Do you go around collecting your toddler's toys back from the bigger kids?

willow_violin_36876 Oct 2026

My son is 1. In the evenings I take his sand set and two small cars down to the society play area. Within ten minutes the 3 and 4 year olds have the spade and both cars, and he just sits and watches them. He doesn't even cry. That bothers me more. At 7 when we go up, I walk around asking each child for our things back. Some mothers help. Some look at me like I'm being petty about a plastic spade. Should I stop taking anything down? Or carry on letting them play and collect at the end? Not sure what's normal.

3 comments

ivory_camera_4186 Oct 2026
We're at the other end of this. Mine is 2 and she's the one walking off with other kids' spades, so I'm the mother handing things back at 7 :) For what it's worth, I don't think anyone finds you petty. Most of us are relieved when the owner comes round, because then nobody has to remember whose blue car it was.
apricot_pebble_8426 Oct 2026
I would separate your discomfort from his. At one, he may simply be interested in watching the older children rather than upset about the cars. When mine were that small we took one or two things down and accepted they would be shared. Collecting your things at the end is ordinary, and nobody reasonable minds it.
mellow_drum_30777 Oct 2026
We wrote our flat number on everything with a marker. The bigger kids started bringing things back on their own because they could read it. Well, some of them. The four year olds could not read, obviously 😄 (Daughter is 19 now, so this is ancient history.)