When you were younger, what age did you 'outgrow' your ponies?

[The_Loner]

I never grew out of my ponies and never stopped playing with them and never will! When I was in my teens I was very aware that it was unusual to still play with ponies the way I did and I was very embarrassed and kept it a secret even from my parents, but my mom found out. She supported me and told me I didn't have to be embarrassed about it - I didn't hurt anyone by playing with ponies and it was much better than drinking or doing drugs or whatever bad things some teens get into. I love her for accepting and supporting me like that!

It makes me sad to read about those who were forced to stop playing with ponies by their parents

[mlp4me]

Never outgrew. Parents did a toys purge when I was 12, so a lot of my childhood toys went to the great beyond. Ponies survived because I still liked them...

[applejackbunny]

I never grew out of my ponies and never stopped playing with them and never will! When I was in my teens I was very aware that it was unusual to still play with ponies the way I did and I was very embarrassed and kept it a secret even from my parents, but my mom found out. She supported me and told me I didn't have to be embarrassed about it - I didn't hurt anyone by playing with ponies and it was much better than drinking or doing drugs or whatever bad things some teens get into. I love her for accepting and supporting me like that!

It makes me sad to read about those who were forced to stop playing with ponies by their parents

Good for you! That's a great story - ponies give so much joy - where's the harm in that? It can only be a positive and life-enhancing thing to enjoy...at *any* age! : )

Post Merge: March 04, 2016, 02:18:55 PM

Never. But, I was almost pony-less at one point!

I had a small handful new, vividly remember so many g1's lining the pegs on store shelves. my mother liked yardsales when we were really small so I got others there. I can't remember my exact age, somewhere 10-12ish I made a box of EVERYTHING I owned most precious to me (ponies, non pony items, everything) and hid it in my closet as my brother was going through a highly highly destructive phase at the time. I only left one original pony out on my dresser- the purple talking one as I thought she was sort of ugly and if my brother broke her- meh. I had wanted a glow and show uni or peg when we went shopping for my brothers christmas gifts (older stock) but there were long gone on the christmas eve shopping run when my folks bought my present - so the purple pony was mine instead.

Anyway, my mother I guess was looking for more closet space and found my box stashed in the bottom of my closet and gave it to the charity truck. she thought I didn't want that stuff. so, every accessory, gone, ever other pony gone. I was left with one pony for sure at that point. Purple talkin'. One other might have been at my grandmothers. I think I was closer to 10 rather then older because my meltdown when I found out was epic- EPIC. I got in so much trouble for freaking out. So guessing younger. I was inconsolable for weeks and couldn't focus on anything else. I begged her to call them and see if we could find them. oh well. someone else in Brampton perhaps still has my original ponies. I don't think that counts as growing out of them though- it was NOT my choice. When I was legal age, first thing ebay account and the first I replaced was my winged flutter! I have more, more then made up for that now! My mom blames the current size of my collection on what she did that very day.

If it was up to me.....never! My parents, however, thought I was too old for ponies at age 9 so I only had AJ at age 7 and Sunlight at age 8...and that was it! I must have been very frustrated about that because as soon as I had a disposable income to speak of, that I could spend as I saw fit, I began my pony collection! : )

I sometimes think it ironic that if my parents had just let me have a few more, I may have been satisfied with that and never developed that sense of frustration that continued into adulthood and led to me collecting in excess of 300 ponies (and counting!) 

I wonder the same! I kept hearing "you're getting a little old for those, they are made for toddlers" my attempts at getting ponies were thwarted so regularly if they had indulged me a little more, and perhaps bought my presents before shelves were picked clean of ponies I do wonder if I would have been simply satisfied for what I had. and not spent my teen years chasing them down everywhere I could and going just bonkers on ebay. I'd eat omelets for dinner (can't do that now) so I had more free cash to spend on ponies. My pony-room is a representation of likely 70+ % of my disposable income from age 12-now. 

Exactly! 

Sorry to hear your story though - it sounds very sad. I know that if I had a child, I would *never* say he/she was "too old" for something if they clearly got enjoyment from it and it wasn't harming anyone. I would be supportive and even take an interest. I would certainly never just go ahead and discard anything without discussing it with them first...I'm lucky that my parents never did that and were generally very good at letting me keep toys etc., there were just certain things they thought I was "too old" for and that included ponies!

Even now, I'm sure they would like to see the back of my collection. However, I've made it very clear to them that they bring me a great deal of joy and that they are not doing any harm. They know I hold down a full time job and support myself in a home of my own and can live a fully adult life, so I think they realise that they have *no* grounds to tell me to get rid of them. I'm very lucky in that most of my friends and any boyfriends I've had have all been incredibly sweet about my pony hoard. There was one chap who wasn't and he suddenly became very critical when he saw some stuffed toys in my bedroom (he didn't even see my ponies!) and because of that, he was booted out the door! Love me, love my ponies - that's what I say 

Post Merge: March 04, 2016, 02:25:30 PM

My mom kept asking me '  when is this going to stop?'
At age 12 and I was bothered by my mom hinting around that I need to stop liking them.
Sometimes she would get frustrated with me and would make comments like 'oh please!'

I think she worried for me beacuse I wasent a very mature 12 13 year old.
I was home schooled and sheltered I had no friends and when I finally did have friends I could never see them.

It was pure pressure and then when I got my first real crush at 14 I thought I would be rejected and never spoke to again.

It was all about everyone elce. They knew what was best for me so I just packed it all away and never talked about it again.
I didn't get rid of anything. But I lost all my  G1 when I was 3 years old i don't know where they went but I wasent really that intrested at the time just in my baby sea pony.

So I had a ton of G3 but even when I was between the age of 9 and 14 it just wasent the same. And mom wouldn't buy me G1 beacuse they where used. And I would grow out of them and so on.

So basically I collect for the memories and that I can.
I wished that I never let people tell me what to do.
I think it's unfair to people to make them grow up by beating them down. I think it makes a bigger problem than just letting people keep the plastic. Plastic is just plastic but people are not as replaceable.

My advise to anyone who has toys is that.
They don't hurt anyone.
They don't make people imature.
Your not doing drugs.
Your not hurting people.
What harm do they do?

People harm people not toys.


I love my mom i love my family. And my mom had good entenchens. She loves me.
And I love her and no amount of plactic will ever change that.
Even if in the past we had a disagreement about it.

Family is more important than and anything I could ever own.

Oh you poor thing : ( That is a sad story. I'm glad you realised in the end, though, that you are allowed to be yourself as long as it doesn't harm others and you don't have to give in to everyone else's wishes all the time. Your parents of course love you very much, and you love them, but sometimes they don't realise the profoundly negative and long-lasting effects their demands can have, especially on sensitive children.

Glad you're on here and still collecting - good for you! 

[Crystal-Sushi]

I never grew out of them. I think I was about 6 or 7 when I started collecting, and now I'm eighteen and have never really stopped
My main focus is on fashion dolls now, but I'm still adding ponies here and there, and always on the lookout for them secondhand.
I can still remember the day I found the Dream Valley site - I spent HOURS looking through it and memorising every single pony.... I also wrote HUGE long wishlists on computer paper which annoyed my parents to no end