I live in a 2 bed flat with 3yo DS and 2mo DS. Our flat has been getting smaller and smaller over the years with an influx of toys at Christmas and birthdays and also clothes etc for the boys.
I am sick to the back teeth of tripping over toys etc and it came to a head today when I tripped over a toy and fell into a chest of drawers and promptly burst into tears as I'm so fed up of my house being a bloody obstacle course and bursting at the seams.
DH has been wanting to get rid of a lot of older DS's plastic tat i.e. a car garage that is rarely played with, a bubble car that he used to love but is huge in our place! Also a jcb ride on thing amongst other things. I've always said no as they're his toys but it's ridiculous now and I'm ready to do a big clear out when he's at nursery without him knowing.
AIBU??
AIBU?
To take DS's toys to the charity shops without him knowing??
redgiraffe · 03/05/2016 12:04
Do it, but then don't watch Toy Story 3 for a while 
. Ive always gone with a policy of bagging stuff up while they aren't there, but keeping them hidden for a couple of weeks. If an item is asked for, I'll get it back. If it's not mentioned in the 2 weeks, I get rid.
I just don't see why kids need so many toys that they fill up houses with them 
I still don;t understand why people get to precious about the toys being the child's and therefore must have a say in whether the item remains or goes. Unless you have the same discussion with hem about their clothes? Their shoes? Their toothbrush...?
Nobody would bat an eyelid at you dropping their old clothes off at the charity shop because they no longer fit. I doubt very much you'd be expected to have a prolonged conversation about why the clothes should go etc. So what is the issue about dropping toys off that they no longer play with?
I'm not talking about binning a favourite teddy, or their current obsession, toy of the moment. But that toy frying pan or cow that hasn't been touched in x years doesn't need a full on discussion with a 4 year old.
Three boxes. Garbage, for the 'children who don't have toys' and keep. DD has been doing this for a couple of years and she is only 5 now. Because we aren't asking "which do you want to lose?" rather "which in which box?" it works. And she gets rid of things that DH and I would keep.
She will sometimes really want to keep one toy she hasn't played with for ages but it's one. Not all of them.
Sets them up for doing this themselves, respects their stuff, teaches them gratitude and helping others and no 'years of therapy'
MrsTerryPrachett I do like the three boxes idea! 
I think I'll try it - I've been deliberating for weeks how best to cut down on the sheer volume of toys DS (2.5) has.
For toddlers, I just get rid of them (pass them on, charity shop, sell, bin) without them knowing. You can't have a discussion and if I'm not sure about getting rid of something, I bag it and leave it in the attic for a couple of months. We would leave big items until DD is older to discuss them though e.g. her dolls house. As DD is now 6yo, we have a discussion and she chooses what goes, we operate a one-in, one-out policy on toys
If we have a big toy gift, we often just say upfront that it needs to stay at granny's etc. They soon realised that we won't accept large toys in our house without prior discussion, we don't have the room. We also have bank accounts for the children and have no trouble asking for money rather than lots of gifts.
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