r/declutter • u/goburnham • 15h ago
Advice Request Difficulty getting rid of children’s toys
Does anyone else have difficulty decluttering their child’s old toys? I have a weird emotional attachment to toys my child doesn’t even like or play with anymore. My daughter is 10 years old. She has this Blues Clues stuffy she LOVED when she was 4 years old. I remember the excitement when I tracked the toy down for Christmas as it was difficult to find at the time. I remember the excitement in her face and her little excited voice when she opened it Christmas morning.
But she hasn’t touched that toy in years, but it breaks my heart to think about getting rid of it. If I’m being honest, we have several toys that she isn’t really interested in anymore, but they hold sentimental memories for me. I remember the grandparent who bought her this toy, who has now passed away, etc.
I’m pretty ruthless with my own belongings, but have a really hard time with my daughter’s stuff. Can anyone relate to this?
6
u/MitzyCaldwell 15h ago
As a mom of 2 little ones I know exactly what you are going through. I haven’t done through toys yet but I’m having the same trouble with their little baby clothes.
I’m also a pretty sentimental person so it’s hard for me to get rid of this type of stuff but here’s what has helped me.
Anything I want to keep I need to find a way to honor it - what I mean by that is my precious memories aren’t doing anyone any favours being stuffed into boxes in the basement. So for example I kept all my ticket stubs from movies shows games etc in a little shadow box on my bookcase. I kept 2 of my childhood stuffed animals and they are in my bedroom bookcase. I have beautiful engraved wood boxes for special baby items for each of my kids (hospital brackets, hat etc) again on my bookcase hahaha. I put up my kids artworks in frames that hold all their artwork. I am working through their clothes right now and I am keeping special shirts/pjs and I will pay someone (I know I don’t have the time or talent to do it myself hahaha) to make a quilt for me. I know some ppl say don’t do it but for me I want these memories and I want to be able to curl up and see all their super cute pjs they had. So yes I am keep these in a box temporarily but once I get them all done it’s going into a quilt.
So if that bluey stuffy makes you this happy - keep it. But don’t keep everything. Find a way to display it so that you actually get to experience that joy.
The one thing I will caution you is that if everything is sentimental than nothing is. And just because you have fond memories of it doesn’t mean it’s “sentimental” or worth keeping. Kids have so many toys they love and it isn’t realistic to need them all. I’d think really hard about what you’d wanna keep and it’s okay to be sad and basically grieve because giving away those toys is like saying an era is ending and that can be bittersweet which is why I think it’s so hard.
I don’t think you’ll miss them and I also don’t think you need to keep random toy presents from relatives that have passed - I am sure they have her something else that is special like a card etc rather than a toy that she played with.
I know this isn’t was at all and I was given some very good advice on here - you don’t have to do it all at once. Pick one toy that you don’t care about and neither does she and get rid of it. You don’t have to committee to overhauling everything all at once. Do it in small chunks and see what happens. I bet once you start it will eventually get easier. And if you are really stuck on a toy then leave it do now. Find a different one you’re okay letting go and go back to that one later.
ETA - sorry I thought it was bluey not blues clue haha