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

suckmaster.burstingfoam

"Oh, it had such sentimental value. It seems like only yesterday when that Burglar Bill came around, in his black and white striped jumper. I was so delighted when he delved into his big bag marked 'SWAG' and pulled out that revolting ornament. Such treasured memories - nothing could ever replace it'.

bikerqueen

suckmaster.burstingfoam wrote: »

"Oh, it had such sentimental value. It seems like only yesterday when that Burglar Bill came around, in his black and white striped jumper. I was so delighted when he delved into his big bag marked 'SWAG' and pulled out that revolting ornament. Such treasured memories - nothing could ever replace it'.

lol.

a lot.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Kaz2904 wrote: »

We all went to Mum in Law's for a snack earlier and my nephew and DS were winding up my niece and DD. Mil has a shelving unit in her halway that has glass ornaments on it. I've always worried about it cause it's always looked a bit rickety. Anyway DS and nephew were in hallway and nephew came back in. Then we heard a chink and DS came in, in tears, with an ornament in his hands saying "It was an accident- it fell...".
We told him off (a real *ollocking because I get upset when they break things). One of the others came out and asked what was the matter and I said that DS had broken an ornament. Mil said "Well it's not just an ornament, it's a Swarovski...."
I knew she was upset. DH & I have been together for 11 years and it's been there since before then (one of the reasons I've always hated it being out since the kids were born).

As soon as I was home and got the kids to bed (DS is 4) I went on ebay to try and find a replacement. I can't find one. DH says he thinks it's called Lovebirds so I googled it. It turns out that this piece is worth around £2600+. Having worked my way around google, the only items I can find are in America for $3001+. Now I know that MiL wasn't upset because of the price. None of us knew how much it was worth. I would say to try and claim it off the insurance to get another. BiL says she won't get that much and DH and he both think that we should never tell her how much it is worth. DH says that we should try to get it repaired and look to spend a few hundred ££££s doing so. Personally I think it should be replaced with a mint item if we can get one.

Either way, repaired it will be worthless and replaced it will be sentimentally worthless. What the heck do I do? We mentioned the insurance to BiL when we rang him but he said that she wouldn't get that amount.

Another issue we have is that we don't have any purchase proof for it as it was "slightly warm" when it arrived at MiL's.
Obviously I can't won't say who it was from but I think that the sentimental value far outweighs the monetary value on this item. However, I can't ignore the monetary value on it as it was my son who broke it. I know she never bought it and as she said (despite being very upset) karma comes around eventually.

What would you guys do? I'm really upset, 1 because MiL has lost something she really loved, 2 my son did it, 3 it's going to cost us an absolute fortune to replace, 4 it looked like a piece of tat, 5 it was warm, 6 BiL and his wife (when hearing how much it was worth both gasped and said "that's an inheritance" tongue in cheek I hope).

My main problem is how upset she will be about it's loss. My kids have broken nearly all of my jewellery when they were tiny due to being able to get to it and I wanted to cry. It's not replaceable so I hope it's repairable.
I know DH could have tried to buy new of the same thing but it wouldn't have meant the same. If I'd known it was worth the amount this ornament was then would I have felt differently?
Trouble is, jewellery is jewellery. I would know it was repaired but you couldn't tell. Crystal can't be repaired that easily can it?


OMG what a long rambling post! I suppose what I really want you all to say is don't worry Kaz, it was all a horrible nightmare. The worst of it is that it was fluke that it was DS not my nephew. Then I could be sitting at home feeling all smug about how my children had never caused that amount of damage!

DS bit me today too little !!!!!! on my btm and left teeth marks. He's not bitten since he was little and suddenly started doing it in the last couple of weeks since he's been at school. Think I shal have a word with his teacher on Monday. (To think- he was the quiet one!)

Are you saying this piece was originally stolen?

Mutter_2

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK wrote: »

Are you saying this piece was originally stolen?

Well that's just it. Kaz said "slightly warm", it could be provenance unknown or passed down a chain of handlers from originally stolen.
In that case though, why would it have sentimental value?
Go on Kaz, we don't know you or them. Please expand a little.

teeni

I Have a piece of lalique which i treasure and like this piece is very valuable and irreplacable as it is a one off. Therefore i keep it on display in a locked display cabinet, I can enjoy it and my grandchildren or anybody else for that matter, can not have any unfortunate accidents with it.

I can understand why your mil is upset but the piece is replaceable and she could claim on her insurance unless she beleives that they will find out its true origin.

If i were her i would be horrified to think that you were so upset but every body is different i suppose. I disagree with a lot on here mind, your son is only young and you knew the display shelves were in the passage so why were the children allowed to play near there especially if you were concerned the shelves could collapse the accident could have resulted in an injury.

When my own children were small i kept my house child proof now i expect to be able to have what i want, where i want and for visitors who ever they are to respect my space and not act in a way that puts things at risk. Or are people saying that you can never have your home the way you want it.

If i were you i woud discuss this with your mil and ask what action she expects you to take, you may find that you are worrying for mothing.

silvercar

Lesson for MIL not to leave trinkets around with grandchildren. At least now you can joke for her to clear ornaments before your arrival. This really was an accident waiting to happen.

If you feel the need to make further amends, I would buy a cheap biece of genuine swaroski by way of apology.

Its MIL decision alone whether to claim on insurance.

seven-day-weekend

I must admit I agree with teeni about child-proofing the house, why should she? The children should not have been allowed to play where there is a glass cabinet full of ornaments.

However, it WAS an accident and I think you should just apologise and buy her a small piece as a goodwill gesture. Things happen.

viktory

I felt really sad that the poor child got a 'real bollocking'. Poor little sod, these things happen - he didn't do it on purpose and in my opinion shouldn't have been told off. I am forever breaking things and dont tell my kids off if they break something.

I also think that your MIL should not have left slightly hooky, valuable ornaments lying around when young children are around. I also think that you should buy her another (similar if possible), cheaper ornament that is not going to break the bank to say sorry and let her decide if she wants to claim off her home contents insurance.

Slightly off topic - but my Mum used to have a gorgeous white worktop (can't remember what material). I was round there once and she asked me to switch the vegetables on. Unbeknown to me there was no water in them as she added water from the kettle before bringing to the boil. The pan burned and in my panic I picked it up and plonked it right in the middle of this pristine worktop. Of course the pan burned the worktop really badly. I burst into tears and all my Mum did was comfort me and tell me it didn't matter. They had to replace all the worktop because of my stupidity but never made me feel any worse than I already did.

That, to my mind, is the reaction your son should have got. He didn't break the ornament intentionally and should not have been chastised.

~Chameleon~

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I must admit I agree with teeni about child-proofing the house, why should she? The children should not have been allowed to play where there is a glass cabinet full of ornaments.

However, it WAS an accident and I think you should just apologise and buy her a small piece as a goodwill gesture. Things happen.

There are some very reasonably priced pieces featuring birds here ...

http://www.firstireland.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=776&numRecordPosition=1&strPageHistory=cat&strKeywords=&strSearchCriteria=

Errata

I would guess there's plenty of pseudo Swarovski knocking about. Suggest the OP buys her MIL a lump of it, probably get it cheap in the market.
Give it to MIL nicely wrapped up whilst pointing out the smashed original could have had her son's eye out !