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Original poster

Just got rid of dds last toys - feeling emotional.

111 replies

gloopygel · 28/08/2021 20:22

Dd is now too old for toys. Earlier today I asked her to clear out any stuff in her cupboards/ drawers that she no longer wants.

Bit of a toy story moment where she sorted what to bin / donate / keep.

It feels stupid, but when I saw all her once cherished toys, thrown into the donate/ bin boxes, it upset me.

We've had many toy clear outs and these are the toys that she had always chose to keep, her favorites. A few years ago she would have been crying the thought of them being donated.

Poking out the box was her My Little pony collection she had from the age of 5. She used to play with them every day and I remember the day i surprised her with the one she had wanted for ages. She said I was the best and gave me the biggest hug.

I asked her if she wanted me to keep the ponies in the attic, but she looked at me and said what's the point I'll never play with them will I?

Knowing that was true, I took the box to the local charity shop.

The toys had been just sitting in the cupboard for a while so I know now they will go to better use.

It just made me feel really emotional. Seeing all her once beloved possessions, just dumped. She really couldn't care less that they're gone.

I know I'm being pathetic and should be proud of my daughter and how she's growing up. I really am.

Anyone else felt like this?

OP posts:
Wingingthis · 28/08/2021 20:24

I feel emotional reading this and mine are she 3 & 1!! I’m already sad how much they’ve grown 💔 parenting is a rollercoaster!

niceupthedanceagain · 28/08/2021 20:28

DS is ten and wants to sell his beloved dinosaur collection for gaming money . It's very sad, we had some good times over the years with those guys!

WishIWasSomewhereElse · 28/08/2021 20:28

I hear you!

My DD is still refusing to part with some of hers, although she doesn't play with them and just leaves them around. She has got rid of a load recently though, and it is sad.

I kept my DS's beloved Thomas metal trains. He is 30 this year and it is the one thing I couldn't part with. DD played with them and I've put them away again. They were much better than the plastic ones that sell these days.

Even if your DD doesn't want you to keep them now, you can still keep a couple. I got given the doll's house I played with as a child (it's in the loft now, but I plan to do it up one day - my dad made it beautifully and he died last month, so I can't get rid of it).

Interested in this thread?

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Toys
TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius · 28/08/2021 20:34

I'm nearly sixty and I have loads of my toys. Why have they got to be got rid of?

Dollywilde · 28/08/2021 20:37

I have a one year old and you’ve just made me sob. I’m in complete denial, she will love her Mog the Cat and building blocks forever… right? Sad

moonlight1705 · 28/08/2021 20:39

I didn't want my toys as a teenager but my dad brought the ones my parents had saved out of the attic when I visited with my DD and I loved the memories.

Maybe keep some of the really precious ones just in case.

CheeseyMcCheeseface · 28/08/2021 20:39

I’m keeping mine for younger kids in the family when they come to play, like my fisher price toys at my mother’s house that have been played with by all my cousins and now my children.

Bigpjbottoms282 · 28/08/2021 20:41

It's really sad, I remember it well. I did hold on to the schlech animals and his matchbox cars though. Everyone warns you how quickly they grow up but when you're in the thick of it you don't really notice and then suddenly it's happened.

DS is 12. His room still looks like a kids room-hes got lots of pop figures and lego up on his shelves but they're obviously not toys that he plays with. He does still sleep with his favourite Teddy 🤫

All you can do is take a moment, let yourself feel sad for a bit and then suck it up up move on. Parenthood is brutal!

belhaven · 28/08/2021 20:42

You need to watch Toy Story 3 OP!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 28/08/2021 20:42

Think of it this way... another wee girl will get those MLPs from the charity shop and they will be loved again.

mineofuselessinformation · 28/08/2021 20:51

I think if you're keeping some, that's fine - you can't keep everything!
My dcs have grown up now, but I've kept a 'special toy' for each of them, a special outfit that they wore (knitted by my mum when they were babies), along with their first pair of shoes, and first fallen tooth! Confused
I've also saved the Christmas decorations they made when they were little (!) and some school books too.
If they don't want to keep all of it, that's fine, but it's there if they want it.
You could always keep photos of things that are going elsewhere as a momento?
Don't feel like you are throwing special memories away, as they will always be there.

WestendVBroadway · 28/08/2021 20:54

We had a clear out of DD's toys a few years ago. My husband warned me that she would probably want to keep most of them so it would be a pointless task. Needless to say we still have over half of them. However this is because whenever she said oh get rid of that one I would say. "Oh you need to keep that one it was the first one Grandma bought you." Or tell her she had to keep it because it was from when we went to such and such a place/the one she used to sleep with/ take to pre-school/ hand made by so and so etc. etc. It was far more emotional for me than her.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 28/08/2021 20:56

My son is 40 and his toys are still in the loft Grin

dopeyduck · 28/08/2021 21:01

My DS regularly buys a toy at the charity shop and they honestly bring him such joy. It's a now and again treat after shopping if he gets dragged along with me.

