Keeping Toys for the next generation?

[~Journey~]

Hi all

Do those of you with older children save any of their baby toys for the grandchildren?

I have a box of items they loved to play with. For a while there it also served as a toy box for visiting friends and their kids. But that too has stopped. They all grew up too

We have 2 buckets of the big Duplo blocks. A bunch of wooden puzzles, a Brio train set with some no name additions to it. And there are a few very sturdy plastic toys.

How do you handle these items? Is it even worth it to save them another 'who knows how many' years?

[starry_mama]

My kids are stil very young so I haven't come to this place yet, but depending on my housing situation, I'm thinking we won't save anything. My MIL saved EVERYTHING, and it is all now cluttering up my house. I'm a little bitter about it and don't want to torture my future DILs. But maybe some realy special things IF we own a house so we don't have to move it all the time. Maybe.

[hopefulfaith]

Originally Posted by starry_mama

My MIL saved EVERYTHING, and it is all now cluttering up my house. I'm a little bitter about it and don't want to torture my future DILs.

I'm there, too.

I am donating our toys when the kids grow out of them.

[Justmee]

My mother saved a lot of our old wood puzzles and I am grateful. There is nothign like seeing your kids play with your toys .

She got rid of my legos and I was majorlly :. I'm sure they are worht about 1000 today to replace :

I plan on saving things in excellent condition to have when the grandkids come over, I woulnd't save junky toys.

[~Nikki~]

I save one or two favorite toys from each "phase" of their life. I have 4 or 5 of my old toys/toy sets, and have pulled them out for my own children to play with. I think it'll be nice for them to have some of their old toys, when they're grown.

I'm not saving any to keep here for future grandchildren, though. It'll be up to my children whether they want to pass these toys onto their own kiddos. I'm pretty confident that in 30 years or so, when my babies are having babies, the toys they play with now will probably be deemed unsafe, much like the "lead paint" toys we used to play with as children.

[angelcat]

I wish I had kept more of my stuff. I have my baby doll, some plastic farm animals, and some stuffed animals. I wish had more of my dolls, my tinker toys (can't find those now) my legos, (I had lots) and all my stuffed animals.

I also have a couple of my baby toys, altho they are in no condition for a baby to play with (plastic broke down on one, others got used as doll toys). I also have baby booties I used for Rachel!! and a brush that was my mom's when she was a baby. I have some miniature china that was my grandmothers, I think.

For Rachel, I am keeping a few baby toys, and some special clothes. Probably more as she gets older, but she is only 2 now.

[njsummer01]

I was just soured on the idea of saving toys for grandchildren last night, when my MIL brought out and old rusty can of painted wooden spools from the 70's for my 9 month old to play with. Let's see...rust, possible lead-based paint, sitting in a basement for 30 years...no thanks, MIL!

[EviesMom]

I saved most of dd's for ds, but when we're done having kids, I don't plan to keep most of them. One or two special items per child per age is reasonable IMO. Handmade by the family I'll definitely keep (like the doll cradle my grandpa made for me that dd is now using); and a few items that were most beloved; beloved books. But generic plastic including legos and playmobil, even generic wooden stuff, I plan to give away/sell when we're done with them.

I just don't think the kids will want *everything* they ever used. They'll want new and more modern used stuff for their children just like I do. A friend's mother passed away last year and I helped her clear through literally everything she had ever worn or played with or read as a child that her mother had stored in the basement. We ended up with a lot of it, and her mother took impeccable care of it all. On the other hand, my mother had boxes and boxes of books that she never paid any attention to their storage conditions, and they're moldy and basically trashed. But she won't throw them out because they were once worth something and meant something to her family. I just try to be realistic that I don't have the time, space, and energy to store very many unused toys well.

[ZanZansMommy]

My MIL is a pack rat & she saved A LOT of DH's toys. Luckily some of it mysteriously disappeared after their divorce.

DH & I went through his things & we kept his unit blocks, several books, a shape sorter & a few trucks. It's so cool to see our DS play with the trucks & our DD looking at her Daddy's books.

I plan on keeping just a few wooden toys & favorite books & that's it. All stuffed animals will be done away with. They are so nasty after 25-30 yrs :Puke

[Ygle]

I'm at the point now where I feel too guilty to use up house space to store items for years that *might* be used someday when I know they could be put to good use right now in somebody else's home. Add to that the issue of toy safety, things breaking down over time, not wanting my kids to feel like I expect them to have kids someday, worrying about more to lose, the whole emotional baggage that goes along with gifting some cherished item to another family member -especially a child, and to me it all just ends up making more sense to pass things on today, knowing they will be appreciated and desired, not a potential burden.

[wednesday]

DH's parents have some toys from when their kids were small (about 40 years ago) and to be honest it's not really stuff my son wants to play with or I particularly want him to handle. Peeling, possibly lead-based paint, as a PP mentioned. Broken, worn components. Sharp edges/corners that you just don't find on modern toys. Long-stringed pull toys that are possibly a choking hazard. Etc.

