Question for the Collectors with Kids

[Brian]

I just had a quick question for those of you with kids.  My wife and I were talking the other night about the upcoming baby, and she was teasing me how she was going to send them in our office (collection room), and let them have whatever they want.  Anyways, we had a good laugh about it, but I was curious for those of you with kiddos (probably older ones) - do you let them have free reign over your collection?  Do you buy them "their own" and keep some of your collection seperate? Do you just let them go nuts with everything you have (mini busts, higher end stuff excluded, of course)?  I'm not saying that I won't let our kid play with whatever they want, I was just curious what some of you do/will do/have done in these situations.  I know I'm already picking stuff up/packing stuff away for them when they are older - if they are interested.  I mean, they might not have the interest in Star Wars like I did, but I couldn't imagine having this many figures/ships/etc. to play with when I was a kid - it would have been fun .

[Deanpaul]

It's a problem, mostly because I remember how I treated my toys and have an unreasonable expectation of how I want my kids to treat their toys.

That's right, their toys.  Everything from the modern line (and some sturdy vintage pieces) are free game to my 6, 4 and 2 year olds.

Some things I need to constantly remind myself about:

1.  There are way more toys today than I ever had, and we own a lot of them.  It's impossible for our kids to keep them picked up and put away.  Ships are constantly missing parts and missiles, and figures with weak elbows and removable parts are always in numerous pieces.  Usually on the floor.

2.  Hasbro isn't Kenner, and a lot of today's toys are MUCH more fragile than the vintage toys I had growing up.  And they break.  Say goodbye to your gunship cannons that came with the AOTC pilot.  Those broke right away.

3.  My kids have toys at a younger age than I did.  Star Wars came out when I was 5, but I got most of the toys when I was 7+.  My kids have trouble getting modern figures to fit in ships, then again, don't we all?  These toys are tough for little kids.

4.  So many toys makes it easy to trash a figure and not care about the loss.  Okay, my 4 year old broke the Evolution Emperor's lightening hand off at the peg.  He doesn't care, there's another Emperor five feet away, or Darth Maul is cooler.  Speaking of which, the day he couldn't find Vader's lightsaber, he decided to just break the Evo Maul's blade in half.  Score! TWO Vader sabers!

I'm still learning.  We put a lot of auxiliary figures away because I tired of cleaning them up.  I'd say stage the giving over YEARS.  Be super selective about not flooding kids with lots of Luke or any other figure.  Choose the figure and features carefully, maybe even hold stuff back until they're old enough to watch the movies, and then produce the toys to go along with the movie.  Space the movies out over months or even years, that would be an interesting way to make it last.

Anyway, more later.  I need to get back to work.

[ruiner]

I have all my loose figures displayed and occassionally I'll let my four year old play with a couple at a time when he politely asks (the same applies to ships).

I don't let him have the weapons for fear that he'll lose them or let his little brother eat them.

Before bed, I require he returns them to the shelf.  

With that said, I have 'handed down' some of the older POTF2 figures to him along with a Vader case to keep his own figures in.

So yeah, he only has twenty or so of his own figures.

[Jeff]

I know I'm already picking stuff up/packing stuff away for them when they are older - if they are interested.  I mean, they might not have the interest in Star Wars like I did, but I couldn't imagine having this many figures/ships/etc. to play with when I was a kid - it would have been fun .

My dudes are only 7+ months old, so this is something I've been wondering too...

Like you're doing, I started picking up the GH figures and packing them away in the hopes that one day I'd have someone to play with them, so those figures will be handed over to L&L when Mom determines they are big enough to play with them (they'd have them now if I had my way  ).

As for the basic figures/ships/playsets, I have no idea what to do... I don't think I'll let them have free reign of the SW room, but I can see myself doing something similar to Travis and "handing-down" some of the older sculpt PotF2 figures to the boys so they have their "own" figures for playtime.

[Jesse James]

I don't have my own children but my gf has kids, and one's decided to follow me with Star Wars collecting...  Being I don't live with her the interaction bit isn't so much a problem I face...  If it were I'd still probably keep my collection separate but her youngest son's 9 and old enough to get that I collect...  He sits over my shoulder if I'm working on something on the site and things, I show him new figures coming...

I try to get him stuff he wants...  Let him know sometimes it's not always going to be easy or possible too, and he's accepting of that.  And I do a good job getting him the things he's really interested in...  Usually clones.  Basic figures he is very picky about though so I tend to return a lot if I don't know what he wants.  Sometimes getting him stuff he does want's a pain (HFGrievous pack), but it usually works out in the end.

He has his collection...  He sits around posing his figures, playing and things.  I built him a display shelf out of an old cassette rack I found in her garage too, so he liked that and I think emulates the "collector" mentality sometimes, but at the end of the day his figures wind up on the floor in parts too...  He's pretty good about not losing parts generally but sometimes stuff happens.  Sometimes I bring some of my figures over in a plano case for him to mess with but he's always happy to send them right back.  He's a good kid.

[Deanpaul]

Really?  A piano case?

[BillCable]

I collect mostly Vintage MOC, so I had my collection room closed off with a key-locking door.  I never really let my older daughter touch anything until she was around 4, because I didn't want her thinking all the toys could be played with.    When she was old enough to understand I'd allow her to play with the toys while I was in the room, but I still never let he in there herself.  I recently had to pack up my collection and convert the room to a play room, so now she's in there all the time.

