To want to get rid of MIL toys 🧸

[Tiredmamma8]

My MIL buys my now 7month old baby endless soft toys. Some of which aren’t even in her age range (unsafe due to small parts).

Is it mean to get rid of them and buy something she can actually use / is more interesting to a baby?

2 per visit is a lot, and if the collection keeps growing then presumably she's going to run out of space in a 1 bed flat...

Probably because if it was your mum you could be a little more blunt

I’m a GM and a MIL and you just have to be firm here. She may just be very excited about the new addition, have forgotten what it’s like to live in a small home as a new mum. Direct her to savings accounts, days out or be upfront and tell her what you do need. And get your DH to do the telling. She’ll cope.

Try something like .......

MiL, please don't buy any more soft toys for child as they have so many already and they hardly play with them. It's such a shame to waste your money, Perhaps you could buy them a premium bond instead if you want to spend on them? They will really appreciate the money when they're older. But you don't need to buy anything. Child loves seeing you and so do we and we all look forward to your visits but please don't bring any more toys, we just don't have capacity to store them or play with them.

Just say it to her, not in an ungrateful way. My sis did this, she tells us what they like, books and jigsaws in her case, so they got one each at xmas and then a voucher for new shoes ( as they needed them). Now the message has only got through to thirds of both families but it has lessoned the amount of clutter. Plus the kids delighted with their new shoes. As someone said watch Stacey's sort your life out - the latest episode they had 1,500 toys between two kids, in a two up two down small terraced house. Tell your mother inlaw time and experiences is more valuable

Leave them at the front door in the bag they came in.

My DM would bring charity shop clothes and stuff which nobody wanted. I would dump them at the front door in amongst the shoe and bag pile. I would get round to chucking them out once they had been there a while giving her time to notice her junk was not going to be taken out of the bag.

Then the soft toys will have to move to grandma’s house. But that is a battle for OH to have…

You/DP need to redirect her (however you feel is appropriate be it books, clothes, money for savings etc) and explain that due to the lack of space you have to be really selective about what toys etc your little one has. If she refuses to listen (most people do listen if the message is clear enough), you/DP need to have the conversation each time she pitches up with another soft toy or something else inappropriate and then send her home with said purchase and do it each time.

It should be fairly clear that your property is small and there isn’t much in the way of storage space and it is not that difficult for a GP to buy things for their DGC that add to the mountain of stuff. It can be challenging, but with a little thought and working together it can be done. I have been there and done that as a GP in discussion with my DD. Thankfully they have now moved into a larger property, but rather than shower DCG with stuff I still continue with considered purchases.

Tell MIL you appreciate the gesture but to stop buying toys with small parts as your baby won't be using them. Then put them in a box and in storage until baby is at a safe age for the toys?

The whole point is that OP doesn't have any storage space to keep these unwanted toys in a small flat. I doubt she wants to hire a container to do so either.

Yeah I’d definitely not be pussyfooting around it if it were my mum.