We have a large amount of Brio trainset from when our kids were young.
Long story short, we hung onto the Brio, thinking it would be nice for our grandkids to play with. Our grandkids (ages 10 and 5), do not play with the Brio the way our kids did. They do not set it up and act out scenarios. Instead, they simply pull out pieces seemingly haphazardly, and then throw them back into the bin. The pieces have received more wear from their occasional visits than it did from my 3 kids’ ongoing use over several years.
The way my grandkids interact with this toy makes us somewhat sad. So we are wondering what we want to do with this toy. I know it is just a thing, and we shouldn’t care so much about things, but there is some nostalgic value, and it (mildly - in the grand scheme of things) bothers us to see it used as it is.
Son - who is most interested in toys and games, lives in Denver. We are driving out to visit come June. He bought a new house, and I don’t know if he wants this old toy, but we could easily bring it out in the car.
Grandkids live 10 minutes away, and come over at least 1x/month. Honestly, I don’t know that the kids would miss it. Occasionally their mother will suggest we pull it out for when the kids visit.
It all fits in one storage bin, which fits easily in our storage room. So it could sit there until we move or die. And we do not need any $ a sale would get us.
So I’m seeing several options:
Just keep it and let the grandkids play with however they want;
Just keep it, but don’t bring it out unless we intend to supervise play;
I would ask son if he wants it. If he does, pack it up and send it to him or take it to him in June. If he does not, ask daughter if she wants it. If she does, send it home with her the next time she visits or take it to her. If neither wants it, I would donate it to a children’s home/shelter.
Gotta admit, we’ve been mildly disappointed in the past when we’ve given my daughter nice stuff in the past, and she and her family beat the shit out of it.
Like I said, I know it is just stuff. And we can’t require that other people treat their possessions the way we feel appropriate. But some stuff has nostalgic associations for us. And it is not a good feeling to see something you have fond association for get treated quite roughly.
“The kids aren’t playing with the kids toys the right way!”
They’re toys. Looking up what a Brio transet is, they aren’t anything fancy or collectable, looks like they’re made for toddlers. 10 & 5 years old seem too old for them, so if they don’t want them, there’s no reason to keep them.
If you donate it to a kid’s shelter or some such, you can sure it’ll get rough treatment there too. But at least some kids will get something they didn’t have. And perhaps more importantly, you won’t have to watch.
Heh. Hanging onto a huge bin of Brio myself. No grandkids so far …
That said … even when my kids were kids Brio was a play together activity, not them building tracks that functioned all by themselves. And I very frequently had to check myself from getting much more into making the cool set up than they were. Same with the high quality wood block set
Maybe you remember your kids playing independently with the sets in a “better way” more ideally than they had?
My vote, be prepared to patiently play with the set with the grandkids together, or see if any of the family wants to take ownership of them, after which you let it go free …
Yeah - I recall getting down on the ground, trying to make a track that used up every bit of track, and allowed the trains to go both ways…
My son definitely used to play with it by himself. When talking about this, my wife commented on how much she enjoyed seeing that remained set up but changed from day to day.
These kids do not seem to enjoy playing with it that way. Or really any way. They will watch me build it - joining in somewhat, but then lose interest. They don’t see to do the extended “story-making” type of play with any toys. Just makes it seem more work than fun to have to get it out, put it together, and then have to put it away - with little evidence of real enjoyment/engagement on their part.
And when it is time to put it away, instead of placing it in the bin, they throw it in forcefully. Just not the way I want my possessions treated. Anyone is free to disagree and treat their possessions however they want. But I value having nice things and keeping them in good shape.
Gotta admit, my 65 year old knees find getting down on the floor a little more challenging than a couple of decades ago.
Do not give it to your kids. Brio trains need to be a special treat, they’re perfect for grandparents’ houses. But they need to be set up and ready to be played with the minute they walk in the door.
That was the situation with my in-laws. My kids went crazy for the train set every time we visited. My father in law glued them all down to a laminated board that someone was selling for that exact purpose, so the kids couldn’t build their own tracks, but they couldn’t screw anything up either.
Eventually they got us our own set, and our kids couldn’t have cared less. Once they were in our home they were boring, I guess.
Yeah we are of different mindsets. The Brio set? The blocks? They were never mine. Aren’t mine. Aren’t my nice things. They were my kids’ toys.
I hope my kids have fond memories of playing with them. But part of the reason we got these things as toys was that they were durable as fuck.
