Mark breaks things

I could catalog a long list of things belonging to Adam and me that Mark has broken.  Furniture, car doors, and lots (and lots) of decorative things.  I can now add the microwave to the list.

His destructive tendencies are just part of the Mark package.  Also, this is what I see when I see Mark so I can't manage to stay mad at him for longer than 20 seconds.

A few nights ago he was using the microwave and through some extra oomph that he gave the door (Mark = extra oomph), it broke.  It won't latch properly and so the microwave won't work.

Mark was apologetic and wanted to try to fix it.  He is good at fixing things, which is nice considering how he breaks things.  He wondered if we could get a new latch or just a new door.  He's ready and willing to do whatever he can to make it right.

I told him I didn't think buying microwave parts was a thing.  I don't know.

Adam and I talked about it and decided that since Mark is the main one that uses the microwave (with the 2-3 extra meals he has every day), maybe we'd just wait awhile to replace it.  We don't want Mark to think that he can throw the microwave door around and we'll just buy a new one for him to mistreat.  We want him to feel the consequences for awhile.

Then last night when I was making dinner I needed the microwave to heat up some frozen vegetables.

So we find ourselves riding that razor sharp line of making kids feel consequences and not wanting to feel them ourselves.  We may get a new one sooner than we thought....

I won't be writing a parenting book any time soon.