My son, who's in fifth grade, had his friend over for a sleepover. The friend was sleeping on our five-hundred dollar couch, and during the night he had a wetting accident. The couch was completely ruined. Now his parents refuse to pay for the damage to the couch. They say it's the risk we run when there's a sleepover. What should I do? I'm considering taking them to small claims court or taking out an ad in the paper and telling everyone that their son wets the bed if they don't pay. But there's probably a better way to handle this.
I just answered a post from parents who were punishing there 10 year old for bed-wetting. The child can't control the problem and you may have opened up a mess for him at home. Call the carpet cleaners who advertise they remove pet stains and odors from carpet, it works on any upholstery. You can also buy Natures miracle in pet stores which does not harm fabric but helps get rid of stain and odor of urine. Don't black list the kid or alienate the parents. Talk it out nicely, with some compassion and concern. You're raising a stink (sorry about the reference), over a sofa. Get a grip, this was no doubt a horrible thing for the kid and embarrassing for the parents. Yes, I do think they should have offered to pay for cleaning, but I don't sense they got any compassion from you. The kid may need some help to stop wetting the bed - why not be a hero instead of worrying about a sofa.
You don't want to cause a lot of problems ruin the kids' friendship. I think announcing it to others is in poor taste. What if your son had an accident at someone else's house? He'd be embarrased enough, the parents don't need to make it any more humuliating for him. The boy should have been sleeping in a bed, or you should have layed something under him on the couch. I think the fairest thing would be for his parents to pay to have your couch shampooed. I do not think they should be responsible for replacing your couch. The child was under your supervision, not theirs, so it's your responsibility to replace the couch. Accidents do happen. He may not be a consistant bedwetter, maybe it only happens rarely, this was an unfortunate time. My son is 6 every once in awhile he pees the bed, so I don't find it necessary for him to wear big boy diapers to bed or tell people about it. I would be pissed if someone acted toward my son for something he couldn't control like you are. Put yourself in the kids shoes, quit being a booger about it think about if the situation was reversed.
Get the sofa professionally cleaned and Btw it's not the kids fault for pissing on your sofa while he was asleep the parents of the boy who peed on your sofa should have taken the responsibilities to tell you that he was a bed-wetter and should have sent with him diaper's or under jams for him to put on before going to sleep. I wouldn't take out an ad in the paper to spread the word that so and so's son is a bed-wetter and wont pay me for the damage done it could ruin the boys friendship. I think your a shallow cold hearted person for being so shallow it's just a piece of furniture that can be cleaned come on seriously why make a big deal out of nothing.
This MUST be a joke. A $500 couch? I haven't seen a couch for less than four figures, that was meant for anything better than a trailer home. Consider yourself lucky that you not only had the good fortune of having a couch that was $500 (not 5-figures) wet on, but that you have found a place where couches are only $500! Then please pass along the place where others can get a couch for $500, all the places I frequent are in the thousands, often ten thousand plus. Also taking out a newspaper ad may be a libel lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe not, but never assume that you have the upper hand, and never deal the other person a better hand. Just deal with it, and don't have a sleepover again, or if you do, make them sleep on the floor. Seriously, taking out a newspaper ad is not very adult like.
This is pathetic!! You want to embarrass a CHILD over a $500 sofa?! Get over it! I agree with the parents that it's a risk you run when there's a sleep-over. That's probably one of the reasons why most of us use air mattresses for sleep-overs~~they're a lot easier to clean. At this point your only option in my opinion is to either get that sofa cleaned or just replace it. I wouldn't bother the parents any more over this at all. Its going to lead to hard feelings and your son may lose a good friend over this. Now you've learned something about sleep-overs so you'll know how to handle this better next time. Good luck!
