Would you lavish your kids with diamonds?

[fisherofmengirly]

No way!

At 5? Never ever!

I got my first "real" jewelry when I graduated 6th grade, as a gift for making it through and because my dad had been waiting since I was born to get his little girl something prettiful.

It was a birthstone ring with **tiny** diamonds on either side of the birthstone. I loved it and cherished it and took SUCH good care of it.

I think Paul and I will do the same, because moving on to middle school is a big thing, and the ring just seemed like SO much at the time, and in my heart, it still is, but it''s not like it was tons of money, but it truly made me feel like an adolescent. It was very nice and I will always remember the look on my dad and mom''s face when I opened it and giggled and jumped and acted like a loon!

I also don''t think the first "real" jewelry our daughter will get will be earrings; I lose them continuously and I am not willing to risk my child having that same trait!

 

[divergrrl]

well, my 6 month old has a 1ctw pair of princess cut stud earrings...oh wait, those are mine...but i''m planning on giving them to her for her wedding day perhaps.

i think growing into womanhood has rites of passage, with many experiences to anticipate/look forward to. one of those is receiving that 1st piece of important jewelry...mine was a gorgeous yg bracelet i still wear...from my aunt who is a gem stone fiend. If you give them everything too soon, what is there to look forward to?

I feel 5 is too young...I just want my kids to be little as long as possible, and when they do want expensive items, I''m going to use that as a teaching experience (save, delay gratification, earn, appreciate...etc).

 

[iheartscience]

I''m feeling like a deprived child because I don''t think I have ever gotten a piece of fine jewelry from my parents! I was actually a big tomboy until about age 22 and would have never worn nice jewelry, so I guess I can''t be too bitter!

I think giving a child a jewelry gift for a special occasion once they''re a little bit older, like a cross necklace for first communion, etc. is one thing, but to have a 5 year old demanding bigger bling? Yikes. I blame parents like that for creating a generation of entitled brats!

I used to work retail and some of the parents who came in would spend literally thousands of dollars on their middle school and high school age daughters for designer jeans, clothes and shoes. I''m talking 11 and 12 years olds who haven''t even started going through puberty and won''t be able to fit into the clothes as soon as they do.

And without fail, 99% of these children were complete BRATS. One girl actually SMACKED her mom''s hand because her mom tried to get her to stop messing with the pile of clothes while my coworker rang her up.

As for toddler designer jeans, if the parent wants to spend the $, go for it. The kid''s too young to know what''s going on, so as long as the parent isn''t stressing to the kid that everything must be designer, I don''t see the problem.

 

[honey22]

Is little Amelia hassling for some sparklies already Tgal?!?!

Kids get all the fun like daytime naps and wearing their PJs to the supermarket without anyone looking at them wierd - we need to keep something for us! No to sparklies for the littlies!!!!

 

[diamondfan]

This is like one of those commercials:

diamond studs for a toddler: $1200.00

designer handbag for a tweener: $1500.00


Teaching your kid to appreciate nice stuff but not be a brat: PRICELESS

I live in a very wealthy area. I have only boys and I dress them well, but they really like jeans and vintage t shirts and my youngest wears Polo and other things but for school nothing fancy.

I have been in Saks or boutiques and seen the moms and daughters, from age 12 on up. One time I saw a mom buying her daughter a Dior bag that was at least 1500.00 and the kid was about 13. It was to wear to a bar mitzvah. I heard her talking about buying her all the Bobbi Brown make up used on her, and her hair had been highlighted at the salon I go to, where the guy who did it charges hundreds for highlights. I knew of the mom and it turned out that she also took the daughter to a local small jewelry store and bought her 5000.00 diamond studs and a necklace that cost thousands. I also heard the mom was buying her dresses to wear to these parties that were super pricey, not the teen department at Bloomingdales, but designer stuff grown women would wear. Now, I am a shopper from way back and I got nice gifts and had nice clothes. I grew up in an affluent area. But I was so shocked about it, and when I saw them in Saks the daughter was being pretty tooty to the mom. That kid is going to have to work hard to find a man to make her happy. And he had better be rich.

 

[pennquaker09]

Date: 4/8/2008 3:12:01 AM
Author: diamondfan
This is like one of those commercials:


diamond studs for a toddler: $1200.00


designer handbag for a tweener: $1500.00



Teaching your kid to appreciate nice stuff but not be a brat: PRICELESS


I live in a very wealthy area. I have only boys and I dress them well, but they really like jeans and vintage t shirts and my youngest wears Polo and other things but for school nothing fancy.


I have been in Saks or boutiques and seen the moms and daughters, from age 12 on up. One time I saw a mom buying her daughter a Dior bag that was at least 1500.00 and the kid was about 13. It was to wear to a bar mitzvah. I heard her talking about buying her all the Bobbi Brown make up used on her, and her hair had been highlighted at the salon I go to, where the guy who did it charges hundreds for highlights. I knew of the mom and it turned out that she also took the daughter to a local small jewelry store and bought her 5000.00 diamond studs and a necklace that cost thousands. I also heard the mom was buying her dresses to wear to these parties that were super pricey, not the teen department at Bloomingdales, but designer stuff grown women would wear. Now, I am a shopper from way back and I got nice gifts and had nice clothes. I grew up in an affluent area. But I was so shocked about it, and when I saw them in Saks the daughter was being pretty tooty to the mom. That kid is going to have to work hard to find a man to make her happy. And he had better be rich.

