Indeed, it's not just that I'm anxious the toy will break. It's that I'm anxious the behavior will continue and the replacement will be broken in short order and so on.
Obviously this depends on the age of the child and the cost of the replacement, which are outside the parent's control, but how quickly the toy is replaced can be a factor too. When a toddler drops a toy behind some furniture (on purpose, multiple times) you can leave it there for a week or two, and they will learn not to do that with things they care about.
At some point in time you made the determination that the value of the child possessing that item was greater than the cost to purchase said item. While them breaking the item may have changed the equation, generally it doesn't. In real life if you accidentally break something, you replace it and move on. If the child is old enough perhaps have the replacement come out of their allowance/have them do something in exchange, but if they are too young to take care of the issue themselves, they are too young to be responsible for taking care of the issue.
I've tried preaching philosophy to my toddler but he just doesn't seem to get it for some reason :) Some toys do get "broken" (but easily fixed so they reappear in a week or more), but out of sight means out of mind! He won't even remember it exists as soon as he gets thirsty and wants his drink instead, so effectively there are already zero consequences outside of a minute of anguish. I, on the other hand, do like the option of having toys to distract him while fixing dinner and some are way more effective than most.
Make them work for it. If they break a toy, they have to work to get the replacement. Very early on, that might just mean doing their chores on time, or reading a book, or whatever - but the point is that when they break something, it takes work to replace.
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