Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What would you do? Am I being unreasonable?

228 replies

123KLB · 03/06/2021 09:06

My MIL bought both my daughters these Silver charm Bracelets when they were born. Theyre quite bulky and old fashioned. She keeps buying another charm to add to them every so often. The problem is, personally, I absolutely hate charm bracelets. I do not think they look nice. I’m a very “delicate” kind if Jewellery kind of person. My daughters are only little and too young to wear jewellery yet anyway but my MIL keeps banging on about them all the time..because she has one and she wanted them to have the same.
I realise she has bought them something “special” or she thinks is special but I really get a bit wound up by it. ( bit of extra info- she is a very opinionated, narcissistic lady who never ever listens to anyone, and is very eccentric. She is quite rude and even my husband gets cross and wound up with her alot).
Is it unreasonable of me to have expected my MIL to have run by us what jewellery she was going to buy? I find jewellery a very personal choice. If I ever have grandchildren I know I wouldnt buy them Jewellery without asking my daughters first. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place because my husband thinks i am being ungrateful on this one. I am grateful for the thought...but they are such Ugly bracelets I dont want my girls to ever wear them. I think as well its because they’re like the one she wears and so its so full of importance to HER,( she loves to try and tell me that my children have HER hair colour, HER curly hair, HER flare for singing or acting and that SHE is going to tutor my children in amateur dramatics one day😩). Am I being just weird about the bracelets or does anyone else think its something she should have asked me about first?

OP posts:
BlueButtercups · 03/06/2021 15:59

I personally LOATHE charm bracelets, hideously noisy rattling things... however that's just my opinion, my Mother loved them, and cherished every charm.

All you can do, is keep them with the collective charms and let them have them, when age appropriate.

🌸

ShouldersBackChestOutChinUp · 03/06/2021 16:12

I don't really think this is just about the charm bracelets.

AryaStarkWolf · 03/06/2021 16:19

Bloody hell OP, YAB massively U

123KLB · 03/06/2021 16:20

Clearly mumsnet isnt a supportive helpful site judging by the assassination I have had here I asked for an Opinion if you thought i was I was being unreasonable.
For the person who called me snobbish And a Narcissist your are judging me on one thing I said. You have not met me. Thats fine I dont really care if thats what you think of me because I dont know you. Nothing could be further than the truth and i am always trying to be a better person no matter what people throw at me..but sometimes its just not possible when people have pushed you too far. My MIL is v hard work and I have had to deal with alot from her and her manipulative ways as does my husband. Anyway thanks for the people who just gave the answer about if it was reasonable or not and the people who had a dig at me i hope you feel superior for it.

OP posts:
Baws · 03/06/2021 16:27

@123KLB
I am disgusted at some of the comments I’ve seen on this thread. Please don’t take it personally, I totally understand how you feel. I love how one poster described me as controlling for pointing out that I understood how you felt. I did laugh as that couldn’t be further from the truth, Unfortunately there are some very unpleasant and judgemental people on here who can’t accept that someone might have a different opinion to them. It says more about them than it does about you.

SapphireSeptember · 03/06/2021 17:27

I love charm bracelets, my mum and nan had lovely gold ones (that were stolen by some builders after my nan's flat was fire damaged. Sad ) I remember looking at them and thinking how lovely they were, and I'd have loved something similar growing up. My mum never wore hers, but it was a sentimental thing, as people gave her charms to add to it for birthdays and Christmas. Now I only have cheap costume jewellery ones, but I like wearing them, they jingle when I move. Grin

Hertsgirl10 · 03/06/2021 18:19

Put them on the kids and one day they will lose them ...
If they are as bad as you say 😂

Or just put them away and they can have them once they’re grown up.

WellLarDeDar · 03/06/2021 18:21

Honestly, I think you are being a bit out of order on this one. Just keep them safe, they're keepsakes for your kids and they'll decide if they want to wear them when they're older. You evidently don't like your MIL so maybe you might have been less upset if it was a gift from someone you like?

