Replace the phone, and make the 6-year-old pay for it (out of allowance, if there is one, or extra chores, or whatever). Six is old enough to know that you don’t grab other people’s stuff, and old enough to start learning that actions have consequences.
I have a six year old. If he broke the babysitters phone in such a way (and I’m assuming it was intentional on the child’s part; if the phone fell in the water because the child bumped it getting out of the tub, this does not apply) I would replace it immediately, and then make my son pay half the cost out of the money he’s been saving for a Wii. No way would I blame the sitter, he is plenty old enough to know better. And if phones weren’t so expensive, I’d make him pay the whole thing.
If it was an accident I would probably pay half. I just don’t think I would be 100% responsible in a situation like that, but I would feel some responsibility.
(Also, my six year old needs help in the bath; he can’t wash his own hair without getting soap in his eyes.)
ETA: Try drying it out, though! It will probably come back. I’ve never lost one due to water, and I’ve dropped several in rivers, baths, puddles, etc.
You know what, I changed my mind. I would pay for it if it was an accident, but I would not make my child pay. The sitter should have a phone in the bathroom in case something happens, and, even if it was an accident, it was my child’s fault. I am responsible, so I would pay.
So, basically, I would pay regardless, but if my kid did it on purpose, he would pay me back a significant portion. I don’t want to completely bankrupt him, though.
That’s a good point, I’d have the kid make amends, too, on some level (unless it was just a flat-out “oops”, which it doesn’t sound like). But I’d finish the project in a week or so, I don’t think 6-yr-olds have much in the way of memory capacity (at least that’s how it looks at every dance recital I’ve ever seen).
Nope. The only reason a teenager has her cell phone in the bathroom with her is so her friends can call her and she can call her friends - while you are paying her to watch your child.
Kids took baths for years without cellphones. I think the risk of my kid getting into trouble and the babysitter not noticing because she is gabbing with her friends is way higher than any benefit received from not having to walk into the room next door to call 911.
She shouldn’t have had the cell phone on the job to start with. Offer half to be nice.
(My cell phone is insured - because I’ve dropped it in the toilet (and dropped pagers in the toilet). Its easy to do. Its an accident, I wouldn’t make my kid pay a penny and the only reason I’d pay anything is because I’m being nice. By the way, if I’m paying the babysitter significantly over minimum wage, its a “cost of doing business” and I’m not paying at all.)
First, is the difference between calling 911 from the bathroom and calling 911 from two rooms away really going to be so significant as to factor here? Second, while I can’t speak to the OP’s bathroom, mine is large enough that I could set down a cell phone in it so as to be completely unreachable from the tub by a full-grown adult, let alone a six year-old. Peronally I’d offer 50% of the cost of a replacement phone because while the child was acting improperly the sitter was negligent in leaving her phone in the child’s reach.
Offer to replace the phone.
I can’t imagine doing anything else: it’s the classy way to deal with it. You come off as an asshole if you don’t make the offer – and follow through if the sitter takes you up on it.
If the babysitter’s phone was clipped to her belt and the 6-year-old grabbed it and doused it, then you probably owe the babysitter a phone. But if the phone was sitting on the edge of the tub or otherwise not secured, it’s the sitter’s fault.
I don’t think it matters much as to why the teen had the phone with her; in my book the parents need to pay for what their child wrecks.
While there have been some interesting points raised on either not paying for the phone, or going halfsies on it, just remember that anything short of paying for the whole thing will necessitate finding a new sitter. Even if she doesn’t quit flat out, she’s going to be pissed enough that you probably don’t want her to be sitting for your kids again. You want to make clear though, that going forward she’s responsible for keeping the phone out of the kid’s reach.
Hey wait - I just saw the “relative” part in the OP. The sitter is related to you? That could change things…
Yep, definitely pay to replace the phone and have the kid do some chores. Not a whole $100 worth, that would take forever, but for quite a while. A 6-yo should know better than to grab and dunk other people’s property.
Our 16-yo babysitter always has her cell phone with her and uses it as entertainment; my kids love to dance to her phone tunes. If she’s calling friends after my kids are in bed, I don’t mind a bit–she spends plenty of time at my house after their bedtime. And my 6-yo still needs help in the bathtub, with rinsing hair properly.
I’d replace the phone just because I tend to feel bad about situations like this one. But I’d be pretty worried about the sitter hanging around in the doorway of the bathroom, chatting with her friends, totally ignoring my child. Replace the phone, set up a hidden camera. 
Pay for the phone, and have the 6-year-old do some chores. She’s old enough to learn about being responsible for her actions, even if it was an accident.
Absolutely replace the phone. If your little kid breaks something that belongs to someone else, it’s up to you as their parent to make it right.
The only reason I can think for that phone being close to the tub is that she was holding in on her shoulder, talkin on it, while she bathed the kid.
That said, I would still pay her the phone, if she is a sitter I wanted to keep.
Oh, and offer to pay for it in the presence of her parents!
Well… six is plenty old enough to know not to mess with cell phones.
So, pay for a replacement.
Eww…image.
Pay for it. As a daycare teacher, I feel I’m responsible for my broken cell phone, but this is a 17-yr old girl. If you’re paying her above minimum wage, it’s different though. In that case, I’d like to know what the price of gas is in aint-gonna-happenville.
Anyone bathing a child should not have anything that could distract them. You are paying her to watch the child, not gab on her cell phone about what Angela said when Tony said what Jean told him about she saw Nikki at the DVD store with that awful guy that use to date Angela’s cousin’s ex-sister-in-law.
Replace the cell phone, then replace the sitter.
If you honestly think that no teenager is responsible enough to have a phone nearby without ignoring your kid to gab on it, and DON’T see a problem with a six year old destroying things that don’t belong to them, then I’m betting you don’t get out much.
6 is old enough to learn to ask before picking up something that belongs to someone else. 17 is old enough to know better than to leave something valuable and fragile where it could easily be damaged. In this case, the kid picked it up and dunked it. It could just as easily have been the sitter knocking it into the tub. Either way, it was an accident. And preventing accidents is a much more reasonable expectation of a 17-year old than of a 6-year old. I think the sitter has significant contributory negligence here, and should bear some of the responsibility.