Baby Charm Jewelry Shoes
Q.My almost 11 yo daughter is begging for a gold charm bracelet just like moms. Mom (that's me) has had her bracelet since she was around 8, and she is NOT giving it to DD. She can inherit it when I die, but not before. I love mine, and it's filled with charms that my 2 grandmothers got especially for me. So, in order to stave off the desire for a very expensive investment piece of jewelry for a child who loses *everything* (this week, *another* pair of glasses bit the dust), I got her a silver-colored charm bracelet with 8 el-cheapo charms that reflect her likes. We've got a book, a soccer ball, a gymnast, nail polish, an enamel flower, a birthday cake, a cat, and an artist palette. It's cute, but it isn't gold, it isn't even sterling, and she wants gold. I don't have a problem with buying it charm by charm, but I think this particular child is too young and way too careless for good jewelry. She disagrees, of course. The only good piece of jewelry she owned, a Jewish necklace, she lost. What is a good age to get something like a charm bracelet, and once you have it, do you keep it for your child, or do you allow her to keep and hope for the best?
A.Probably somewhere in the 10-12 range. I don't think 8 year olds "get" that certain things are valuable, and few are all that careful with possessions. I have a 9 1/2 year old son, for example, that I would never consider buying valuable jewelry for at this point. I'd probably find it at the bottom of a bucket of lego. However, my 12 year old son has a heavy .95 silver chain (quite the teen fad sort of thing). It was almost $100, not the same price category as a gold bracelet loaded with charms, but still expensive for a kid - when he got it as a gift at 11 (after a lot of bargaining and parental conditions) we were worried, but he is very careful with it. He has a special place he keeps it, he takes it off every night and puts it away etc. There is nothing wrong with making her wait. Tell her you will buy her the bracelet for her 10th birthday (or 11th or 12th, or whatever age is most appropriate for the particular kid and how careful she is with her things), and then she can collect charms over the coming years. I'm older (46) so when I was a teen, silver charm bracelets were the big thing, and it is fun to look at mine. It is loaded, and every one was given to me to commemorate some event or trip, so its really wonderful and full of memories (I even have a silver tooth on there given to me by my highschool boyfriend when I had my wisdom teeth out). My late mother had one, given to her by my father, but she didn't collect charms for events, so it means much less (he just bought her some nice ones on occasions because he liked them). Its pretty and all, but not loaded with the memories mine is.
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