ViciousJackdaw · 03/06/2021 18:40

I've got two and I bloody love them. They are full of memories, especially of my DDad and DB who are no longer with us. I've always thought 'delicate' pieces were a little pointless but that is just my opinion and is in no way fact. After all, everyone likes different things and the last thing anyone should be doing is forcing their own tastes onto others.

Blossomtoes · 03/06/2021 20:11

[quote Baws]@123KLB
I am disgusted at some of the comments I’ve seen on this thread. Please don’t take it personally, I totally understand how you feel. I love how one poster described me as controlling for pointing out that I understood how you felt. I did laugh as that couldn’t be further from the truth, Unfortunately there are some very unpleasant and judgemental people on here who can’t accept that someone might have a different opinion to them. It says more about them than it does about you.[/quote]
Do you want to read that again @Baws? Particularly this bit

Unfortunately there are some very unpleasant and judgemental people on here who can’t accept that someone might have a different opinion to them

Now read the OP again.

schoolfinder007 · 03/06/2021 20:43

Maybe sell the bracelets to fund some anger management classes for yourself?

Baws · 03/06/2021 20:50

@Blossomtoes
I did read it thanks 🙄
You cannot possibly know what the OP has to put up with from her MIL just from reading one post. Lots of people have issues with MILs hence the many jokes around. Mine is lovely but I would say that plenty of my friends aren’t so lucky! The more I see on MN the more I realise how lucky I am to be surrounded by lovely non judgmental people while I wonder where some of the posters live or whether they would actually be so vile in real life!

Curatingchaos · 03/06/2021 20:58

Yabvvu!
Kids love hideous tat

TellMeMoreThanThis · 03/06/2021 21:04

[quote Baws]@Blossomtoes
I did read it thanks 🙄
You cannot possibly know what the OP has to put up with from her MIL just from reading one post. Lots of people have issues with MILs hence the many jokes around. Mine is lovely but I would say that plenty of my friends aren’t so lucky! The more I see on MN the more I realise how lucky I am to be surrounded by lovely non judgmental people while I wonder where some of the posters live or whether they would actually be so vile in real life![/quote]
You can't possibly know either. Projection anyone...

Holly60 · 03/06/2021 21:06

She didn’t buy them for you, she bought them for her granddaughters. I would put them away until they are old enough to start wearing jewellery and then it is totally up to them whether they wear them or not.

Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel · 03/06/2021 21:09

YABVU. How ungrateful and rude.

BlueButtercups · 03/06/2021 21:27

they weigh a lot too right... and a choking hazard.. 🤔

Blossomtoes · 03/06/2021 22:19

Never heard of anyone choking on a charm bracelet.

Skyliner001 · 03/06/2021 22:22

You are so ungrateful 😂

OhYouDontSay · 03/06/2021 22:27

Is it unreasonable of me to have expected my MIL to have run by us what jewellery she was going to buy?

Yes it is unreasonable.

She bought her granddaughters a bracelet not a bottle of vodka.

This is not the hill to die on imo.

BlueButtercups · 03/06/2021 22:29

@Blossomtoes

Never heard of anyone choking on a charm bracelet.

the charms are small.. its a possibility right ?

OhYouDontSay · 03/06/2021 22:31

I agree with PP just give them to your daughter's when they are old enough and let them decide. You might find whether it's their style or not, that just like owning something their grandma got for them.

I have an old money box in our room. It's not my style at all. But it belonged to my great grandma and she gave it me as a child. I love that and I think of her when I see it. She's not around now but that is precious to me simply because it was a gift from her.

Ozymandias101 · 03/06/2021 22:38

YANBU to think that this jewellery is awful and not to your taste. YABU to not keep these monstrosities for you DC to hate or not in their own good time.

giantwaterbottle · 03/06/2021 22:48

You are being utterly unreasonable.

The bracelets have nothing to do with you they are a special gift from your daughters granny. Let them decide.

sunglassesonthetable · 04/06/2021 00:27

Sorry OP. Totally totally Unreasonable. Your OP makes you sound very controlling and a bit obsessive.

Of course you might not be in RL but this does you no favours.

Don't let your difficult MIL become an obsession that colours your judgment. It's a gift to her grandchildren. Leave it at that. You're not meant to like everything.

Let it go.