I echo your comments and I think that''s when it becomes too much. DF, which salon are we talking about? I''m wondering if we go to the same place.

Where I grew up is affluent, but it''s nothing compared to living in the Philly burbs. My first car was a Toyota and here it''s like all kids get BMWs are something.

 

[Circe]

I will, I think, although jewelry falls into a completely different category from other designer goods for me (and in a *completely* different category, as well, from some of the horrifying stories that I''ve been reading about preteens receiving microdermabrasion (?) and bikini waxes (?!?)). My parents started me off on jewelry when I begged for a diamond ring at age 5, and actually got it: it was about two whole points, but it was mine!, and oh, how I loved it. By the time I was 16, I was receiving moderately age-inappropriate stuff in terms of value ... but I adored it all, and look forward to eventually passing it down to my daughter(s). It''s a wonderful way to mark special occasions and attach memories ....

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I have two boys and I''d never buy them diamonds!!! lol My kids were nice clothes, but not designer. . .mostly just Gap Kids and Gymboree.

To prevent the over entitlement many kids feel, the ONLY way I''d buy a hypothetical daughter diamonds would be if they were VERY small diamond ones, and it was for a significan occasion (for example a 16th birthday) and in general, she didn''t receive fancy gifts. If she dressed in regular mall clothing brands (popular stuff for teenagers - like AF or whatever), I can see there would be more appreciation for an extravagent gift. If she had a BMW and free reign on a credit card, there''d be no diamonds.

 

[diamondfan]

Penn, the salon no longer exists, my guy and a bunch of people left to start their own salon and the original owner is there and renovating. It is near Saks.

 

[katebar]

5 years no way! Even at 16 my daughter I would not trust her not to lose them as she has lost countless earrings studs as her school rules are so strict and she takes them off and puts them in her pocket and I wash er uniform and well they get lost.
One of her friends had 1ct earrings in preschool it was absurd.
My daughter did ask the other day if for her birthday she could get a pinky ring like mine with 5 tiny diamonds in a etoile setting. She said that she wanted to have something that we shared the same. I guess its a better bonding experience than the matching tattoo than one of her friends got with her mother

 

[AGBF]

When my local jeweler took apart a setting to make the current setting for my solitaire and its jackets, there was an extra tiny sidestone leftover. I asked him to make it into a ring for my daughter, who was a toddler or young child at the time...and he did. I don't think she ever wore it, but it is in the safe deposit box. I guess it will be a "family heirloom".

I had bought her some emerald jewelry for a baby or small child in Colombia, where she was born, so it seemed normal to me to use an extra diamond in a piece for her.


PS-She never wore her emeralds or her diamond before luncheon. One wouldn't want rice baby cereal and puréed peaches from breakfast on them .

Deborah

 

[Peepa]

If money was not an issue, yes, I''d buy my future babies, diamonds. Of course not huge ones but cute little studs or a bracelet with a few diamonds on them, not a tennis bracelet. But don''t tell my DH, he''d think I was being crazy.

 

[Dancing Fire]

bought both daughter a pair of ACA .50 ctw earrings and a little diamond heart pendent .

 

[Catmom]

Uhh, not that young!!!! We bought my daughter a diamond cross and diamond studs for her high school graduation. That was the first time we bought her "real" jewelry. Of course it could be because she has always been a total jock and really never wore jewelry. She now has a few other very nice pieces but I would never have given her anything much earlier than that. They would have been lost within a week.

 

[mom2twogirls]

Nope, I would never buy diamonds studs for my 5yo. She loses or misplaces her stuff all the time. Besides, she is perfectly happy with her $1 Hello Kitty elastic bracelets or her Webkinz charm bracelet (which doesn''t even have a charm b/c she lost it!). lol!! I do plan on giving her my diamond studs as a high school graduation gift. Hopefully, she will be a little more responsible then!

 

[vespergirl]

My godfather had gotten me some teeny tiny diamond studs for my 1st communion, but they were like, .1 cttw, and were not expensive. And, my parents told me that I could only wear them on special occasions. But generally, I don''t like fine jewelry on young kids, but maybe that''s just me.

I grew up in a very affluent part of New York, where I had classmates with Rolexes and Gucci bags in 5th grade, but even then I thought it was tacky. They were just trying to look like mini grown-ups, not like the kids they were.

 

[vespergirl]

One more thing - how could those kids not lose that stuff? When I started obsessing over jewelry when I was around 11, and I asked my mom if I could get a ring, she said, "I never had a ring when I was your age, you''ll get a ring when you get married." She was always kind of strict and mean though, so I went to my dad, the pushover - I was a bit of a daddy''s girl. So, he had a small gold ring made that was peridot (my birthstone) with two tiny diamond accents (his friend was a jeweler) and he gave it to me for my 12th birthday. Anyway, I loved that ring so much, but I lost it one day when I took it off to wash my hands, and was so sad about it. So, I don''t think that kids are generally responsible enough about their possessions to give them very valuable jewlery.