I'd rather pass on toys to another child who will play with them soon after DS is done, then have them gather dust for decades and possibly become obsolete for reasons I could not predict.

[ShannonCC]

I think this sort of thing only works if you are *very* selective and only keep a small number of things. Otherwise, as others said, it gets overwhelming to have a large number of old hand-me-downs passed on. Especially when you factor in the guilt of "mom/MIL saved these for me for X decades so I can't just get rid of them".

I think some is nice though. Just not boxes full.

[miss_sonja]

Originally Posted by Ygle

I'm at the point now where I feel too guilty to use up house space to store items for years that *might* be used someday when I know they could be put to good use right now in somebody else's home. Add to that the issue of toy safety, things breaking down over time, not wanting my kids to feel like I expect them to have kids someday, worrying about more to lose, the whole emotional baggage that goes along with gifting some cherished item to another family member -especially a child, and to me it all just ends up making more sense to pass things on today, knowing they will be appreciated and desired, not a potential burden.

This is an excellent point! It's one thing to save one or two items that will age well, but it's a waste to save lots of toys that could be played with now. I think those future moms and dads will want to choose their own toys for their kids, and while they'll probably appreciate that a few childhood treasures were saved, they won't want or expect to have their entire nurseries furnished from their own hand-me-downs.

I have most of my dolls, a lot of my books, none of my LEGOs, and one or two wooden toys from childhood. While it's nice to have, most of the dolls are too fragile for my girls to actually play with. They do read the books, and enjoy them, so I'm glad they were saved.

[Azuralea]

My parents did this, and it was difficult because they saved stuff that really should have been trashed years ago. Unsafe, chipping paint, moldy in one case. : They should never have done it. What they saved was not worth it.

I love my parents dearly, and so we gently helped the toys into that great trashheap in the sky so as not to hurt their feelings... but let's just say there is a reason I am a fanatic about decluttering. Dang, what if that compulsion is inherited!

[mightymoo]

Both my parents and my inlaws did this. My inlaws have some kid toys which works well when we visit them. My mom was a kindergarten teacher, so she has a lot of age appropriate toys that weren't even really ours, she used them in her classroom, which means they have a bunch of toys to play with there as well. Neither has dumped these toys on us, which I like.

So, I like that the kids have toys to play with at their grandparents, however, there isn't any reason why they need to be your kids toys. Toys are so cheap at yard sales and whatnot, that my inclination is get rid of them, except for maybe some really nice, or especially sentimental ones that you have a strong desire to pass down and just plan to have fun finding fun toys for your grandkids to use at your house when the time comes.

All the good toys we have are going into boxes marked 'hand me down' and stored in my parents attic for my brother's kids if they want them, if not, a later yard sale. (The crappy ones will get tossed or donated)

[rsps]

I have one medium sized box (out air filter came in it) that I have special clothes/toys books saved in. If something comes along that I want to add that I think will be appreciated I have to choose something else to take out.

My mom has a few toys and books that were mine that the boys play with when they visit -- but she didn't keep anything in bad condition. The boys also got to wear the sweater that their grandma knitted for DH - that was nice. So I think a few carefully chosen items can be appreciated but not too much or not in good condition.

[reducereuserecycle]

my mom save a lot of our stuff (clothes and toys) some of it is nasty and descneagrated after 25 years ans some of it is perfect. i think saving for the next generation is a wonderful idea. just consider the material each thing is made of and use that to determine if it will last. my mom just gave 3 month old DD a silverplated rattle that was mine and she loves it. also, she is wearing lots of my old dresses. they look great for their age!

[SusanInItaly]

My children are currently playing with my Breyer horses and Cabbage Patch dolls. They also have some of my old Golden Books.

I plan on keeping the wooden trains, American Girl doll (my cousin, who is 31, still has hers and my DD loves to play with them when we visit!) and possibly all the duplos or legos? Plus a few stuffed animals (well, they have picked those themselves.)

[Leta]

Originally Posted by ShannonCC

I think this sort of thing only works if you are *very* selective and only keep a small number of things. Otherwise, as others said, it gets overwhelming to have a large number of old hand-me-downs passed on. Especially when you factor in the guilt of "mom/MIL saved these for me for X decades so I can't just get rid of them".

I think some is nice though. Just not boxes full.

:

[Wabi Sabi]

I will certainly keep some of ds's toys for grandkids. I'll be selective of course, but ds has quite a few gorgeous wooden toys with all natural finishes- they're really heirloom quality toys and I can't imagine just getting rid of them. I'm sure that at the bare minimum we'll keep his unit blocks, some wooden trucks, his abacus, the little wooden doll cradle, etc.

I don't think I'd bother saving any plastic, mass-produced, electronic, character-type toys. Nor would I bother with saving any stuffed animals or other soft toys that would likely just get moldy and so forth.

I totally understand not wanting to burden my children with a bunch of old stuff, but these are all things that can stay at our house for the grandchildren to play with when visiting us if needed. I'm sure we'll also keep a decent selection of classic children's books that can stay at our house on a special little bookshelf just for the grandkids.