Our van was vandalized last night

[Ciel]

What seems to be not said here is the possible bigger impact on the family that could have more reach than just discovering the damage inside the van. We are acknowledging the emotional/psychological impacts, the financial impact to fix the damage but what if:
1) the vandalism effectively meant that the family member who needed the van for work (because it is far away or there is no transit service at all or not for the late shifts) lost his/her job?
2) put a family member's health in jeopardy because there is no vehicle to allow for an emergency visit to the doctor hospital as his/her condition necessitated?
3) one did not have a credit card, savings or friends and family to help deal with the first couple of days without the van and the sense of lost privacy/security of residency? People do live cheque to cheque or from cash job to cash job.

I do think that besides contacting the school, the police need to get involved, so there is a visit to that household without Dave needing to set foot at their residence. If the kids get charged via the parents (who probably have to ante up repair money or something to offset the damage), it might make the family aware of consequences-though the family could also carry a perpetual chip on their shoulders if they cross paths with your family. Or this family may have a parent who will be suddenly eager to work out some kind of deal in order to avoid charges---because that parent could face a legal situation of their own that could impact their income/benefits.

If your kids' school have a counsellor (or if the community has a victim services program), I'd suggest a visit with him/her to see what help can be provided for them to deal with lingering fears/concerns given that they have been bullied.

[Judstir]

So glad that you know who "done" it. Still not a nice thing to find when you go out to the van. A good punishment would be to have the boys help plant the trees back.

[Lynn49]

Good morning, my Friend....have you and your kids planted any or all of those trees? Do you expect them to survive?
I hope they do, in spite of their trauma...

[kanewtz]

Wireless

Video

Surveillance

Cheap and Easy!

[DiamondLil]

So glad that you know who "done" it. Still not a nice thing to find when you go out to the van. A good punishment would be to have the boys help plant the trees back.

Good point Judstir - also a good punishment would have been to have the boys clean out the mess they made in your van.

[gameprogirl]

Sorry to hear about your little vandals
I'm glad that it wasn't some psycho.
Hopefully the kids learned a lesson. I hope your little tree's survive.

[toban]

Dave I'm sorry your van was vandalized. It's good idea you spoke to the parents. Maybe the kids need to help clean up the mess they made as a form of punishment.

[DaveP]

So glad that you know who "done" it. Still not a nice thing to find when you go out to the van. A good punishment would be to have the boys help plant the trees back.

Good morning, my Friend....have you and your kids planted any or all of those trees? Do you expect them to survive?
I hope they do, in spite of their trauma...

Good idea, but by the time we found out who did it we had already replanted the trees. Lynn, it looks like 3 will survive - not looking so good for the others, though.

Wireless

Video

Surveillance

Cheap and Easy!

If things like this became a regular thing I definitely would (along with land-mines), but this was just random bad luck caused by little ones. the neighborhood is pretty good.

Good point Judstir - also a good punishment would have been to have the boys clean out the mess they made in your van.

Dave I'm sorry your van was vandalized. It's good idea you spoke to the parents. Maybe the kids need to help clean up the mess they made as a form of punishment.

Yes, but we already had the van cleaned out (took hours) before we found out who did it. Too bad, that would have taught them a lesson.

Sorry to hear about your little vandals
I'm glad that it wasn't some psycho.
Hopefully the kids learned a lesson. I hope your little tree's survive.

Thank you.

All of you.