Lesson on being responsible

The littlest has a habit of losing things. Ever since he started primary school, I lost count on the number of erasers, pencil covers and colour pencils that went missing mysteriously. I do not wish to count how many but whenever I query him, he would give his favourite one-liner answer "I don't know!". Yah...good try son!

I can't remember how many times I try to threaten to make him pay by deducting his pocket money. He has been given too many chances to repent coz this mama is too soft hearted. The final straw came when he brought back a piece of paper from the school library one fine day. 

Apparently, the school librarian told him that there was an overdue book which he did not return after the loan expired. Panic mode was on and we searched high and low in the house, called all the possible public libraries (which we visited frequently) to check if there were any possibilities I could have dropped it in without my knowledge. In the end, the book remained unfounded. He was told that either he need to pay $xx back to the school or go and buy the same book for compensation. Luckily the school librarian was kind enough to let us know where to buy as a cheaper alternative.

Of course, I was very angry with him for being so irresponsible in taking care of his stuff. To make sure he has learnt his lesson, I demanded him to fork out his own pocket money savings to pay for the book. Otherwise, he would not have any sense of responsibility to look after anything. He was feeling the pinched when he knew he has to pay this much from his savings.

Sometimes, I was asking myself if I was too harsh on him? As his mom, I think this will be a good chance to make him remember his mistake and make sure that he has learnt the valuable lesson on how to take care of other people's property.