AIBU to want to sell my daughters Barbie dream house?

[Lilacbluewaters]

Bought said Barbie dream house two years ago, she has played with it approximately 5-10 times and that is when she has had friends come round. We moved house so now she has a smaller bedroom, there is no where to put this huge thing!! It’s currently in her brothers bedroom, I have spoke to my dd (age 6) and said we should pass it on to another little girl now, I’m sad that she’s only 6 and not interested at all in imaginative play but also can’t force it. (She prefers creative things, Lego, hama beads, slime, arts crafts, being outside on her bike etc) She is refusing to let it go though, but honestly she never touches it!! This whole year so far she has no touched it once😭
what would you do? Am I being really mean to get rid of it?

have you got an attic? We stick stuff up there and say we can get it down when you want to play with it. Then when it is never mentioned again we get rid of it.

I’d only be keeping it if it was her most favourite thing.
If you do manage to get some money for it you could let her spend it on something new that she would like. Something smaller!!

The way I've persuaded my DC to part with things in the past is to say that if I sell it we can buy them something new with the money that they want. It's only fair, after all, as the thing belongs to them and therefore the proceeds are theirs.

I would let her keep it, for no reason other than it's hers and she doesn't want to get rid of it. I think forcing removal of toys is harsh, kids need a little bit of control over their world and choosing to keep a Barbie house is it.

Do you have a shed it can be stored in? Tell her when she wants to play with it you will bring it in.
It's not fair to your ds to have it taking up space in his bedroom.

I’d tell her it’s time to sell it and to use the money from the sale to buy her new toys of her choice. Surely that’s win win.

My dgd has this and loves it

Let her keep it if you can

Stick it in the shed / garage if you have one .

Does she understand that she can use the money from the sale to buy something she would play with more often?

I can't say I blame you tbh. We got one for our DD who is also 6, but she still loves it.
Unfortunately it won't fit in her room either so it takes up space in our front room.

Same story with my dd who is 8. We took it apart and put it in the attic for our younger dd who is 2. We also have an LOL house which is a bit trickier to take apart so we may just donate that. I'd love for it to go to a child who would love it! ❤️ I agree with previous pp , could you motivate her by saying she can buy something else instead?

If she likes Lego there is a Mega (rival brand) set of the Barbie Dream House that's much smaller and can obviously be taken apart when not being played with.
Maybe as a compromise?

I don’t think she has to interact with it to love it. I wasn’t an I imaginative play kid either, but I loved my things in my room. I was never lucky enough for a Barbie dream house but I think that’s a really special toy.

Sell it and give her the money to buy something else. We had one that Dts really really wanted, was played with for about an hour tops.

She won't play with it much if it's in her brother's room.

Why not offer her an alternative. Sell it and say you'll buy her a Lego Friends set instead which is for BIG girls... see if she'll go for that.

My kids didn't want to part with their play food, but I said they could use the money to get a Wii game they wanted and they were happy with that solution.

YANBU. Sell the bloody thing.

I've been through this pain a lot of times with my own kids. They acculumate toys they never play with or wouldnt notice theyre gone, but every now and then i have them clear out their room and get rid of some of their toys (DD9 is a terror for this), or if theyve been really naughty I make them get rid of one toy.
In both cases if they refuse to choose i'll just pick any one.

She is refusing to let it go though, but honestly she never touches it!! This whole year so far she has no touched it once😭

Isn’t the sobbing emoji just a little bit OTT?

I can’t believe her room is too small for it to be in there at all; even if it’s in the bottom of the wardrobe or something. It doesn’t have to be a display piece. And how is her brother’s room big enough for it AND his stuff? In any case, you can’t leave it in there; that’s his space.

Had the same issue here. She refused to get rid of it, it's hers so I can't give it away/sell it. I've bagged it, and it's in the loft now.

Sell it and let her have the proceeds to spend on what she is actually interested in. Afterall it was gifted to her so the proceeds are technically hers anyway. Artistic and creative kids often have no interest in pretend play so nurture her creative side as much as you can.

You don't believe small bedrooms exist?!

Good grief!

My DD went through stages with Barbie (as did I with Sindy) so you may regret it if in a couple of years she wants it again. If you can store it, I'd do that.

Hell no, that thing would be drop kicked so hard and far right out of the door if we didn't have the room for it. Get rid OP.

Oh, it’s you again 🙄 You do this on every thread I see you on - take something incredibly literally, then dig your heels in, insisting your interpretation is the only interpretation.

For the avoidance of doubt, of course I understand that small bedrooms exist. But I also understand that there’s a difference between there literally being no room for something and something being bigger than ideal for the space you have.

We dont all live in home county mansions

Sure, but it's quite odd to disbelieve the OP when she says there isn't room for it. I assume she knows the layout of her house better than you do.