Kids Accidentally Break Disney Castle Replica Worth Over $64,000 & Parents Are Divided

If you've ever had to wrangle your kids in a space where there are pricy goods on display, then you'll probably feel for a parent in Shanghai, China, whose kids broke a glass sculpture worth thousands of dollars. According to theĀ Shanghai Museum of Glass, two children accidentally broke a Disney-inspired sculpture that is valued at more than $64,000. It's a situation any parent would feel mortified over — but people online aren't giving the parents a pass and seem to agree that the mother should feel nothing but shame.

The museum shared the incident in a post on social media July 10.

On the Chinese microblogging website Weibo, a representative for the museum wrote that "two little visitors" climbed over the exhibition's barriers while playing and knocked against the glass display case. Neither the kids nor their parents have been identified.Ā ViceĀ reported that the jostling caused a portion of the castle to collapse and shatter.

The sculpture, known as The Fantasy Castle, was "demolished" the statement read.

The sculpture was a gift fromĀ the Arribas Brothers, Spanish glassblowers who make exclusive Disney collectibles at Disney resorts around the world. This piece in particular was created to resemble theĀ Enchanted Storybook Castle in Shanghai Disney, *PeopleĀ *reported.

It took over 500 hours to make the castle.

Lad Bible noted that the Arribas Brothers gave the sculpture to the museum in 2016 to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The piece weighs 132 pounds and is displayed as part of the museum's permanent collection. The sculpture has more than 30,000 different parts and features accents made from 24-karat gold.

The museum isn't laying blame on the kids -- or their parents.

As it said in its statement on Weibo, "The little visitors knew that their behavior was inappropriate, and, under the encouragement of their parents, reported the incident to the museum staff. Their attitudes were friendly and sincere, and they agreed to help out with follow-up matters." The parents also apologized and agreed they would take responsibility for the damage.

"This makes us touched, and we believe that the future generation will be good visitors," the statement continued.

Rudy Arribas isn't angry either.

Arribas, president of Arribas Brothers and brother of Miguel, spoke with Today ParentsĀ and said that there were no hard feelings.Ā 

"Luckily it's not destroyed. As soon as theĀ coronavirusĀ travel restrictions are lifted, Miguel will go to Shanghai and do the repair. He loves to travel," he said. "Miguel just is glad people are looking at his beautiful work."

Arribas Brothers specializes in Disney collectibles, and because many of their stores are inĀ Disney parks and resorts worldwide, they're sort of used to having kids around their work.

"We're used to kids and this kind of stuff happening," he said. "Glass breaks. Nothing is done on purpose."

Of course, people online had their own opinions.

"I would have seriously scolded those parents for not watching those kids better they could have gotten hurt they should give some kind of compensation to the museum for their children's mistake," one person wrote on Facebook.

"This makes me think of all of those moms that walk through Target talking all loud on their phones while their kids do whatever they want. Parenting is lacking these days," another commenter added.

A third person had a LOT to say about the situation:

"This is what can happen when you don't discipline your children, when you don't tell them no, and don't make them responsible for their actions. That is the problem with society today. We can't continue to coddle children, they need to be told NO, that the world doesn't revolve around them and they need to be punished when they do wrong and believe me they all do wrong at times. Children need and want boundaries and parents need to provide that to them. To all the parents out there be the adult and take control of your children!"

A few people thought everyone needed to stop being so judgemental.

"To all these people saying the kids were wild and uncontrollable, can you honestly say you never got the tiniest bit rambunctious and made a mistake as a kid?" one commenter asked. "I wasn't there when this happened but I know I made mistakes as a kid. My parents made me do my best to fix what I had done wrong, and made sure I knew the consequences. But they still let me be a kid. Accidents happen."

"You all care about this? Prioritize your life. This is not important," another person agreed.

"It's easy to blame the parents, but kids are unpredictable and rambunctious — they learn how to behave through trial and error, and it's impossible for parents to catch everything," another commenter pointed out. "A good museum has precautions in place — better barricades, vigilant staff, insurance, etc."

This isn't the first time that people have roasted a mom when her kid got a little too rowdy.

Back in 2018, the internet flamed mom Sarah Goodman after her son Troy knocked over and destroyed a statue valued atĀ over $132,000 while at a friend's wedding. TheĀ Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, where the statue was on display, demanded that the mom and her husband pay them for the damaged piece. Ultimately, Goodman's insurance company covered the bill, but the outrage online just goes to prove that people can be merciless when it comes to kids making expensive mistakes.

For now it seems like as long as the museum is happy, everyone else online should follow suit.

Rudy Arribas told Today Parents that the Fantasy Castle was broken once before due to vibrations caused by local trains going back and forth, so it's not such a huge mistake.

The ShanghaiĀ Museum of Glass even went as far as to apologize to its visitors about its "imperfect" exhibit and in their statement urged visitors to "follow museum social courtesy."

"Do not climb over barricades, do not touch the exhibits. No chasing," the statement read. "We have to do our duties together to protect the exhibits and the museum environment."