An Artist’s Nephew Ruined Her Work, and She Now Wants Her Sister to Compensate the Damages

Recently, an artist welcomed her sister and nephew, who visited her. While the women were chatting, the 6-year-old ruined the artist’s complicated sketches. So, she demanded compensation from her sister, but she was unsure if she did the right thing because he was only a child and her nephew. She asked the opinion of Internet users, which she got.

This is what she wrote.

I (32F) am an artist, and I recently had one of the biggest commissions of my career — a large mural for a local business. It took me weeks of planning and about 10 days of actual painting. I stored the final sketches and painted samples in my home office.

Last weekend, my sister (36 y.o.) and her family came over for a visit. She has a 6-year-old son, Ethan. While chatting in the living room, Ethan went off to play. A little while later, I walked into my office to find Ethan had found my watercolors and decided to “add” to my sketches and painted samples. He essentially ruined weeks of work.

I was furious and immediately asked my sister to supervise her child more closely. My sister apologized, but when I mentioned she needed to cover the damages and the cost to redo the work, she scoffed and said it was “just a drawing” and that kids would be kids.

The business was expecting the mural installation in less than a week. I had to work around the clock to redo everything. It cost me sleep, extra materials, and a rush fee to get some supplies delivered ASAP.

My sister is now angry with me for sending her an invoice for the damages, and we haven’t spoken in days. My family is divided — some say I’m right for wanting compensation, while others think I’m being too harsh on a child’s innocent mistake. © InternalSurround5317 / Reddit

Internet users’ opinions

• These parents think their little angels don’t need supervision and can’t do any wrong, giving parents a bad name. First, that child should not be allowed to wander off unsupervised. He could have gotten hurt by trying to play with something dangerous. Secondly, a 6-year-old should, by now, know that they need to ask to use something that isn’t theirs. He could have asked, and you could have given him some scrap paper, paints, and 2 old brushes to knock himself out. Third, because of the parent’s lack of parenting, the child costs a business a lot of money. Now the mother won’t pay because faaaaaamily. And, apparently, it’s okay to cost your family money without consequences. You are not harsh on the child. You are harsh on the parent for not parenting that child. © FreijaVanir / Reddit
• Yup, and in this case, the little angel’s mistake cost the artist weeks’ worth of work and put her job at risk. Besides, going easy on the kid teaches him nothing. The kid needs to learn there are consequences for his actions. © 8inchSalvattore / Reddit
• It’s not just the kid that needs to learn that there are consequences, but sister should learn that there are consequences for not supervising her children, too, and this consequence was fairly minor, all things considered. © madlyqueen / Reddit

• Being charged for materials and not even time is an extremely light consequence. I would not let her through my front door again until she makes recompense. © asecretnarwhal / Reddit
• All of this. But also, put a lock on the door to the room where this stuff is stored in case the company comes again. © Izzy4162305 / Reddit
• Yep, people are sort of glossing over that. You know you’re about to have a child in your home, so why not take precautions to make sure the child can’t ruin anything important? Obviously, the sister should be aware of where the kid is, but kids are generally pretty destructive. He could have stumbled upon the picture and accidentally broken it. I’m not blaming you, but it’s pretty easy to take small preventative measures to protect things that are important to you. Especially in your own home. © capdoesit / Reddit
• Yeah. Imagine the kid tried to eat some of the paint. Or decided to grab a knife/pair of scissors you kept in the area for your work? So many things could have happened to this kid because their parent couldn’t be bothered to parent. © Putrid_Performer2509 / Reddit
• Her kid did the damage, she should pay. It’s no different than if he knocked over a TV. © _SkullBearer_ / Reddit

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In one of the comments, the story’s author thanked everyone for their words of support. Do you think the sister should compensate for the damage in full?

And here’s a story about a bride who asked how she should deal with her mother-in-law, and people advised her to cancel the wedding.