Do you ever get jealous when parents buy their kids a collection?

[Beachball]

Actually I shake my head more at parents taking their little kids on sightseeing trips all over the globe than at parents giving their kids a small hill of toys. Like hey, the cost to raise kids ought to be breaking the bank so how are you able to afford to take them to Venice?

[PinkRosedust]

Not really, but then again I was rather spoiled as a child and did get a lot of ponies and other toys (I don't think I ever had a complete collection of any one toyline though!) I think if your child is well behaved, and takes good care of their things, and you can afford it...maybe you should spoil them at least a little!

But things like smart phones, digital cameras and laptops? Different story. Maybe it's not so much jealousy as it is just...bewilderment. I don't understand giving these types of things to, like, 10 year olds.

[BabyInBlue]

No jealousy here! I am VERY proud of owning all my ponies from aquiring them throughout the years of searching/trading/getting as gifts.....besides, I like the thrill of searching for them!

[kezrob23]

Not really, but then again I was rather spoiled as a child and did get a lot of ponies and other toys (I don't think I ever had a complete collection of any one toyline though!) I think if your child is well behaved, and takes good care of their things, and you can afford it...maybe you should spoil them at least a little!

But things like smart phones, digital cameras and laptops? Different story. Maybe it's not so much jealousy as it is just...bewilderment. I don't understand giving these types of things to, like, 10 year olds.

this.

was chatting to my 13 yo nephew the other day. He was saying how he got his ds when he was 6. How could that be, I asked, you had a gameboy for a long time before that. Well he got that when he was 4 apparently. Owns every type of game console. Is on his second smartphone. On his second computer. Third if you count the school issue laptop. That's another whole issue, I'm far from old, lol, only 32, but back in my day all school had were the old apple Macs that had the disk drive in the screen now they get them in like grade 3 at primary school!

[ApertureScience]

I don't get jealous unless a person is older, mature, knows the value of a dollar, and takes care of their things.  When I see kids with all this stuff, I question their current and future lives.
Will they be spoiled brats who get away with everything and always get the material possessions they want?
Will they destroy the toys that their parents have so graciously provided them and just rub it off like it's nothing?
Do they even realize how good they have it and thank their parents?
That kind of thing.

TL;DR:  Jealous of kids?  No.  Jealous of mature adult collectors?  Sometimes.

[FantasticFirefly]

When I was about 7 I spent some time at a cousin's house. He took me to "play" at a friends house... They didn't want me around so his friend kinda volunteered his  sister to occupy me. They told her I liked ponies, so I got to see their playroom. That playroom was mostly full of my little ponystuff! She had castles and houses, and carry cases stuffed with pony clothing and pony ribbons and hairbrushes and dozens and dozens and dozens of ponies..... I'd never ever seen a room like that in my life.... I got maybe one pony for Christmas or my birthday if I was lucky, and I BEGGED to get them for holidays, so seeing this was like a dream.... I was in awe that day and the image of that room was forever burned into my memory and vowed when I grew up and got a job I'd have a room full of ponies too.

For the original question, I can't say I have..... Sometimes I feel SAD for the kids.... I've seen a parent collect "for the child" but, it wasn't really the child's collection and the kid wasn't even allowed to touch the stuff because it's really for one of the parents. That would be awful! Imagine getting stuff for your birthdays and Christmas- stuff you can't even enjoy or are not allowed to touch. My dad collected hockey cards and man I'm glad I didn't have a bedroom full of hockey cards and get them as gifts as a kid. But, if it's something a child is collecting themselves I find it impressive! Perhaps they're lucky in that everyone in the family adds to the collection for gifts? Some people have many aunts/uncles that buy christmas and birthday gifts for the children in the family..... So you never know how collections get built up.... If it continues perhaps it'll help keep them out of mischief in their teen years (I was busy spending my weekends searching flea-markets and thiftshops searching for ponies as a teenager, so not wasting money on booze/ciggs)

Now, I love collecting old childhood pony collections where the little girls filled out the checklists or put stars besides the ponies they really wanted, it reminds me of me a little, and the kind of collection I only dreamed of having.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think it's sort of sad.  If you'd asked me as a kid OF COURSE I would've said I wanted every single My Little Pony, Pound Puppy, etc, right away.  But in retrospect, dreaming about getting a new pony was part of the fun and waiting was part of the excitement.   Picking out a pony at the store was this big deal, this huge ritual, because I WASN'T going to be given every single pony, so it was an important choice.

