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Original poster

Liking children’s things as an adult

123 replies

DuvetCovers · 13/12/2023 17:13

As a child I loved things like Flower Fairies and Brambly Hedge, but was never allowed them as my mum didn’t approve (very much not her aesthetic).

The problem is that I still love them, despite being a lawyer in my 40s with kids and a large mortgage.

Very tempted to buy some books. Does anyone else do things like this? Don’t want to end up a mad old lady in a house full of dolls and doilies 😂

OP posts:
RedToothBrush · 13/12/2023 17:27

No one thinks twice about blokes who buy star wars, star trek, 'enter applicable sci-fi / fantasy character'.

The Pokémon official shop sells clothes. They are very very rarely sized for kids - which says a lot about their target market.

So why do you need to justify this? Because you are a woman and it's somehow frowned on in a way it's not for men?

ThisisgroundcontroltoMajorTom · 13/12/2023 17:28

RedToothBrush · 13/12/2023 17:27

No one thinks twice about blokes who buy star wars, star trek, 'enter applicable sci-fi / fantasy character'.

The Pokémon official shop sells clothes. They are very very rarely sized for kids - which says a lot about their target market.

So why do you need to justify this? Because you are a woman and it's somehow frowned on in a way it's not for men?

^ That’s a very good point Redtoothbrush

Discwriter · 13/12/2023 17:28

I got a massive 2nd hand bundle of sylvanian families with houses, furniture, car and caravan for Christmas last year. This year, I asked for the biggest squishmallow available at Smyths. I love toys. I am also 45!

randomstress · 13/12/2023 17:29

A huge plus point of being a play therapist is being able to buy all the toys and announce that they are for work.

Floribundaflummery · 13/12/2023 17:29

I have my mum’s original flower fairy book and still love looking at it. My sister then bought herself an old copy as she wanted it too. Highly recommend getting hold of a vintage cooy of the original. Buy whatever makes you happy.

MrsRetriever · 13/12/2023 17:35

Brio for me. I never had any as a child & loved playing with it at my younger cousins’ house. I started buying it for DS pretty much as soon as he was born - luckily he does enjoy it. But I also play with it when he goes to bed…

Marmite27 · 13/12/2023 17:38

SpacePotato · 13/12/2023 17:23

Buy them.

I've just bought myself a jellycat snowman teddy because I loved it.

My husband bought me a jellycat robin recently. It’s been in my pocket an awful lot.

I never let go of my Lego, playmobil, teddies and sylvanians - my own children play with them now. I’ve added to the collection somewhat though. More for my benefit than theirs though.

My mum loves the flower fairies, and has bought 3 out of her 4 grandchildren the compilation of poems book. I made her buy one for my niece who wasn’t really bothered and in the dedication she wrote she put ‘Aunt Marmite made me buy you this, so you wouldn’t feel left out’ Grin

Limth · 13/12/2023 17:38

My mum thought pink was girly and pathetic and common. I now buy and wear pink to my heart's content. My hair's also neon pink which my mum informs me I'm "far too old" for.

My DP loved Pokemon as a child. He plays Pokemon video games every spare minute of the day and he's just got back into collecting the cards. He has a whole floor-to-ceiling cupboard full to the brim of Pokemon-related gubbins.

Knock yourself out, OP. YOLO as they say.

Fiddlerdragon · 13/12/2023 17:40

That’s one of the perks of having children. You get to buy all of the toys and books and watch all of the movies and pretend it’s for them 😁

VanityDiesHard · 13/12/2023 17:41

Ooh, love this thread.

Playmobile. I still have some of my ones from childhood.
Enid Blyton. Yes, I know she has been cancelled by the woke brigade, but I don't care. She tells a good school story and sometimes nothing else will do.
Agatha Christie. I know she isn't a kids' author, but I started reading her at age seven or eight, as her books are easy to understand and I had a very advanced reading age anyway. I still love 'Death on the Nile' and have it as one of my desert island books.
Polly Pocket. I still play with them from time to time, they are just so fun and soothing.
Ice cream and jelly in summer.
Jelly babies.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 13/12/2023 17:42

MrsRetriever · 13/12/2023 17:35

Brio for me. I never had any as a child & loved playing with it at my younger cousins’ house. I started buying it for DS pretty much as soon as he was born - luckily he does enjoy it. But I also play with it when he goes to bed…

My family always rents a cottage at New Year with a group of other families and when our dcs were small we would all bring our Brio so we could put it together and make an epic layout. It got played with after the children had gone to bed as well as before.

