How do you decide when your child has outgrown a toy?

[jenfur]

I am trying to get rid of some of my kids toys and I am having a hard time. They have a ton of toys and there is NO MORE room. Some have to go. If they want more toys for birthdays and Christmas room must be made. The older kids (7 & 10) are easy, but the 4 year old is posing a serious problem.

He has a lot of baby and preschool toys, but he has moved on to liking action figures, wrestlers, castles, transformers and things like that. He rarely watches nick jr. but has a ton of blues clues and barney toys. The problem is I still see him as a little 2-3 year old (because he is the baby) and he will play with the blues clues and other "baby" toys if he stumbles across them, making me feel really guilty for even thinking of getting rid of them.

How do you decide FOR SURE that a child has outgrown a toy? Is this another case of mommy guilt I am just going to have to deal with?

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I know what you mean, my son has a ton of stuff! I usually take the items in question, bag them up and then off to the basement they go. If he doesn't ask about where they went, I then give them to my sisters children.

I will not give away "special toys" though. I do have a bag saved that I could not part with.

 

[grinningghost]

I remember those days. For me, it wasn't too difficult, as we were apartment dwellers for our DD's younger years and space was always a problem. I would usually just get a big garbage bag or box and start stuffing. If it was a toy that I didn't see her play with more than once a month - it was history. Of course she's 14 now and still has her Elmo doll from when she was a baby. That tattered old guy will probably always be here.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

DS is 9, and twice a year we go through his things. I ask him what he wants to keep and get rid of, and he's pretty generous with the "get rid of" pile.

It's funny, when he was 3 we bought him a Fisher Price castle. To this day, he plays with it. Sometimes he uses the little knights that came with it, and other times he uses his other action figures, but for 6 years that $30 castle has gotten regular use. I don't think I'll ever get rid of that castle...I'll save it for the grandkids!

 

[laceemouse]

My youngest is 5 and I too felt guilty getting rid of the preschool toys. Most of ours are gone now, still have the Fisher Price little people to get rid of! I found that my caboose gave up the baby toys earlier than the other 3. She was always just more interested in playing with the things they liked! I figure if she misses something, like the long gone Little Tykes kitchen, she can just play kitchen at church or preschool! Your ? is timely for me, just yesterday I packed up 7 trash bags of stuffed animals to get rid of! I had to do it when they were not looking, our house was stuffed with them. Many of them were very cute and many came from my mom! I tried to just keep their favorites and the TY ones. My kids have always loved their animals so it was a HARD thing to do!!! Lacee

 

[dturner]

My DS in 7 and I've been selling his old Fisher Price toys on Ebay to make money for a trip to WDW. I just started taking things out and photographing them, I came across some Fisher Price toys that were really cool, a vehicle that opens and another vehicle comes out and when you open that a plastic person is in the last one, anyway while I was setting those up to photograph, DS came into the room and said to me, "Mom, those are collectibles in mint condition" and off they went back to his room - I guess he wasn't ready to let go of those.

That is how I found out what he was ready to give up and what he wanted to keep.

 

[AngieBelle]

I'd say let the kid decide. I'd be furious if my mom got rid of something of mine without asking first! I'm very clingy with my stuff though.

 

[Planogirl]

Originally posted by addicted_to_WDW
DS is 9, and twice a year we go through his things. I ask him what he wants to keep and get rid of, and he's pretty generous with the "get rid of" pile.

It's funny, when he was 3 we bought him a Fisher Price castle. To this day, he plays with it. Sometimes he uses the little knights that came with it, and other times he uses his other action figures, but for 6 years that $30 castle has gotten regular use. I don't think I'll ever get rid of that castle...I'll save it for the grandkids!

That's funny because our son is 10 and he still has his castle too. He doesn't play much any more with toys but his X-Men action figures had quite a battle in and around the castle recently. I agree that the castle was a great investment.

 

[jenfur]

WOW! I have that same castle and it is no where near the "ready to go box".

 

[Pembo]

I have a hard time getting rid of my kids toys. When I asked them to pick out things to get rid of they couldn't do it either!

The only toys I have sent to new homes are mostly the little McDonalds ones and anything that they never played with.

Good luck.

My DS in 7 and I've been selling his old Fisher Price toys on Ebay to make money for a trip to WDW

That makes me sad! My kids love playing with all of MY old FP toys. My mom saved them for her grandkids. Maybe that is why I can't get rid of anything either?!