When Money Doesn't Grow On Trees

I'm picky about my belongings. I take good care of my things because ultimately I don't want them broken or ruined. Sometimes I go a little overboard, but it comes down to me not wanting to have to spend money to replace something that was needlessly or carelessly destroyed. This carefulness has extended to a lot of my kids' things. I realize they are kids and some toys are going to get broken and that type of thing doesn't both me so much when they are little or if the toys are inexpensive. However, when older children (I'd say four or older) are careless or reckless with belongings and those belongings as a result get broken it upsets me. Obviously, the more expensive the toy the more upset I usually am. As a general rule we try not to buy overly expensive things. However, our children do have some nice toys that were pricey and honestly, I don't have the money to constantly throw around to replace "big ticket" items when they are damaged. It is an expectation that our kids play with toys the way they were intended and I can say that 99 percent of the time we have zero issues with that. They don't break their toys or treat them roughly or recklessly.

So, this morning when my daughter almost broke my son's new train table I about blew a gasket. My husband and I bought him a train set for his birthday. When we bought it we thought he could just play with it on the floor. That was until we opened it, saw how elaborate it was, and realized if we didn't get a train table for it I would be putting it together multiple times a day. No thank you. Off we went last night to buy him a train table, which we put together so it would be all ready this morning.

Fast forward to this morning when the kids are playing at the table, start fighting over a train, and my daughter starts jumping up and down wildly as if that will somehow solve something and comes down on the open drawer. I couldn't see the end result yet, but in my mind I thought for sure it was broken. It fortunately was not. Had she landed a few centimeters to the left she would have ripped the drawer right out of the table. Either way, I was mad (more at her behavior than the result) and she was sent to her room.

I know this may be a flaw, but honestly I don't care. I like my things, and by extension my kids' things, a certain way and I also don't want them getting into the habit of thinking it is okay to treat something badly and oh well if it breaks. What are/were some of your pet peeves when it came to your children's toys?