a lesson. Maybe NOW she’ll listen to us when we tell her NOT to bring the cell phone into the bathroom with her.
My husband will call our cell phone service provider tomorrow and see about a new battery. We pay for insurance, I’m just not sure if water damage counts. Depending on the cost he’ll order a new battery for her and let her sweat it out for a week or so until it arrives.
Let this post serve as a friendly reminder and tip. Never bring your phone into the bathroom with you (LOL) and if you have an cell phone or an item that has water in it that you need to dry up, put it in a bad full of rice and leave it for a day or two. Oddly enough it works!
Kimberly
Virginia from That Bald Chick says
I dropped my old cell phone in the toilet while at a blogging conference. Note, I said old cell phone.