What To Do, What To Do...

Last summer Daughter got a laptop from her father for her birthday. A while ago, she dropped it and now it has to be repaired. The reparations aren't covered by Dell's one-year warranty. To fix the computer would cost almost $300. This is incredibly expensive and I really don't want to have to pay for it. I thought that an alternative might be to get another computer used and just switch the mother boards. Daughter isn't happy about this idea because she wants to keep her computer. The one her father gave her. She says she is even willing to pay for the repairs, but I don't want her to spend her money on this. I want her to keep it in the bank. What I would really like is for her dad to pay for the repairs, but I'm afraid to ask him. I'm sure he would point out all the money he has to spend on airfare and hotels whenever he visits the kids, and of course the fact that I see to their every need with no financial help whatsoever is irrelevant. 

So, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. I would really like to make a decision because until I do nothing is going to get done. It's a toss-up between saving money, or helping Daughter hang on to the birthday present she got from her father. In this instance, I don't think it is a question of being materialistic. I think it's really about the sentimental value Daughter attributes to her laptop. Still, I don't want to be the one to foot the bill.

Nothing's going to happen until I make a decision, but I seem to be able to do nothing but procrastinate over this one. Secretly I am hoping that the problem will just go away, but I know that won't happen. I guess eventually I will have to ask Daughter's father for the money, but I am afraid he won't pay and the worst thing is of course that he tells her everything, and I don't need him badmouthing me to her about how cheap I am. It is true that I don't particularly like computers and I'm not happy about all the time she spends online, but this is really about me being frugal and, after all, it is her father who gave her the computer. I wish he had gotten a better warranty to cover this kind of thing. Daughter is only 11 years old. She dropped her laptop. Didn't he foresee that something like this might happen?

For now, I seem to be a prisoner of inertia. Something's gonna have to happen to get me moving. I just don't know what.