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| I dunno, if it were ME, I'd have my Swiss HUSBAND (the one with the common language) call the boy's parents.
Regardless of the circumstances, if your son damaged the jacket AND someone from the family has tried multiple times to get this resolved, the next step imo is the responsibility of YOUR family. Why make them (regardless of who is making the phone calls, perhaps the son is the only one who can speak English with you) keep chasing you down?
So far, all you really have are these things:
A case of he-said / he-said... your son says the other boy threw a punch, the boy says your son is responsible for damage to his jacket... who knows what the truth is - it's not like 13 / 14 year old kids are known for telling "the truth, the whole truth and nothin' but the truth."
More than one phone call from the boy's family (as represented by the boy) to your family to discuss recompense for the damages.
Keep in mind that kids in Switzerland are very different from kids in many "English-speaking areas" - while the US is what I'm familiar with and what comes to mind for me (of course) - the reaction of some of the folks from Aus and UK with regards to things behaviors and expectations of children here, I do not find it surprising in the least that a 13 / 14 yo boy here would be expected to handle things himself.
After all, he's (presumably) been able to find his way to school all by himself since he was 4 - not many American kids are even allowed (let alone expected) to wait at a bus stop across the street from their house at 10 let alone the ages Swiss kids are left to their own devices.
So, again, quit dilly-dallying and speculating and have your husband call them. Seems a relatively simple way to get to the bottom of things. | |
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My Swiss husband will accept a call from one of the parents of the boy. No one in the family has tried multiple times to make contact with us. The other boy has rung twice - tonight being the second time. I did not speak English with him, we spoke in German. He does not have to keep chasing us down. We sent him a letter saying when his mother could contact us and she didn't bother.
I have not said "..he said, she said.." but simply given a representation of the facts as agreed by all parties.
Although the other family obviously seem to expect their son to deal with the matter on his own - can they really expect our 13 year old to stump up CHF 400 without the involvement of his parents.