Donate unused toys

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CyrilSebastian

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What do you think of having children donate unused toys and games to facilities for children?
 
Xantippe said:
I don’t like it when there’s arm-twisting or if kids are expected to give up items that are precious to them.
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I agree with this. We donate lots of toys, but only things my children aren’t attached to. My preferred method is to avoid having too much come in in the first place, but that can’t always be avoided.

When our financial situation was very bleak I would sell toys (garage sale-style) rather than donate.
 
It is fine. You can have your child donate their unused Elsa plush if you want.
 
We donate nearly everything each time we move and basically start over when we get established again. There are some things that have always been with us, but they tend not to be toys. Some of the kids have a blanket or pillow they are attached to, others have books or collection of rocks or whatever, and I have my daddy’s tools and grandmother’s pots. There are some stuffed animals and folks that have traveled a lot and trains and tracks, but most everything is a revolving door in our house. It’s good to teach kids to take care of things but it’s also important to help them find ways to not be so attached to worldly goods. Forcing a donation tends to backfire. We help the kids out by setting s limit of how much they are able to bring on a move with us but leave it up to them on what they decide to keep. Since you state in the title that these are UNUSED toys I would not hesitate to go on and donate them. Most likely they will not be missed and another child would love to have them. If for whatever reason your kids later say they are upset, explain that they were sitting around unused so you assumed they were unwanted. I’ve done it and it’s worked just fine for us.
 
bitterhope said:
We donate nearly everything each time we move and basically start over when we get established again. There are some things that have always been with us, but they tend not to be toys. Some of the kids have a blanket or pillow they are attached to, others have books or collection of rocks or whatever, and I have my daddy’s tools and grandmother’s pots. There are some stuffed animals and folks that have traveled a lot and trains and tracks, but most everything is a revolving door in our house. It’s good to teach kids to take care of things but it’s also important to help them find ways to not be so attached to worldly goods. Forcing a donation tends to backfire. We help the kids out by setting s limit of how much they are able to bring on a move with us but leave it up to them on what they decide to keep. Since you state in the title that these are UNUSED toys I would not hesitate to go on and donate them. Most likely they will not be missed and another child would love to have them. If for whatever reason your kids later say they are upset, explain that they were sitting around unused so you assumed they were unwanted. I’ve done it and it’s worked just fine for us.
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Also, give the stuff a vacation and see if it’s missed.

Our 3-year-old just did a radical purge of her room on her own initiative and she piled a bunch of stuff out in the hall. I’m a little hesitant about how to proceed, but some items will go to the play room, some items will go to storage (in-case-of-new-baby storage), and some will get given away (somebody will always take free Craigslist stuff). But I’m going to wait a little to make sure before doing the Craigslisting.
 
I have a much different take on this than most people. By ‘unused’, I assume your kid never owned them.

I would suggest telling your kid ‘Here is $20 to go toy shopping. Remember, all the toys are going to charity’ Have the kid pick something out to immediately be given away.

I remember once my mom giving away a paid of ‘unused socks’ I owned. When I ask where they went and she told me I cried for days. Initially, my parents accused me of being a trouble maker not wanting to give them away. It took me days to convinced them the reason I never wore those socks was because I loved them SO much, I did not want to wear them out. It is the God’s honest truth. Don’t assume because your kid doesn’t use a toy, they don’t want it. Perhaps they are trying to preserve it the way most adults leave their fine china in a cupboard and never use it. I love to see how well a kid giving away mom’s fine unused china would go over 😃

Angie
 
I think there’s nothing wrong with either (1) having kids pick out toy(s) to give away or (2) giving kids money to buy toys before Christmas. Assuming both gifts get to the needy kids before Christmas.

That reminds me, once a club I belonged to in middle school had a charity toy drive. Kids back then (at least where I went to school) didn’t have too much spending money but we accumulated about $30 in total. I was the one assigned to go to the toy store and pick out the gifts.

But to my horror, when it was time to check out, I found that I’d either lost the envelope with the money, or had it stolen; there was a guy at the store that seemed overly friendly for being a total stranger and I suspect he might have helped himself to the money (I had it in my backpack and it was labeled as money, stupidly on my part).

Anyway, I wound up paying for the toys out of my own money. That meant I didn’t get to buy some stuff for myself that I usually could, for the rest of December. But I think that was one of the best Christmas experiences I had.
 
I used to work with someone who would take their grandchildren every year before Christmas and go to Toys ‘R’ Us to pick out toys to give to children less fortunate. They gave the toys to Toys for Tots.
 
Anglewannabe said:
I have a much different take on this than most people. By ‘unused’, I assume your kid never owned them.

I would suggest telling your kid ‘Here is $20 to go toy shopping. Remember, all the toys are going to charity’ Have the kid pick something out to immediately be given away.

**I remember once my mom giving away a paid of ‘unused socks’ I owned. When I ask where they went and she told me I cried for days. Initially, my parents accused me of being a trouble maker not wanting to give them away. It took me days to convinced them the reason I never wore those socks was because I loved them SO much, I did not want to wear them out. It is the God’s honest truth. Don’t assume because your kid doesn’t use a toy, they don’t want it. ** Perhaps they are trying to preserve it the way most adults leave their fine china in a cupboard and never use it. I love to see how well a kid giving away mom’s fine unused china would go over 😃

Angie
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Yeah.

That’s exactly the sort of situation that I would be eager to avoid.

I find that my kids are eventually willing to part with a lot of stuff, but it happens on their schedule.

Just today, I had noticed that my oldest has a stash of small unused painting canvases that she is unlikely to use up. I got permission from her to offer them to a smaller neighbor boy, asked his mother, got a yes, and will be sending them over in a day or two.

It does slow down the process, but it is how I would like to be treated by others–I wouldn’t like people grabbing my stuff and disposing of it without checking in with me first.
 
Xantippe said:
Yeah.
It does slow down the process, but it is how I would like to be treated by others–I wouldn’t like people grabbing my stuff and disposing of it without checking in with me first.
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I certainly agree, and I recall that when I went away to college my mother made sure to ask me first before donating some items I no longer had use for, such as children’s books.

Unfortunately some parents believe “if I paid for it, it doesn’t really belong to the kid and I can do what I want with them”. But I don’t think even that reasoning would apply to items the kids get as gifts that the parents did NOT pay for.
 
Anglewannabe said:
I would suggest telling your kid ‘Here is $20 to go toy shopping. Remember, all the toys are going to charity’ Have the kid pick something out to immediately be given away.
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I like this idea. 👍 It was always so very nice when someone donated a new toy or clothes. People will often donate their clothes/toys after they would no longer use them theirselves. It’s really a slap in the face to those in need. I’m not saying you can’t donate gently used clothes/toys, but oh how much more special is it for them when you donate something brand new! They may never in their lives have had something brand new.
 
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