To let my dd play with my old games?

[waltthedog]

I have a 5 year old dd who absolutely loves Barbie. She has lots of dolls (some new and some second hand) and a few Barbie clothes. My parents have recently sold our family home I grew up in and I collected a lot of my old toys and games from when I was a child (which was late 90s/early 00s). I had loads of Barbie pc games and board games and I thought I could give them to dd as we have an old computer she could play them on. When I mentioned this to my partner he said it’s a bad idea because they’re too outdated and don’t really resemble anything other children her age will be playing with and that it may not be a realistic portrayal of girls in today’s life as these games are over 20 years old now. They’re things like Barbie Secret Agent And Barbie Detective And an ice skating one so they’re quite varied and I think they’re just quite fun for her. We don’t have a lot of money so can’t always buy her the newest and most exciting things so I thought it would be nice to see her enjoy things that I once enjoyed. I was just wondering if anyone else’s kids play with their old things and if it’s unreasonable to let my dd play with my old things even though they are over 20 years old now?

Of course it's not unreasonable. My kids LOVE playing with my old toys, not so much DHs train set but I collected Trolls, had a ton of sylvanians and a load of random things like Popples were all up in my mums loft. Mine are even older than yours.

As long as they're clean and safe then why on earth would it be a problem? Your partner sounds like an idiot.

My dds love my old toys. Apparently "vintage" Polly Pocket is very cool! I've purchased second hand toys for them to play with from the 80s that I remember having. If they work why on earth wouldn't you play with them?

We had this with My Little Pony - our daughter played with mine (which are from the early 1980s) and was then so confused when none of the characters were the same in the “new” TV show!
However, it didn’t cause any problems and her little friends all loved playing with them when they came over too!
You sound lovely and I’m sure she will love playing with your toys.

Thank you all, it’s good to hear your children are enjoying things you liked. I think he’s worried that if she uses old technology she may struggle with newer computers- she doesn’t have an iPad so other than the tv and computers at school she doesn’t use much new technology

My mum saved up all our Play Mobil toys, houses, figures, parts to go with them, there's loads of it, and honestly looks no different from what's out now. My DD loves playing with them (under supervision as she's only 3 and small parts) but it's brilliant to watch her playing with them and thinking she gets the same joy out of them as I and my siblings did.

Based on that nobody is allowed to play with spinning tops or marbles etc

Your husband is a twonk. As for the computer being out of date, all computers are out of date after a couple of years so that agument is invalid (hence the constant updates being pushed by microsoft and apple). Its also best to know a multitude of computer programmes rather than be limited by one (which will go out of date/obsolete in a couple of years too).

If she enjoys playing with them then that is the ONLY thing that matters.

oh, and yes. My children played with my old toys too. Absolutely loved them more than some of the newer toys (dolls seem more sexulized now eg bratz). They are now stored in the attic for any grandkids to come along - at the insistence of my children, not me.

Tbh I was going yanbu until the part where your dh said it might not be a realistic portrayal of girls life today.
While I am under no illusions that the detective and ice skating games represent anything close to a ‘realistic portrayal’ of life in the 1990’s, I think he has a point that some content from back in the day dates badly.
I have got a lot of old videos, some of which my kids have loved, others of which we have had lengthy discussions over the biases which are evident to us now.

I would definitely play with them, but be prepared to keep an eye on some of the content and discuss why x has become outdated.

Also she may not find any humour funny. That can date badly too.

Does your husband mean the barbers aren’t very modern is that they don’t represent our diverse society- all white, blued eyed and super skinny

@OnceuponaRainbow18 yes he does and I get what he means to an extent but also in the ice skating one (which I think came out in 2002) they aren’t all white and they all wear quite a range of different outfits so they don’t all look the same. Also dd is 5, I don’t think she’ll think too much into it

Just because she’s 5 and won’t think too much into it, it’s still important to recognise that a baseline of cultural information is being fed to children through toys content and other culture.
It is creating her sense of normal.

I think you are a better judge of what your dd might like and your dp is talking out of his arse.

@BlackishTulips Yes definitely. Sorry I hadn't meant that I only wanted her to see one type of person. She has a range of different toys that represent different groups and I do try to give her more diverse experiences than I had as a child

When DPs moved DD1s eyes lit up and the amount of stuff that was coming out of the loft that used to be mine! Most went the journey but a few things have been put in DPs new loft for when DDs are older, but DD2 loves playing with an old Disney phone of mine that doesn't have an off button which DH is so pleased about

Oh, I think it's fine for her to play with your old stuff. Kids are often quite fascinated by older stuff like that, as it's things they haven't seen before - sometimes it's actually because it's different to what their friends have that they like it!

I suppose it's vaguely possible that a Barbie game from the 90s might be mildly more sexist or less representative than a similar game would be today, but ultimately I doubt it would be significantly more so, and certainly not to a point where it would be inappropriate for your daughter to play with them. And you can always have a chat with her about that stuff anyway, put into context for her.

Huh? My in laws have kept toys and games that beloved to their kids and now their great grandchildren are playing with them! These date back to the 60s/70s. Of course your kid should play with them!
I grew up in that era and I still recognise some of the toys sold today.

Your DH needs to realise that no child has ever been set back because they didn’t have the latest technology/computer/iPad at home.

My DD went crackers for my old Barbies!

I think diversity in the things kids play with, can only be a good thing. What does it matter if it's outdated, at 5 she's unlikely to be bothered by it, and if she does comment, it gives you an opportunity for a conversation with her about how things change in society. I think your DH is being ridiculous!

I would so not have a problem letting my kids play Sonic the Hedgehog!

In fact my husband does have an arcade machine which plays lots of old platform games like Turtles and Mario and they love it!

My 5yo loves playing with my old toys (and brother's when at my mum's -action man, duplo etc). She has Barbies but likes my Sindys as part of the collection. Parts of my old tea set are now bath/garden toys. Toys are toys in the end. She has said she wants to keep certain things to show her children. My books are slowly emerging from the he loft too.

I think unless something is particularly problematic this is fine.

I used to play with some of my Mum's old toys as a child. I've also saved some of my favourite toys from the 90s for my DC - polly pockets, beanie babies and my little ponies.

The only things I won't pass on are my Enid Blyton books - they originally belonged to my mother and her sisters in the 60s and some of them contain offensive words.