Toddler Buzz
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Clearing Out the Old Toys
December 23, 2008 at 1:35 PM by Cafe Cynthia - Comments (10)
Photo by 3lilmonsters411
While a lot of moms on tight budgets had to cut back on gifts this year, a number of mommies are still worried that their toddlers are getting way too much stuff -- from Santa, grandparents, friends, etc.
Even celebrities that can afford to shower their kiddies in gifts are choosing not to do so. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie buy a few new toys for their six children, but they put way more emphasis on homemade presents. Even actress Keri Russell limits the number of gifts her son River Deary receives from family.
TatorsMommy2205, in the Preschooler Moms group, is particularly concerned that Santa (herself, mother, brother) is being a little too generous to her soon-to-be 3 year old daughter. This raises the issue of what to do with all her old toys. It's one thing to get rid of toys a child has outgrown and no longer plays with, but TatorsMommy2205's little girl still plays with all of them. She asks:
How do you ladies know when it is time to pass toys along? Do you have a method for it, or a certain amount of time that you go in and check your kids toys? And, do your kids get upset for days after you get rid of their old toys, even if there are already new ones to replace them?
Here are some of the responses she got:
- At least twice a year, right before my son's birthday and then again on Christmas, I go through all of the toys, when he is not around, and bag up the ones that he has outgrown or doesn't play with and donate them.
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Could you maybe save some of her gifts for her birthday? Or, let her open everything and then tell her we need to make room for all these new toys. So, are there some toys that you'd like to give to someone who would love to have them? For instance, we have a lot of little cousins, so I always tell my son, "You know who would love this toy, so and so would!" And then he's happy to give it to them. Tat2dCaliMama
- I would I go through my son's toys about every six months. The last time I completely cleaned out his toy box was about 4 months ago when a friend gave me Legos her son never even opened. I told my son that if he wants the Legos, he needs to clear out the toys in his toy box (which he never played with anymore). He kept maybe ONE toy from the toy chest and never asked for the old toys. JPsMommy605
- If you have the space, take some of her stuff and put it away. Then when the newness starts to wear off of her toys, switch out your stock. It keeps things new to her. When switching them out no longer excites her, then it's time to donate that toy.
Has your toddler ever asked for an old toy that you'd previously thrown out or donated? How did you explain your way out of it?
FILED UNDER: holiday gifts 08, toys
Comments:
I am going through my girls toys now to donate them. My girls are helping me they understand thatthey are giving their toys to children who might need them
My daughter doesn't have very many toys to start with, but I think when she gets older (she's only 10 months now) we will help her understand that her old toys will find a new home for a little boy or girl who probably doesn't have any toys at all.
Right now she has two play phones... when she gets "bored" with one, we take it away and give her the "new" one. She's so young it's like a brand new toy!
I went through my kids toys and freecycled a bunch of them. They were msotly things they didnt play with. I think my daugther has mentioned something maybe twice and I told them the truth about what I did with them.
I told my boys after the new year we were going to go thru old toys and "clean" house...
Thanks for the Toddler Buzz post Cynthia... If I don't get an answer to my question this way, there is something wrong!
MY DH would tell you that my son has too many toys & we should purge him of at least half, but in comparison to a lot of other kids his age, he really doesn't have that much. But now that Christmas is over, I plan on going through everything & purging my son of the toys that aren't age appropriate any longer. I'll box up some of the things he still plays with but hasn't shown a lot of interest in lately & put them up for a while. Then I'll make the old switcheroo when he seems to be getting burnt out on the new stuff. Maybe I can make them last longer this way too. (My son is Dr. Destructo lately) BTW, I take the old stuff down to my local Once Apon A Child & sell them the stuff they will take to make a few extra dollars. I give the rest to the Salvation Army
we give the old toys to the preschool if they are preschool age, we give books and games to the library. My oldest passes his over to younger family members. We also donate our teddy bears or stuffiesto the hospitals. Yes, we do end up with some in the bins but they charge people to buy the used items, I rather give them away for free. We just had a roadside alert last night with a few items... posted on craigslist. I had people here all night looking through our boxes. If someone else needs them more then us, why not let them have it.
The childrens schools usually know the kids that need the most help. Also rehab places for adults so the kids have something to play with when they go to visit.
I have a cafemom group that I thought is a great way to re-purpose baby stuff :)
Babycycle and Community Resource Finder
http://www.cafemom.com/group/touchedbyhearts
Moms in the never ending baby/kids recycling cycle! When your baby/kids outgrows you give, what their babies outgrow you get
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well we go through there toys as they dont play with them anymore and we put them in a box. then when we have a truck load we go and donate the toys. they have so many they dont notice if one is missing or not lol.
tracymommyof5 Dec. 23, 2008 at 1:54 PM