The Original Post
My (40M) parents (70s) have been going through my childhood room. Every time they visit, they bring a minivan full of 1980s vintage toys, clothes, music instruments, text books from the 90s, old books, video games, etc.
They are always excited to say that MY kids will love to play with them. Or love wearing the clothes. Or learn to play the instruments. Or play the video games.
My kids simply aren’t interested in playing with GIJoes from the 80s. Or G1 transformers. Or playing with instruments from my elementary school days. Or wearing 30-35 year old clothes. Or playing old NES games.
We have a small single story house. Very small attic. No basement. And there’s literally nowhere to put all of this stuff from my childhood. And the kids are only interested in toys and clothes that THEY pick out around their birthday and holiday.
So, I started looking on eBay. Some of these toys and video games are worth WAY more than I thought, so I started selling things one after another. And the clothes I ended up donating. Apparently acid washed jeans aren’t in style anymore.
On the next trip, my parents started wondering where all my old childhood stuff went, so I told them I started selling things on eBay because we don’t have the room and the kids aren’t interested. This made my mother livid that I would do that against her wishes to give my childhood to my kids.
In her mind, those toys were bought by HER (for my birthdays) and SHE owns them. She said that anything else that’s left in my room will be given away to the church. You know what stinks about that? My old Pokémon and magic collection is still there… the church is about to get dozens of mint first run cards.
I feel like I destroyed our relationship with this move and it’s got me down. They’ve always been there for me and my kids, but there hasn’t been a text or call from them in weeks.
What Reddit Said
Reddit overwhelmingly supported OP’s decision to sell his childhood belongings. Most users pointed out that once parents give toys to their children, ownership transfers completely. However, the comments quickly shifted focus to the real emergency at hand.
The top responses ignored the moral debate entirely. Instead, Redditors frantically urged OP to rescue his Pokémon and Magic card collections immediately. Users recognized that mint condition first-run cards could be worth thousands of dollars.
The Verdict
The consensus was clear: NTA (Not the Asshole). OP had every right to sell his own childhood possessions, especially when his parents angry selling childhood toys created an unreasonable storage burden. This represents a classic case of family conflict over boundaries and ownership. Moreover, Reddit’s urgent advice to retrieve those valuable cards before they end up at charity shows the community’s practical wisdom in financial disputes.
Original post from r/AmItheAsshole (1,360 upvotes, 160 comments)