Renewing love for ponies?

[teacher316]

When my daughter was about 4, she started to love ponies and I was thrilled! She has a nice collection of G3s and a few G4s in her room now. However, in the past year she has gotten into american girl dolls. Her cousin collects them and they play together so I think it stemmed from that. I don't mind that she likes the dolls(although they are expensive) but she is not very interested in ponies anymore.  I miss how she'd get excited about them and we'd shop for ponies together.
Has anyone else experienced this with their daughter? Any ideas to renew her love and excitement for MLP? I'd love your thoughts and suggestions...

[Taffeta]

It sounds like a normal part of her growing up to me - I think that, hard as it might be for you to see her grow away from ponies, she has to make her own choices about the toys that matter to her. If she wants to put the ponies away at any time, you can put them away but keep them, and maybe, as she gets older and realises its something you share, she might want to bring them out again. Trying to keep her focused on them ultimately is more likely to make her push them away I think, so you're better off letting her follow her instincts and hoping that she gets back to your shared interest in time.

Alternatively, maybe involve her in YOUR pony collecting and interest, as opposed to focusing on HERS. If its something she's doing for/with you then it's something you can share but she won't feel like she's being forced into playing with her ponies if she's reached a point where she doesn't want to do that. It might rekindle the love when it becomes something you both have in common.

I knew a kid once, though, whose mother collected and because of it, the girl was forced into liking and playing with them but was only allowed to play with certain ones and wasn't allowed to develop in her own directions. I absolutely know that's not your mindset, but you're more likely to make her dislike MLP if you try and force the issue beyond what's natural.

At least, that's how it seems to me.

[zombienixon]

Yeah, most kids tend to distance themselves from the things they liked when they were younger, and you can't really force it. Taffeta has the right idea in maybe including her in your pony collecting activities if she's interested. But, you have to keep in mind that most kids, from my experience, lose interest in toys altogether once they're teenagers. And spending a lot of time with their parents as well.  It may be something she becomes interested in again later on, but that could be anywhere from her late teens to early 20s.

If she's interested in dolls, you could possibly nudge her towards Equestria Girls, maybe? The ones they put out over the past year are very cute and seem to be fairly popular with older children.  Of course, they release a lot of them, and collecting those can start to get pretty pricey, so you may not want to get her started on that.

[mopthebunny]

Well, I would give advice, but my ideas would depend on your daughter's age -- how old is she now?

[Einhornbaby]

I know what youre talking about.
My daughter is 11 years old now and she has been loving ponies from the youngest age on. But whatever much she loved them in the past years she is now loosing the interest in them and even sold some from her collection. Well, shes in an age where its pretty normal to slowly loose interest in playing with toys but for her its not the general growing out of toys thing but shifting the interest to other things. She now likes her modell horses way more; realistic horse toys it what she likes better these days, so I accept that and support her on that. The days when we were shopping for ponies together are now gone and instead I help her deciding which horses to get and so on. Ive been a little sad to be honest but well, its her life and whatever makes her happy is best for her.

Of course I dont think you would ever do but always keep in mind never to force your kid into any interest. *hugs* I know it can be quite sad when things like that happen... But in the end its better to support her in whatever is her passion.

[LadyMoondancer]

When my daughter was about 4, she started to love ponies and I was thrilled! She has a nice collection of G3s and a few G4s in her room now. However, in the past year she has gotten into american girl dolls. Her cousin collects them and they play together so I think it stemmed from that. I don't mind that she likes the dolls(although they are expensive) but she is not very interested in ponies anymore.  I miss how she'd get excited about them and we'd shop for ponies together.
Has anyone else experienced this with their daughter? Any ideas to renew her love and excitement for MLP? I'd love your thoughts and suggestions...

There's nothing you can do about it.   You probably love ponies (or you wouldn't be here ), but maybe to your daughter they will just be another toy.  And you know, that's fine.

