What's the most expensive thing you broke as a kid and what's the story behind it?
Mine was our CRT TV. I would rapidly push the power button on and off because I thought the picture coming and going looked cool but eventually it fell inside of the TV. I think I later stuck a magnet on the TV.
Not looking for Reddit answers like "My parent's marriage"
When I was 6 I microwaved a metal measuring cup full of water, which ended up arcing and burning out the transformer. Apparently it fucked up my parents' finances for a while at the time
I have a similar story, when I was young I had this weekly science magazine that would come in the mail.
The one page showed a match lit in a microwave with a glass measuring cup to catch the hot plasma. I obviously tried it because it looked cool. When my mother heard the microwave making all kinds of noises she opened it up and pulled out the measuring cup not realising that its really hot, she dropped it and it shattered all over.
Early 2000s. My dad is a farmer and it was a rough year for the harvest. It didn't help that my parents were pretty poor for a long time, and didn't seem to recover until after their divorce during the 2008-9 financial crises
Eventually. My dad saw an improvement with corn and soybean yields for multiple years in a row in a very strong market, as well as getting his crane operator license so he could move grain bins and paying off several debts. My mom moved to the same town as her job, got some promotions, picked up a couple weekend gigs bartending at the local bar, and heavily subsidized groceries by going to meat raffles.