It's the Post Christmas Decluttering and Hangover Poll.

[bohemiancoast]

This was inspired by something flickgc said yesterday:

[Poll #898580]

Comments

more advice worth what you paid for it

[redbird]

Children's presents are complicated because it's not a good idea, in my opinion, to give them the message that their stuff isn't theirs to decide about. "You can't keep three gazillion stuffed toys, which ones do you want?" feels different to me from "You can't have two identical Thomas the War Tank stuffed toys, you have to sell/give away one."

This may not apply if the child is too young to notice and you can be reasonably sure they won't find out later. The risk of the child being told that a grandparent gave them what they might think is absolutely perfect, and their parent took it away to sell/donate is probably not worth taking.

Re: more advice worth what you paid for it

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Hmm. When they were tiny, we really did round up the plethora of soft toys, keep the ones they loved or we thought were particularly nice, and schlep the rest down to the charity shop.

Now, we'd actively engage them -- Marianne has been given two identical toys this Christmas, and last year she was given several Bratz dolls. It's actually hard to imagine that anyone who has ever met Marianne could believe she would want a Bratz doll for Christmas.

We don't tell them they can't keep all their stuff. We do tell them that they must keep all their stuff in their rooms, and if they have more stuff than will fit in their rooms, they must get rid of some of it. Marianne observes that this is a double standard.

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

Marianne observes that this is a double standard.

Surely, if she makes enough money selling her toys on eBay, she could buy her own house, or at least rent a storage locker. Then she could have more stuff.

[malwen.livejournal.com]

In general I think the kids should have a say in the keeping/disposal of their presents. But I can imagine exceptions, where the consequences of retention were just too irritating.

[eleyan.livejournal.com]

With kids below a certain age, or those not so aware of adult conventions regarding tact and diplomacy, there is also the fair chance that they'll tell the gift giver that their pressie was deemed unkeepable.