I played with Fisher-Price Little People as a kid--especially the playsets.  (The Fisher-Price castle was awesome.)  I liked them.  But my mom LOVED them.  When I was a teenager my mom went through this period where she started collecting MIB versions of the playsets--for ME.   But I was just not into them as collectibles and I didn't WANT all these playsets she kept buying, and it was very awkward.  I still have no desire to own / collect anything Fisher-Price, even though I am fond of my childhood memories of them.

Let your daughter find her own interests and don't try to drag her back to MLP.

[teacher316]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. It definitely helps to get an outsiders perspective. I should have mentioned that my daughter is 9. She still watches the FIM episodes on her tablet so I know she hasn't lost total interest in MLP. I have told her we could put her ponies in storage for awhile but she doesn't want to do that. I won't force her of course but I am still hoping she will still come back to loving ponies at some point.
She used to say she should have a G2 collection since I don't have any of those. She'd be the only one with G2s:) I might try getting her a couple G2s or a small playset for Christmas.

[Ponyland]

If you want to put her ponies in storage you can always trade them from her for something else that she want's right now instead of selling them and give her the money.
Don't sell them! Even if she don't want them now she will regret it when she is older and nostalgic about her toys and childhood memories. It's a really bad thing happening to a child wen their parents throw away or sell their old toys when growing up, or that they themselves make a hasty decision and sell them on flea markets. That is something we are quite aware of here in the community *bunches of grownup children* . (But on another note, she might just start to collect them again when she is 20 years old, like I did, because she miss them or want the ones she never had)..

[LightingElectricDream]

Sounds llike she is trying to find her own personal intrest.
Beacuse you said you don't have any G2 but she is growing found of maybe collecting them maybe.
G2 is pretty close to G4 in a lot of ways the slimer bodies and the magic aspect of them G4 is in my opinon closer to G2 than anything.
G2 is much more detailed and have way way more things to offer
Than most of the G4 toys. G4 has way to many of the same pony and that
Gets boring.
So I'd say grab a cheep G2 off ebay see what she thinks about it.
Then try getting playsets like this for her
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[Honeycomb]

I can relate ... although I don't have a daughter of my own. I am very close to my ex boyfriend's niece. She turned 9 this year. She has been playing with me with MLP ever since she was old enough to hold a toy (LOL), and she used to totally think of me and MLP in the same thought. I don't see her that often, because she lives in Germany, and well, I am in China most of the year, but recently when I go home to visit her, it seems that she says let's play ponies more for my sake, than out of her own interest. For a time we also played Barbie together, which is good for me too, because I love taking out my old stuff and sharing it.
Classmates and neighbor kids also keep telling her she is "too old for baby stuff", so that doesn't help. It makes me a little sad. Rather than shifting interest on other toys, she gets more and more into boys/music/cosmetics, which I think she is a little too young for. I won't see her again for at least 3 months, and I am a little worried how much she will have changed again.

[Leave a Whisper]

My daughter loved ponies for years, then gave her G3s and fakies to me one day and said she didn't like em anymore.

I uh...kinda couldn't bear to give them ALL to charity,  so I kept some of her favorites and some of the ones that were gifts and adopted a few into my herd.  A couple years later, she wanted ponies again, so I gave 'em back and now she's playing with them again and has added G1s and G4s to her collection. Should she grow out of them again considering she's just a year away from starting her teens, I will keep them and some of her other favorite toys for her just in case.

Kids grow in and out of some things, its bad to try and force it either way. I suggest keeping at least some (if not all) of them for her, depending on how much space you guys have. Especially favorites, HTFs and gifts from beloved relatives just in case she ever changes her mind. 

[ladybastilla]

At nine, a kid is definitely going to be starting to figure out who they are, what makes them stand out. They're past the stage of wanting to wear your lipstick / face cream / etc. (as an example) and are starting to pick their own *everything*. (I use this example not to terrify you, but because that was something I went through around that age. I wanted to look "sophisticated" and "grown up". )

There are a multitude of reasons your daughter may not be as into ponies:

1. Her friends are doing other things. You mentioned her cousin and the shared interest in American Girls dolls.

2. She's being teased about ponies by her peers / is aware that her peers have deemed them uncool. There comes an age when being associated with MLP as a whole goes from being cute to being weird.