I think the limited amount of ponies I had made each one more special to me.   So I feel a bit sorry for "the kid who has everything."

[saply]

Eh, not really. I like to think that collecting is as much fun for the parents as the kids in those cases. I just hope the kids either realize how much their parents care about them, or that they aren't being showered with gifts as a facsimile for real love and attention. If that's all good though then I'm happy for them!

[brightberry]

I was jealous of other kids' collections when I was a kid.  Haha.  But these days I almost feel guilty wanting any toys at all. 

I did feel for a mom the other day who was obviously into FiM and trying to convince her young son to pick out some ponies.  He was enthusiastic about talking about them, but didn't really want one.  I just kept thinking, "get one for yourself".  Even he suggested she get one. Haha.

[NovelNerd]

No, my parents were the ones that bought me every single thing they could when I was younger. When I got older and started working my rear off doing overtime plus and going to college full time and trying to juggle things I was in shock. I was so used to being given everything it was like total flip out mode.  Now that I've kinda settled into being an adult I save money, buy things I want with extra I do have and take care of all our bills. It was hard adjusting though at first since possession wise I wasn't really used to going without. It's great that people have the money to spend on their children, but at the same time I know what it's like to be that kid. I would have appreciated my things more and learned a great deal better if I had to work for it. Maybe got a few instead of like ten.

[kezrob23]

Madhatterda, you so just reminded me of a girl I used to work with. At the age of 21, her parents were still doing everything for her, even cleaning her room and putting petrol in her car. We kept trying to tell her you need to have some respect for yourself and your parents, and do somethings for yourself, including paying board etc. Well a few months later her mum got really sick, and didn't she get a shock. Reckons she should of listened to us. Just recently I was telling her my daughter loves ponies, and she was like oh I still have all mine, she can have them. I've got heaps, I used to get one every week. She was spoilt, she knows it, and still thinks she should be. Always has to have the conversation centered around her. We nicknamed her princess. But we still love her to bits, you can't help but

[Saja]

Im one of those mums too, I never had anything without working really really hard, I had to trade with neihbours heaps of toys to get one MLP! So something I decided before i even had kids, if I can afford it, ill do it. My 3 yr old daughter LOVES her ponies, and would have nearly as many as I do, tho hers consist of G3's G4's and fakies, and mine are G1's etc. but still. She is very well behaved and In my eyes deserves it. But each to there own.

[Prince Primbrose]

Ehh... Even as a kid, when I had a bunch of Polly Pockets, I only wanted one or two at a time, so I could get used to them and make them part of the "family". I think if I had had every single PP doll, I wouldn't have liked them or appreciated them as much, and I kind of feel the same about ponies... if someone went out and bought me every last G4 out there, it would feel like my room was a toy store or a museum, and I wouldn't be able to remember their names or appreciate them like I do.

When I was younger I had a friend whose family was very well off, and she was an only child, so she got everything a kid could want... trampoline, swimming pool, swing set, you name it. The entire attic was her toy room, packed with so many toys I couldnt see everything, and I remember feeling very out of place among so MANY dolls and toys, and feeling like there was just too much to play with and enjoy, but I know that she did like all the things her parents bought her. Another younger friend had a room for all her Polly Pockets, and she loved and played with all of them, and earned them. I guess everyone is just different in that way.

Rambling aside, nah, I'm not jealous. It's not like there's limited supply of MLPs; we all have access to the same toys, through the store or on the Arena. And I know a number of the parents who buy all the ponies for their kids are collectors themselves, sharing ponies with them- and if they're choosing to spend money on ponies the same way I do, who am I to judge?

[HollowZero]

I don't get jealous, no. I just feel sorry for the children. Spoiled kids are aimless and sheltered, it's a real shame.

[Rosencrantz]

Well, not an angry jealous, but a wishful 'oh my god that would be amazing if that happened to me' jealous.

I've gone and given my step-brother the entire Horrible History series, and he recently got the whole Animorphs from my brother. And my parents did used to gift me and my sister big bunches of certain toys (I'll give you a hint. They had four legs and were pretty pastel colours with pictures on their butts) when we were kids. Mostly it made us like being generous to others, 'cause we know how great it felt.