MariaVT65 · 13/12/2023 17:43

I am 35 and was really sad when the Disney store closed down. I loved going in there for me.

DiegosMomHasGotItGoingOn · 13/12/2023 17:45

I have a child’s lunchbag because it’s cute and I love it and I can buy what I like with my own adult money. I get lots of compliments on it actually.

ChessieFL · 13/12/2023 17:46

I have a whole bookshelf in my spare room of childhood/teenage books including both Brambly Hedge and Flower Fairies! Buy them OP, it will make you happy.

LittleMonks11 · 13/12/2023 17:48

I'm keeping all the Sylvanian families so I can play with them when my daughter leaves home - she's 12 😂

TinkerTiger · 13/12/2023 17:49

I went onto eBay and bought a few of the Nancy Drew and RL Stine books I used to have and loved. Haven't read them, just like having them.

And I've recently indulged and bought some Lego, and have been building it in the evenings as a way to chill.

I also have a Nintendo switch and the first thing I did was beat the original Super Mario game that I couldn't do as a child 😂

LittleMonks11 · 13/12/2023 17:50

And every year i think it's the last year I can buy a new jellycat. I don't think that year will ever arrive! I think it's small polar bear this year or emperor penguin!

TinkerTiger · 13/12/2023 17:50

TM1979 · 13/12/2023 17:15

One day I will buy myself a sylvanian families house and lots of figures!

Oooooh I really want a big old Victorian dolls house, but don't have the space

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 13/12/2023 17:50

I really want a dolls house. I want to learn how to make furniture and decorate it all arts and crafts. No dolls though because they are always weird sized. I won’t get one though as it falls into the category of “more fucking stuff”.

blossomtree323 · 13/12/2023 17:51

I have some of the Keypers toys from the 80’s. I bought them as a 40 year old! I just loved them as a kid and always wanted the snail!
I also love the Hugz Bears from Card Factory and have several of these too. Lots of us love collecting things from childhood or what we wanted as kids and can now afford.

Icantsleepagain · 13/12/2023 17:56

TinkerTiger · 13/12/2023 17:50

Oooooh I really want a big old Victorian dolls house, but don't have the space

Show quote history

I always wanted one as a child! Still do.

Marmite27 · 13/12/2023 18:02

LittleMonks11 · 13/12/2023 17:50

And every year i think it's the last year I can buy a new jellycat. I don't think that year will ever arrive! I think it's small polar bear this year or emperor penguin!

My daughter really liked the emperor penguin. I’d go for one of those!

OnionBudgie · 13/12/2023 18:02

I'm 54 in a week's time and I am the proud owner of a massive Tamagotchi collection -- over 80 of them, from the early vintage ones up to the modern colour versions, including Giga Pets, etc. They are such fun.

Curlywurlycaz2 · 13/12/2023 18:03

RedToothBrush · 13/12/2023 17:27

No one thinks twice about blokes who buy star wars, star trek, 'enter applicable sci-fi / fantasy character'.

The Pokémon official shop sells clothes. They are very very rarely sized for kids - which says a lot about their target market.

So why do you need to justify this? Because you are a woman and it's somehow frowned on in a way it's not for men?

Funnily enough I was coming on to say the same thing about blokes!

Everyone I know who loves Pokemon is an adult over the age of 30!

For those who love the whole cottage core/dolls house vibe, Animal Crossing is great for hitting that spot. And cheaper than Silvanian Families.

LauderSyme · 13/12/2023 18:04

My very first thought on reading your title was "Men do it all the time!"

I loved the Flower Fairies and still do, and I still enjoy looking at my fairytale books written and illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone, that I have kept from childhood.

I bought myself the entire set of Miffy books cos I loved them so much. I pretended they were for ds but I knew the truth!

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