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?

We didn't have room in the bedroom so we put it in the living room instead. It got played with every day after that. Is that an option at all OP?

I wouldn't take it away from a 6 year old that's just cruel. Can you play with it with her? Craft things are easy to do alone but imaginative play usually works better with involvement maybe that's why she plays with it when she has friends over.

How's it fair on her brother to have it in his room?

If she wants to keep it id tell her she needs to make space for it in her room by getting rid of something else.

Have you seen how big they are?

I wouldn't be able to comfortably fit one in my boy's room, which I wouldn't exactly describe as small.

Just for clarification, that's two separate different Dreamhouses. They're quite big, but not the size of two of them! The current one looks like this: https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/fashion-and-dolls/barbie/barbie-dream-house-playset/p/223900

Yes, I got that 👍🏻 it was the first image that came up for me on Google and when you open it up clearly shows that it's comparing the old and new dream house, so is two separate houses (it's cut the text off on the preview).

You can clearly see that one house alone is larger than a grown adult crouching down.

I had no idea how big, or how expensive they are.

Is 6 a bit young to play with one on her own? I'm not sure, but I'm thinking mine were a bit older when they first got a Barbie and they never got the other toys to go with the dolls.

One had a dolls house and one had Sylvanian family mansion. I kept them both and now the next generation are playing with them.

I'd be tempted to dismantle and store it, even if it's a relative's loft, if possible obviously. That said, I have no idea of the second hand value. It'd need to be high for me to sell it on.

I wouldn't give her a choice. It's silly to keep something so huge around when she doesn't even play with it.

@Lilacbluewaters if you do end up keeping it have a look at why she doesn't play with it.
I think a lot of children don't really know what to do with these massive doll houses.
They are pretty much a big plastic nothingness.
Back in the 80s you could buy loads of furniture and things for the Sindy house but you don't seem to be able to buy furniture or accessories for the Barbie houses.
Smaller toy houses like Sylvanian Families, Playmobil and Lego are all about furniture and accessories which means they get more play.
So if she wants to keep it and she likes crafts encourage her to make furniture. Make curtains or something. A wardrobe for her many outfits.
Even paint little miniature art works that Barbie could display.
You can have lots of fun with doll houses - but children often need to be shown how to actually play with one.

Who’s mentioned a mansion?! Certainly not me.

Other posters have mentioned sheds, lofts, garages and other things OP may well not have if the house is that small. I notice you haven’t made passive aggressive digs at them.

I didn’t say she was lying. I said there’s a difference between quite literally no room and not really enough, but it will fit up a corner or in the bottom of a wardrobe.

OP said "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".

You said "I can’t believe her room is too small for it to be in there at all".

You very much did say that she was wrong. Not lying necessarily, but mistaken about the size of her own house.

Wow, that’s some mean parenting. You should really rethink this.

My mum used to give all my things away to younger visiting cousins to entertain them and I particularly remember this happening with a teddy that my older brother bought me. I really resented it...and particularly being told that it was a baby's toy, and I was a baby for wanting to keep it. so I don't think you should get rid of it yet.

You said that her friends play with it when they visit.. It might be that its a cool thing to have when a friend comes over and more interesting to play with, when a friend joins in. For that reason, she probably loves it, even if it's not an everyday thing. It probably seems cooler since the film came out.

she will grow out of it, but do it with her agreement.

She's six. She can't refuse anything.

She doesn't have to suffer being inconvenienced by such a huge toy, take it out of her poor brothers room and squeeze it into hers, she will soon be fed up with no room to move and will be begging you to sell it.

If she plays with it when she has friends over it shows it's a toy that is good for paired imaginative play. My 2 nieces constantly play with theirs as they invent family dynamics together then do the make believe. Harder to do on your own (or not nearly as much fun). Do you play with her with it?

She could still move other things elsewhere to make space. There’s got to be a better solution than putting it in her brother’s room.

It may be that she circles back to it when a bit older. My dn started getting interested in Barbie’s again at about 8 (after seemingly ‘growing out’ of them a few years earlier) and then was obsessed from 8-10 (and secretly a bit older)

I don't think her brother should be lumbered with it either. If it can physically go into her room, even if she has to climb over it, that's where it should go. Or alternatively and preferably, could it go into the living room or even your bedroom? It just feels a bit mean to have bought her such a huge present and then moved so that she has a bedroom that it won't fit in. Ultimately, it's hers so she should be able to keep it if she wants to.

My son begged for months to get a huge Hot Wheels car garage that was nearly £200, the one with the dinosaur elevator thing that grabs the cars, he watched adverts about it, dreamed about it, talked about it constantly and cried when it wasnt there Christmas morning (my husband had recently lost his job and there was no way), finally got it by scrimping after Christmas and he was thrilled. Played with it maybe 10 times over the next couple of years and never for longer than five minutes -_- that thing was bloody huge and took up so much room, I was glad to see the back of it 😂

My DD got a large dolls house at around 5, she barely played with it until last year. She's 8 now and plays with it most days. I would store it if you can and bring it back out in a year.

Reminds me of my mum who just got rid of stuff. I had a Cindy dolls house with a lift and furniture etc. it was immaculate. I had it for one of my earliest Xmas maybe 3 years old. I dusted it and still sort of played with it. Came home from school one day when I was 11 and it was gone. No warning - nothing. Said it had gone to her friend’s little girls

went round to mum friend house and they had drawn on it in felt pen, ripped, dolls had pen on them and hair cuts.

I think it was the beginning of the end of our relationship as I don’t speak to her much now.

a couple of years earlier, she also gave my cat away to a neighbour when we were moving but kept my sisters older cat.

A barbie dream house is not going to fit at the bottom of a wardrobe!

My daughter is 9 and has had hers for over 2 years now. She doesn’t play with it as much but still does every now and again. I will hopefully be able to sell it before Xmas this year and she will have the money from the sale which usually encourages her to sell things.

maybe she doesn’t play with it because it’s in her brothers room? Could you trial it in the living room and then if she still doesn’t play with it say it’s going to be sold but she can have the money to buy Lego or whatever she prefers instead