With rare exception the window for the ten year old to enjoy them is past. Maybe if the younger one is interested they would enjoy helping set up tracks for them.
If I ever have grandkids and I can get them interested in playing with them with me, I would be thrilled. But if not then they are of no value to me. And like the other crap of theirs I have stored in my basement my kids will either eventually claim it for themselves or it gets donated or tossed if no place wants it.
The OP mentioned the grands are ages 5 & 10. IMO the 10yo is already well out the top of the age range for that toy, and the 5yo will be very soon if not already.
Yes, the OP has other adult kids who might later generate a fresh set of younger grands. But those folks live well across the country and the visits of those putative future grandkids will probably be few.
e.g. I grew up 400 miles from my grandparents and only saw them maybe 5 times before my 10th birthday. The OP holding onto the toys for those potential kids couple of visits during a relevant age range seems pretty pointless.
Separate comment:
My brother has a ~38yo son. I recall when the son was about age 5 and I was casting about for a present for him. I asked my bro if the kid had any interest in trains. Nope; trains are utterly foreign to his life; they’re as remote and meaningless as sailing ships. He’d seen one once IRL, but evinced no interest in it.
That was (obviously) about 30 years ago. Trains are, if anything, even less relevant to typical US kids today. The OP’s grands live in greater Chicago, so may have some exposure to the El and commuter trains, and perhaps freight trains. But maybe not.
I like this idea. I have a Fisher-Price playset with a couple of cars that I keep for any visiting children. The grandkids crave that damn thing. But if they had it at home, I bet it wouldn’t get played with much.
I also like the donation idea. Let some kids enjoy it, in whatever way they may, and you won’t have to know about it.
Even my kids’ things - we didn’t allow them to just throw them at walls, in a manner intended to do little other than break them (as I recall one friend who came over doing.) I’m not saying treat it like fine china, but don’t needlessly break them. Cause they aren’t gonna be replaced if you do.
Yeah, 10 yr old is probably too old - tho I could imagine her enjoying the challenge of assembling a neat setup.
And the other 2 kids are not gonna breed. SO these 2 grands are it!
Yeah. The Brio sound precious to you, Grampa, but the kids don’t care. Obviously.
I kept my kids giant Lego set. It was pieces of many models we added to. The Grandsons are very into Lego. So it’s a good keeper. Lego translate into an adult thing. That’s probably the difference.
If you’re gonna insist they play a “certain” way. Guess what you’ve just tainted the whole play.
If you can find a daycare locally and they are amenable, drop it off there. Walk away, with a bitter sweet heart. It’s just a toy.
God, if your kids played violin and you collected a Stradivarius for them and it was a beautiful memory. The grandkids won’t play. It’s just how it is.
Cost of an item means nothing to a young child.
If you don’t like the grandkids throwing the Brio pieces, tell them they need to stop. If they keep doing it, then they don’t get to play with them anymore. Give them to your son or donate them.
Kids need to be taught to take care of other people’s stuff. If they don’t learn that, they grow up to be adults who can’t take care of other people’s stuff.
Well that’s not allowed in any case. Damages the wall, maybe breaks a window, could hurt a sibling. Nope. Hard line nope. Never. But the Brios? Pretty damn indestructible.
Honestly the way your son played with them? Building complete track set up that connected, on his own, and leaving them up for any length of time? I strongly suspect he’s some sort of mutant. An outlier at least.
With my kids at least destroying the set up, especially the block construction projects, was the highlight of the play time. And yeah the set pretty much got roughly tossed in the big bin when done each time … after some insistence upon put away time. But again, it was whoever was the current preschooler who was interested in the Brio most, with older sibs too cool for them … other than actually having fun playing with them only to help out the younger sibling …
For me, the answer is not hypothetical, but neither is it intended as advice because, remember, I’m a hoarding pack-rat with a basement full of boxes!
When my son was little I bought him a Playmobil electric train set for Christmas. The cool thing about the Playmobil train is that although it’s obviously a child’s toy, it runs on the same tracks and is compatible with all the train cars and accessories of the beautiful LGB G-scale model trains. So I added a lot of extra track and, over time, authentic LGB cars to the set, and we both had a great time with it.
To me it has tremendous nostalgic value so it’s packed away in a couple of big boxes in the basement and I look at it once in a while, thinking of happy times long ago. I’m sure I’ll never get rid of it and fantasize that I may set it up again someday.