The last time he chose something it was a car, he played with it pushing it all along a wall on the way to the car. He barely put it down all day and took it to bed with him that evening. It's still a fav.

I hope that the toys will bring happiness to another child will help you feel sad!

winesolveseverything · 28/08/2021 21:03

My 11 year old got rid of his buzz and woody a short time ago. I remember the Christmas he received them, he was 4 and they were probably the most anticipated and longed for presents ever.
Played with them and played with them, then suddenly one day, that was it. They were cast aside to collect dust.

I could have kept them in the attic, but he thought another little child would like to have them.

The charity shop must have thought I was deranged when I took them in and insisted that they stayed together.

I have to admit I shed a tear over those. 🙁

Buttons294749 · 28/08/2021 21:04

If it helps my parents kept a few of my toys and when I bring my DC over I thoroughly enjoy a good play with Barbie and her gang!

legoriakelne · 28/08/2021 21:10

I don't really see what was stopping you making a decision to keep the ones that were meaningful to you. Even if you did so discreetly.

When she's an adult she might feel less ruthless or wish she still has some connections to get childhood and you could have shared your memories that go with them.

It is ok to be human, you don't have to be quite so ruthlessly efficient or robotic in future if you don't want to. It won't hurt anyone.

Pollythecat15 · 28/08/2021 21:11

I felt like this with my eldest child's toys but for a very different reason.

It was back in 2003. He was only four at the time, and I hadn't yet had my younger three children.
I had a whole playroom set out with toys for him - a garage with toy cars, building bricks, jigsaws, paints and easel, cuddly toys and a variety of props for role play and a huge shelf of story books.

One day I knew that I was going to have to pack them all away.
He hadn't shown any interest in any of them, apart from the plastic keys he'd had as a baby which he still liked to jangle.
That was the day I accepted his diagnosis of severe learning disability and autism.
I had spent so long trying to engage him with the activities, but he just stared right through them with a blank expression.
For me packing away those toys was a heartbreaking moment of acceptance. That we were never going to have the future I thought we would have.

He's 22 now and still likes to jangle his plastic keys.
He never said his first word and remained frozen as a baby in his mind.

BlackeyedSusan · 28/08/2021 21:11

I opened the toy cupboard and closed it again. too hard.

lego is getting kept.
playmobile going in the loft.
wooden railway getting kept. (the squishy bit is getting donated)
the things that were really precious are getting kept.
dc's dolls will go with mine and my mums into storage in a top cupboard.

brittleheadgirl · 28/08/2021 21:16

We've kept a lot!!
Lego, playmobil, sylvanian families are all popular when any younger kids are over.

The one thing I can never let go of is all my ds toy story toys! He had a big collection which he loved, much of which were from boot sales, charity shops etc
He absolutely loved toy story and everything about it reminds me of him being small, plus how on earth can I get rid of them, I mean just watch the film!!!

EarringsandLipstick · 28/08/2021 21:16

@Pollythecat15

I felt like this with my eldest child's toys but for a very different reason.

It was back in 2003. He was only four at the time, and I hadn't yet had my younger three children.
I had a whole playroom set out with toys for him - a garage with toy cars, building bricks, jigsaws, paints and easel, cuddly toys and a variety of props for role play and a huge shelf of story books.

One day I knew that I was going to have to pack them all away.
He hadn't shown any interest in any of them, apart from the plastic keys he'd had as a baby which he still liked to jangle.
That was the day I accepted his diagnosis of severe learning disability and autism.
I had spent so long trying to engage him with the activities, but he just stared right through them with a blank expression.
For me packing away those toys was a heartbreaking moment of acceptance. That we were never going to have the future I thought we would have.

He's 22 now and still likes to jangle his plastic keys.
He never said his first word and remained frozen as a baby in his mind.

Polly 💔 I think this must be one of the most touching, and sad, posts I've read. I can't even imagine.

I hope you've managed ok in what must have been very tough years since then 💐

Heruka · 28/08/2021 21:16

Toy story 3 was movie night for us tonight!! I think how you feel is understandable.

mineofuselessinformation · 28/08/2021 21:17

@Pollythecat15, that's so sad. Not to minimalise it, but I'm glad your boy still enjoys his keys. Thanks

RicherThanYew · 28/08/2021 21:20

I understand the feeling Op. My boy is only 8 but he adored Barney for 3 solid years and we spent hours watching the tv show, played with the toys and have wonderful memories. He used to get out of his cot with his dummy in one hand and Barney in the other and sneak into our bed, now he barely remembers the characters and certainly none of the songs because some arseholes on YouTube are flavour of the month Hmm

Bellagonna · 28/08/2021 21:20

We are keeping a lot because a lot of DDs toys are ones kept from my childhood. It's so strange but wonderful to see her play with the same things I did.