And I'm talking about the kind of charity that feeds impoverished kids in third world countries.

Nope, charity begins at home. I always find it odd how some people prefer to save their generosity for complete strangers (who could be jerkwads) and not their own friends and family.

I'm not saying don't buy anything for your kids and spend all your money on charity, but I think an iPod touch for a kid who probably won't appreciate it is far from charity. They'll just be become spoiled brats if you give them everything they want. With that same amount of money you can feed some starving kid for months.

I'd rather feed the hungry people in my own neighborhood than send my money halfway across the world. AND where do you get the idea that the child is a brat? Because someone gave her an expensive gift, and she misplaced it? It makes her disorganized, scatterbrained, easily distracted, or unlucky (could have fallen out of her purse or something) but not a brat. She COULD be a brat, but that can't be proven by anything in the FML. I do things like that all the time. I melted part of my ipod in the drier once because I didnt realize it was in my pocket. I didn't expect anyone to get me another one, I didn't ask anyone to. I was angry (with myself) but there was nothing that could be done. I dont think my forgetfulness makes me less of a person..... perhaps a slightly more destructive person, but I'm a pretty clumsy person too, and that's far more destructive than being forgetful. I lose things, but I am not a brat. I am grateful for the things I have, but have too many other things in my mind to focus on where everything is. I raised my two sisters. I am a college student. I am engaged. My best friends grandmother is very ill. I'm trying to help my father save his house. I've got other things on my mind that sometimes take priority over where I'm putting my things, or if I'm leaving them in my pockets. (Don't take this rant personally. Tons of people have been saying similar things to yours. You just happened to get my attention because it used the word brat. ) I'd like to make it clear that I think OPs daughter should not have had an ipod touch. If you know that you are clumsy, or scatterbrained, or in any other way likely to destroy something expensive, then you should know better than to have those things. OR find ones that are really durable, for example iPod nanos are practically indestructible (unless you melt the hold button, then you're ******.) so if she wants an ipod get her that.

Why does it bother you? People work and earn money, they can spend it as they wish. Buying your child an iPod is hardly a crime against humanity. Besides how do you know the OP doesn't give money to charity and how are so sure that the kid is spoilt?

Look guys I'm not talking specifically about the OP, this is just an issue that the OP reminded me about which was why I posted what I did. The issue being the fact that generally we as a society would spend billions of dollars in luxury (toys, spectator sports, entertainment etc) but few of us would spend a small portion of that money sponsoring a child in Africa or buying a sandwich for the homeless old man living on the streets 2 blocks away. And yes I admit that this is a long jump from a story of a kid having and losing an iPod Touch.

You hate your family, don't you? You can tell us, we're the Interwebs.

You can do good and still have toys. In fact, when you can do both it is quite satisfying. The way I look at it is, Bless you if you can help and you do and if you don't, no problem it is a free country. If you work hard enough to get some then you and only you should decide what to do with it. When you do give of yourself it is amazing what comes back to you sometimes especially when you don't expect it.

Yea of course I'm not telling everybody how they should spend their money. It just bothers me that, given free choice, people would rather waste it on useless things than help people with it.

what does a boom box have to do with this? there is never mistaking a boombox going into the wash. That's not really pocket material.

The point of age and type of gift you recieve.

I'm sorry, but just because we don't do our own washing, doesn't mean that we are irresponsible teenage brats. I'm eighteen, and I don't do my own washing, because my mother has certain ways of doing things, and she finds it easier to do everyones at once, than having three of us trying to do our own loads. Plus it's saving water by doing a full load than heaps of half loads. I'm not irresponsible, and yes we do make mistakes, and leave important things in our pockets, and yes we do only have ourselves to blame. But we feel terrible if our parents have bought us these things and in a moment of our haste to do something else (I don't know, like VCE? or Year 12 or something equally as important?) we forget to do these minor things. We learn from these mistakes, I left a USB drive in my pocket and it had an assignment on it which was worth 1/4 of my final history mark. And it didn't work afterwards. I've now learnt my lesson, check my pockets. Sure, it wasn't a smart thing to do, leave an expensive iPod touch in your pocket OP daughter, but maybe she'll learn her lesson.