Son broke Mum in Law's ornament- help please?

tiamai_d

mrcow wrote: »

Perhaps you missed this bit?





Well I don't have any ornaments as I think they're tacky and I don't like clutter, so no, but I do have a £1500 dining table and 6 dining chairs that cost £200 each in the area that my children play in the most (I have an open plan 400 square ft living/dining room so don't really have a choice) which they don't touch. I also have other expensive furniture and equipment that they don't abuse or break. Why would they? They have toys to play with.

My mother on the other hand has a house filled with sentimental stuff and ornaments. It's everywhere, on the tables, sides & hearth etc. They don't touch any of that either.

My kids are 7, 3 & 1 for the record. Their cousins are 6,5,4 and 2 and they don't touch any of it either.

Obviously breakages happen. Accidents can always happen (just like my Virgin Mary incident). Perhaps some are more avoidable than others, but them's the breaks. I've had kids round before who have broken stuff and I've not been angry (upset perhaps, in particualr when one child smashed one very sentimental wine glass from a set I have). It's life.....and it's just stuff.

I did miss that bit, and seeing as you didn't show your source, I can't go and check it out.

A dining table is different, it's rather too large to put on a rickety shelf.

mrcow

tiamai_d wrote: »

I did miss that bit, and seeing as you didn't show your source, I can't go and check it out.

.

Post #1

(Not really difficult to spot - it's the post you were pulling info from yourself!)

clairehi

Dont most contents policies have a limit on single items (especially "valuables"?) - unless the item in question is specifically mentioned on the policy? Mine is £500 iirc. so would not cover something like this.

KellyWelly

mrcow wrote: »

Do your kids not understand the difference between toys and ornaments?
Do they understand a request not to touch something?
Do they understand that you don't charge round other people's houses, especially if they've been asked not to?

It's got nothing to do with deserving a medal. It's about bringng your kids up right.

!!!!!!.

It's hardly rocket science (or is it?).

How do your kids behave in public places? Are they "running around" in shops too?

If your kid broke something in a store, would it be the shop's fault for daring to have stuff out on display in the first place?

Sheesh......I'm getting worried by some of these remarks. Are some parents seriously that out of control of their own children that we have to wrap up our houses and surroundings in cotton wool in case their unruley kids can't contain themselves? Take a bit of responsibilty for crying out loud.

I am the only person responsible for my kids and the way they behave and it just so happens that they are well behaved and I wouldn't hesitate to take them anywhere. I've taken my children to crystal shops and all around department stores with all manner of breakable things, they've never broken anything, but if they did it would be my fault for taking them in there and I would have to pay for it.

But in their own home my children should be able to relax and play and behave a little crazy sometimes without the risk of breaking thousands of pounds worth of ornaments.

This is a stupid thread anyway - whether it was stolen from a home or stolen from the factory, it was nicked and she shouldn't have had it anyway. It's one thing to save money - it's another to steal.

mrcow

KellyWelly wrote: »

I am the only person responsible for my kids and the way they behave and it just so happens that they are well behaved and I wouldn't hesitate to take them anywhere. I've taken my children to crystal shops and all around department stores with all manner of breakable things, they've never broken anything

Here - have a medal, innit

seven-day-weekend

Whilst on the Pride of Bilbao going across the Bay of Biscay a couple of years ago, there was a group of about half-a-dozen kids running riot. Up and down the stairs, constantly travelling in the lifts so that others couldn't use them, etc.

I told them not to play in the lifts, got a mouthful, so I reported them to a steward.

I don't mind kids playing and running around. It's when it's INAPPROPRIATE running around that people get p'd off.

I don't know whether the OP's child was being inappropriately boisterous or not, but I do think that people should not have to child-proof their homes - the children should be taught to behave appropriately in them.

Geenie

For goodness sake, it is only a bit of glass at the end of the day! I have stuff in my house going back 300 years + that has metal rivets and gluing from decades of children being around and breaking!! What does it matter?!! I know what is more precious to my life and that of my family, and it isn't any ornament gathering dust in a rickety cabinet!

Despite the best intentions, accidents happen sometimes, and the grandparents of my kids put stuff away if they knew the youngsters were coming around and they had concerns about certain things being of value!

Common sense is missing at times.

Savvy_Sue

Could I just remind you all to be nice to each other while disagreeing about who's at fault, the OP or her MIL?

My MIL has a useful phrase, even now mine are taller than me: "Look with your eyes, not with your hands!"

CelticStar

Zazen999 wrote: »

Because they are kids...exciteable, energetic, fun filled, enthusiastic kids.

When did we become a nation where possessions are more valuable than children being children?

That's nonsensical, as my post did not imply that we should do that either.

Kids are still members of society and it is the responsibility of parents to make them understand that - they should have fun, but within boundaries. None of us are allowed to do precisely what we want to do without regard to the consequences, we have to take other people's needs into consideration as well - unless we are nasty, selfish, antisocial people of course. There really are some bizarre attitudes to children nowadays, they are either idolised and wrapped in cotton wool or ignored and allowed to run riot - and sometimes they are idolised and allowed to run riot. I had a great time as a child in the 1970s but I wasn't allowed to please myself regardless and I personally think that children need some rules in order to make them feel safe.

Spendless

If I'd had dd first and she'd remained an only child that I would be congratulating myself on my amazingly wonderful parenting skillz but I didn't I got ds first and he is as boisterous as they come. That doesn't mean I don't say don't run, watch what you are doing, be careful but it doesn't stop his tendnacy towards boisterousness. For this reason I don't have ornaments about. I don't expect other people to put their stuff away when we visit, but I do tell them to not go near it but their stuff is in a china cabinet tucked in a corner, not out on display in a hallway. Put in the same situation as the OP yes maybe mine would have broken something too.
I do like the suggestions about taking it in to a shop to see if it can be repaired (I also agree it's hideous, regardless of worth!).

And as to boisterous kids (mine included). A relatives child was a little so and so growing up, whilst a friend's child never put a foot wrong- till they got to the teenage years that is. Relatives child did well at exams, is applying to uni, goes to army cadets, climbed mount everest this year with them. Friend's child is a drop-out with a police record. I remind myself of this every so often.