If you have anything of value, your kids won't be able to discern one toy from another.  So be careful.

[Morgbug]

I did two different things. 

I wanted my daughter to like Star Wars (and comics, etc.) so when there were toys I thought she'd want to play with, I bought duplicates that she could have.  Mostly female characters, but she had other, regular characters like Darth Maul as well.  She happily bent and destroyed things, but she was aware of what was hers and what was mine.  It was interesting for her to look around in the room for a while, but I had all my stuff on shelves about 4-5 feet in the air so she couldn't get them without asking. 

By far the best option was the galactic heroes.  They are tough, more visually appealing to that age group (I let her have them just before turning three) and most do not have detachable accessories.  She loved them and loved playing with them, especially the X-wing and the Naboo fighter. 

She also liked/still likes the marvel legends figures which turned out to be surprisingly tough and she has yet to break one.  I guess that's the beauty of ToyBiz' re-release program, I could almost always get it again.  She wanted a red Phoenix figure, but had to make do with green

My advice is to be there with them, like Bill said.  Teach them what they can and what they cannot play with.  If there's sufficient similarity to daddy's stuff and they occasionally get something identical to what you have (big people toys) they'll be pretty happy.  As long as you're not neglecting your child having toys of their own so you can have some (and I know you'd never do that Brian), there really won't be any issues. 

[Darth Slothus]

I have a 10 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. My system for them is simple. I buy the ones they want and put them in a 'grab bag' and they know if they have a good week at school(no homework problems or bad tests) then, they can get a fig at the end of the week. Some things I put in the grab bag take a couple weeks to earn(by cost) and it's not all necessarily SW(like my daughter likes the LPS toys too, while my boy likes the 21st century planes assortment too). My daughter is a padme/leia/anything female SW person; my son is anything clones and any other fig he thinks is cool type person. I also tell them that alot of the items are 'irreplaceable' and I may never be able to get them again without great cost. That's all I tell them about their toys though and they really seem to take good care of them. The 2 of them get along real well mostly and have SW 'playdays' together often too.

DS

[Jesse James]

Really?  A piano case?

Of course...  When I move toys...  I move toys. 

Play hard.

[ruiner]

If you have anything of value, your kids won't be able to discern one toy from another.  So be careful.

I have four carded vintage figures that hold sentimental (and monetary) value on top of my desk.  Once in a while, my son will ask if we can open them (it's our thing to open figures when we get a box from the mailman).

I should reconsider moving them in fear that he will take it upon himself to tear into them. 

[stormie]

My girls are still a bit young (2 and 3) for the regular figures, but they do have a few of the Galactic Heroes, and they actually know them by name (of course, one's a Stormtrooper).

Most of my collection is either packed away in the basement or displayed at work, so there's not much opportunity for them to play with it. In addition, it's mostly vintage and a lot of it is carded, so there's not much play value anyway. I do plan to introduce some vintage (inexpensive) figures to them eventually as they age. I've experimented a bit by letting them play with a couple modern figures, but it was only minutes before the arms were popped off and pieces were everywhere, thus, limiting the play value. I once made the mistake of leaving a Kubrick out, and I still haven't found parts to that.

Another big stumbling block for us is the price of figures. As I mentioned in another thread, when my girls have been especially good during trips to the store, I'll usually treat them to a toy. And that toy has mainly been hotwheels because they're a heckuva lot cheaper than Star Wars. Plus, they roll. I fail to understand why the little hunks of plastic that are the Galactic Heroes are like five-times as expensive as a HotWheels car. Heck, I hardly buy any new stuff because it's too dang expensive. 

[Brian]

Thanks for the replies everyone, it is nice to hear everyone's opinions/stories on what they have done (or are doing).  I'm in the same boat as many of you.  I have quite a bit of older POTF2/other figures that they will definitely inherit if they want to, and maybe more than that.  If I can keep my VOTC figures and a few other things, I'll be happy .  I think a lot of us even have extras from the re-releases of figures, vehicles, etc. over the years...so there's always that aspect too.  I guess we'll see.  Who knows, maybe they could care less about Star Wars, Marvel, etc. (cringe).

[Dan]

My daughters are 9 and 6- we have a blast with kubricks (escpecially the opening parties) and galactic heroes. My 9 year old loves doing the spreadsheet, so she keeps my inventory pretty up to date. I have my loose figures displayed without guns for the most part, because they get lost so easy. I keep a baggie with a small slip of paper describing which figure it belongs to so I can put the figure back in the bag or identify the weapons when I need to.

The burger king toys were great too- get a bunch of those for little ones- some light up, or move or wind up. I think if you have some options for them, the rest of the stuff should be safe.

[Darth_Anton]

Somehow, I've avoided any real problems with my daughters (7 and 3) getting into my collection. Since my carded collection gets boxed and stored, that part of my collection was never really an issue. For the loose stuff, my rule of thumb is, if there's small parts to get swallowed or irreplaceable items, they get put out of arms reach. Anything else I consider expendable and usefully for boundary lessons. The only thing broken in seven years has been the landing gear of my vintage y-wing (which, ironically, was placed out of arms reach) when a ball landed on it. I've had to reset many a display, but sometimes I don't mind when I see there some serious playing going on.