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

3_cheeky_princesses

Just thought i would add as some others have that if it came from the factory then theres a good chance it was a second so wouldnt have the sort of value you have been looking at. If you still feel bad then buy MIL something affordable as a gesture of goodwill then move on from it.

chewits

sturgeon62 wrote: »

A little off track but thought I'd share with you. My mum always says the Grandkids are just making "memories", unfortunately she has quite a few. The best one was made by my son and nephew who were sleeping over, she decided to let them sleep downstairs as there was more room. They were about eleven at the time. It all appeared ok until several days later when she thought the little girl and cart on the mantelpiece looked odd. On closer inspection it was in several bits and was held together with blutack! When we later asked the boys about it they said it was both of them and the blutack was the only thing they could find. They had rifled the office and it was that or selotape. I think she cares more for the ornament now then she did before.

Would your son and nephew be able to repair the lovebirds do you think? OP would probably happily provide the blu tac

pulliptears

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Apparently all too common if you listen to our fire lecturer at work.
The other in thing is to hang crystals in your window for channelling energy or something. Unfortunately they also channel sunlight. This sets fir to the carpet and so on.

Funnily enough, I saw a car on the petrol station a few weeks ago with 3 or 4 crystals hanging from the rear view mirror and I commented to OH at the time that come summer she would come back to a smouldering heap

Slinky

I wondered what the crystals hanging in the window were about. Obviously some sort of attempt to start an insurance job! My neighbour opposite has a some (plus a large cabinet full of Swarovski tat).

I've often said to my husband aren't you glad that's not my taste otherwise you'd be stuck looking at it here instead of at a distance through their window over the road when the light's on in the cabinet!

Zazen999

I'm not being funny or owt...but if my nieces were over and broke something of mine, I'd shrug my shoulders and get on with my life. If it was valueable, it would be an insurance job - that's what it is there for.

I would heartily laugh if I found anything stuck together with bluetac though... genius.

CelticStar

I can't believe some of the threads on here to be honest, I presume most of them are by parents?

When I was a child both my grandmothers had loads of ornaments: one had your usual 'gran' type ornaments - Lladro, Royal Albert, figurines etc and the one had proper antiques. I would have got a right telling off if I had broken their ornaments by mucking around and playing boisterously near them - and rightly so! - although if I had fallen or something and knocked one down then that would have been considered a proper accident and I wouldn't have been told off. There were nine of us grandchildren and we were spoilt rotten but we weren't allowed to run riot in a way that meant we could break things.

I think it's outrageous to suggest that it's up to everyone to childproof their home in case children visit, it's up to parents to teach their children to be aware of their surroundings and careful when they play.

As for people saying that in this instance it's the grandmother's fault that her ornament got broken (because she had it on display in her own home) and that no reparation should be made, I find that awful. OP, I don't think you should spend thousands on an identical ornament but I do think that you should buy another Swarovski ornament and get your son to give it to her. It'll make him feel better and it is only right that your mother-in-law has her ornament replaced.

Honestly, I'm shocked by this thread. When did we become a nation that believed that it is alright to break people's possessions and then blame the owner for not putting them in a 'safe' position and make no attempt to replace the broken item?

Zazen999

CelticStar wrote: »

When did we become a nation that believed that it is alright to break people's possessions and then blame the owner for not putting them in a 'safe' position and make no attempt to replace the broken item?

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?

Nicki

CelticStar wrote: »

.

Honestly, I'm shocked by this thread. When did we become a nation that believed that it is alright to break people's possessions and then blame the owner for not putting them in a 'safe' position and make no attempt to replace the broken item?

You see I'm shocked for a completely different reason. The ornament was obtained dishonestly, and yet people still feel that MiL should be compensated in some way for its loss, either by the insurance company or by the OP.

I know it came from the factory, but this either means it was a perfect item stolen by an employee (either stolen outright or fraudulently marked as a second and bought for a pittance) or a second which was taken without being paid for. If it wasn't either of those two scenarios then MiL would not describe it as "warm", as it is usually fine to buy a second from a factory shop, or for an employee to use a staff discount to buy a perfect piece.

Had the OP's child broken an ornament which was bought and paid for by MiL or given to her by someone who lawfully owned it, then I think you might have a point.

mrcow

Zazen999 wrote: »

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

Actually the OP states quite clearly that the child was behaving pretty much like a little !!!! on the day in question. That's not "kids being kids" - that's someone deliberately misbehaving.

It is not acceptable to run riot around someone else's house. No matter how old you are.

Have you not taught your kids that?

Zazen999

mrcow wrote: »

Actually the OP states quite clearly that the child was behaving pretty much like a little !!!! on the day in question. That's not "kids being kids" - that's someone deliberately misbehaving.

It is not acceptable to run riot around someone else's house. No matter how old you are.

Have you not taught your kids that?

Sigh...I love my nieces running riot around here - it's great fun. You keep your kids sitting on their hands in the corner all you like - I prefer to have a more relaxed attitude and if the odd thing gets broken then - you know - whatever. I can afford it and as I said - isn't that what insurance is for?

Nothing ever has got broken...but it if did then as long as they weren't hurt I'm not particularly bothered.