As for me, my mom just disposed of my toys without my consent. I was 13 when I looked for them, and all of what I wasn't using was already gone. She gave it to the street kids, I suppose. Too bad, I'm sure my Dragon Ball Z collectibles would be worth something on eBay nowadays. How about you? What do you do when your kids have outgrown their toys?
I'd donate the toys because even if I wanted to sell them I wouldn't get much money from them. Either that or give the toys to a neighbor(s) who has young kids. Small acts of kindness will get people to like you. They could pay you back by giving you something they don't need which you could find useful. Even if they don't repay your kindness any time you want to borrow tools when you have to do something [like repairs] yourself they'll be more than eager to help.
Well I do not really like borrowing, so I would be inclined to just buy it. But I get your point in being nice to your neighbors, since I also think that you might need their help sometime, so being nice to them is sort of an investment even if you don't like them.
My youngest wasn't actually into toys as much as he was into making them. He made all his own stuffed animals and machines out of legos and wrote and illustrated his own books lol. Until he was maybe two, he barely touched the toys we bought him and then suddenly he was creating everything. I don't even remember what happened to the toys he had at this point. I would have likely donated them or given them to friends with babies.
As for me my baby is just a toddler but looking forward I would like to keep their toys for my next child,hope it will be a boy!LOL!!!
I have friends with kids that are younger than mine and so I normally just give my kids old toys to them. If they are toys the kids won't like I just donate them to the thrift store. Some of my kids toys are still like brand new by the time I get rid of them and so I never throw any of them away.
I think you should always ask the child first, because my mother would give away my things without asking me as child and it upset me. Later I warned them never to give anything away without my permission, because they were mine to do with as I chose fit. Apparently most are in the attic, some maybe ancient Fisher Price relics if they are still working.
@Theo, Throwing or giving away other people's things are common with Scorpio suns. I know 2 people who do the same thing, and they are also Scorpio. It must be a compulsive need to transform. But it is annoying and it's not right, lol. For some reason she retained the Barbie doll and some Happy Meal toys. But my Dragon Ball Z and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuff are now gone plus my other things, lol. Living with someone like that is dangerous. I might wake up and my unused phones and other stuff would be gone, lol!
I actually started donating or giving away my toys and a few other things from a fairly young age, maybe about 12. I guess I just recognized that I dislike living in clutter, so anything I didn’t like anymore needed to go (not that that stopped me from having an overflowing closet for ages, though!). That said, I wouldn’t have liked it very much if my parents had simply disposed of my belongings without my permission. I’m grateful I never had to deal with that. So I definitely agree with asking the child first; not only is it safer, I feel like it’s a good example of common courtesy.
How strange...but the Happy Meal toys maybe valuable one day as they are limited editions usually. I have some Winne the Pooh ones. To be honest my parents used to throw out all my comics. I recently found a Beano I had tucked away inside a hard backed book and Dad immediately said 'Keep it, it maybe worth something' as he knows that these things may have some worth as collectors items. Now if toys are damaged you should throw them out unless it's a beloved bear.
The best thing you can do, as a parent, is to throw away the less meaningful toys, and then hold onto the more meaningful ones (to your child) whether or not he/she wants them. It doesn't matter if your children at 18 years-old, and you're getting rid of their old, old toys. Some of those toys undoubtedly have held meaning to your children, and I still have two stuffed animals from when I was younger than 10. Everything else is gone, but I hold onto those for the memories!
My parents kept most of my toys and would occasionally force me to sort through them and create a donation bin of the ones I didn't want or play with anymore. My parents really instilled the need to donate items so that's where a majority of my items ended up. I think it's best when the kid sorts their own toys so they don't feel any anger towards you because it's their mini responsibility.
@Theo, I did have a bunch of stuff toys when I was young, but they are all gone too, lol! Even the hardly used bags are gone. Too bad, I need more storage now and the bags can be of use. I really have almost no toys to trigger "childhood nostalgia", lol. The 2 Happy Meal toys that she retained are cute and also good decoration for the house. It's a mini plastic house where you open it and a toy car comes out with a particular Mcdonald's character. I have 2 out of the 4 variants. What do you know, I just looked at 1 of them now and it has some dents now, as expected, haha. Yes, you'll never know, if you put it up for bidding then you might reach an amount that is substantial or that can exceed the retail price!
I guess it all depends. I would either give them to my grandkids or just give them to other friends or family with kids. If the toys are in good conditions still of course. Maybe donate them to a center that gives out toys for kids. I wouldn't just throw them away if they were still in good enough condition for some other kids to enjoy. There are a lot of options.
I would probably make my child choose which of the toys he would like to keep and which would he like to donate. I would not want to just donate them all without his consent. It is his toys after all and his opinion does matter. However, I would also not allow him to keep everything as there will be toys that he outgrows. It is better that someone else enjoys the toy than be left rotting in the attic.
There's a lot of times I have thought about how I wish I would have kept things like beanie babies to see if they would be worth anything. So that might be something to think about when the time comes to throw away your kids toys. But other than that, you can donate them to a church or put them up on Craigslist for people who will actually use them. I don't like to just throw them in the garbage, but I also don't want them sitting around for too long. So if they're in bad condition or they're not getting rid of, I'll just throw them out. Try to keep the toy count low anyway for your kids. They don't need a ton of things to clutter up their room and when it comes time to get rid of it all, it'll be easier.
Yeah, I wonder if my troll toy was saved then I wonder how much I would earn from it since that kind of toy is now obsolete. I would be happy if it fetched $10, lol. I do have an NBA card but it looks not sellable anymore, someone gave it to me when I was in grade school, with a hard clear case to boot.
I think parents should always ask their kids if they're ok with having their toys thrown away or sold. I've heard stories of parents who sold old game consoles or priceless collectible items and it just made me sad to think of losing my own things.
My kids are not yet grown up, but I already have a pretty good idea of the FEW items I plan to keep for my grandkids (or to give my kids when they have kids). I'm only saving the things that have true sentimental value, or are simply timeless in quality and in fun. My mother saved a very nice wooden kitchen play set and all our fake food and dishes, and it has not only held up, but been a ton of fun for my girls when they are at her house. On the other hand, she sold all our barbies and legos at garage sales, and I now wish she had kept most of those. My mother in law saved almost everything, and a lot of it is just junk. I'm hoping to have a healthy balance of saving things that are actually worth re-using later. But I'm a big purger, so it won't be a ton of stuff, and I plan to have it all very neatly tucked away in storage.
My mom tossed most of mine without me knowing it as well, which breaks my heart as I would have loved to pass my barbies on to my daughter. She did save a couple baby dolls I was able to pass on and they are very well loved. I have started getting rid of some of my kiddo's things as she's entered middle school. I let her help me decide what goes in trash, what is donated and what she puts away in storage for momento reasons.