3. She has developed other interests of her own and realizes she (you) cannot afford both. Kids may not have full money management skills at this age, but they are old enough to understand that when you go to the toy store and say to pick one thing, one means one. That one is (and should) be what the child currently loves.

4. She feels pressure from you (whether you intend it or not) to collect and it's driving her away. Kids at this age are trying to figure out who they are and sometimes that can mean deliberately distancing themselves from what parents like, want or expect.

5. She wants an identity separate from you. The G2 thing may fit well here. However, *I* think that if this were to become a hobby it would / should be initiated by her and be something she consciously takes part in, not something you subconsciously use as a mechanism to keep her connected to MLP.

That's a lot of bitter pills to swallow and I'm truly sorry for them. I am sure you only have the best of intentions toward your daughter. I'm sure you love (and are saddened by the potential loss) the bond that MLP have been able to grant you. The good news for you is that of the various ways your daughter could be striving toward independence and individuality, toys are one of the safest. (Not necessarily the cheapest, but safe is good right? )

How you handle this is really important because it's going to set a stage and tone for how your daughter will think you will handle things in the future. It will potentially increase or decrease her likeliness to share other, potentially far more vital, parts of her life with you as she goes from childhood into pre-teen years and adolescence.

Basically what I'm telling you is that the pony thing is only doing you guys real good at this stage if you are both in it together as willing and (as much as possible) equal--or at least aware--partners. I'm in my 30s and I didn't really get into MLP that much in the 80s (I was a Barbie fan), but rather through FiM. Ironically, my grandparents, parents and I all collected Hummels when I was little. (Seriously. I had my own figures, knew their "store" names, had "my" names for them, had stories for them, knew which ones I thought were friends with which, actually knew the figures' history, what the markings were, how much each were worth, etc.) But I knew this stuff by choice: my grandpa collected them, I thought they (and he) were cool, so I wanted to collect, too.

Now, almost 20 years later, my mom has the Hummels and we still collect, but when I started on MLP she quickly realized that there are similarities in how pony collecting works to how our Hummels work. She has actually become my partner on pony collecting: finding them at flea markets, helping me ship swap boxes, etc. (I don't drive). So I definitely understand "the dream" many pony collectors have of sharing the hobby with someone of another generation and think it's awesome. (I didn't want to come across as sounding like I thought that was silly; that's not my point.)

Regardless, the situation you are in is probably very hard and potentially sad. I definitely feel for you. I wish you the best of luck in figuring out how to navigate it while doing what is ultimately best for your daughter. Even if she goes down a different path now, though, it's entirely possible she'll find her way back to MLP. Don't lose hope--just support her in doing the things she loves (as long as they're not harmful to her, of course.) That's the best thing you can give her, because seeing your support in her will teach her to have confidence in herself.

[hathorcat]

I grew out of ponies And then grew back in to them. I actually think it sounds like something perfectly normal - we all have different interests at different times, ages and are influenced by friends or society. I would think, let her be interested in what she is interested in now. And hopefully when she is a little older she can come back to appreciating ponies the way you do as an adult

[gold.standard]

My mother would always switch out our toys often, since we would loose interest eventually. Then she'd take out the "new" toys she put away and we'd have a field day, rinse and repeat.
I think its just a thing children do, going through cycles of what they like.
Also as a kid, I was forced to collect these bear dolls with fancy dresses and movable arms, wasn't really allowed to play with them, but leave them on display in my room. I hated them. I didn't want more bears, and I wanted the shelf space for something else. They also did this with other bear toys too. I still hate them 20 years later and because of it all, I avoid bear toys all together, can't stand looking at them.
 So my advice would to just go with the flow. Kids will be kids.