Childhood collections vs parents

[bmathison1972]

I feel bad hearing these stories but make me grateful I was raised by an atheist (my mom).

My grandma had a hand in my upbringing (my mom was a single parent) and was religious, and because of her I was too for a little while. One day in church (we were Lutheran), I was listening to the usual fire-and-brimstone, hell-in-a-handbasket spiel after which they passed around the collection plate asking for our money. I remember thinking, this all-powerful deity needs my money? I walked out of church (and I had to have been 8-10 years old) thinking it was a load of crap and never believed again since that day!

[ceratopsian]

My mum was exceedingly religious, though not evangelical.  However, she thought the Harry Potter books should not be read as they were encouraging people to turn to witchcraft rather than the Word of God!  (Mercifully she had no problem with evolution.)

[Gwangi]

I should make it clear that my childhood was not as bleak as it may appear written here. Like, I had a TON of toy dinosaurs. From brands like Tyco, Carnegie, Invicta, and so on. I was very into Lego as a kid and my mom bought me a lot of sets, and Lego weren't much cheaper in the 90's than they are today. I had a TV and cable in my room, my own VCR, a SEGA, lol. My mom also let me have a bunch of different pets that SHE had to take care of on occasion, including a turtle that I still have 31 years later. And her feeding of the backyard birds is what got me interested in bird watching. She loved books (just not about witches, apparently) and was very generous whenever we visited a book store. She was (is) a product of her time. One of 5 kids that grew up in the 40's and 50's with very strict, frugal, and religious parents. I pride myself in breaking toxic cycles she perpetuated but she no doubt broke a lot of cycles too.

This thread has taken an interesting turn but I feel like I'm learning a lot about my fellow forum members, I dig it.

[Jose S.M.]

For an somewhat unpopular opinion, I would like a new Tyrannosaurus figure from Safari.

Regarding my childhood toys I don't have any of them sadly. My parents bought me those small bag dinos, never had any brand name dinosaurs since they are not common in my country and my parents used to gift them to children in need or just gift them away or throw them without telling me. Luckily my parents have never doubted the existence of dinosaurs or evolution even when my mom is very religious. She is also very accepting of my homosexuality as of lately, since she came to really appreciate my husband. I wouldn't know how to deal with anti science parents, I have really low patience for those people.

[Halichoeres]

Early teens I come out only to find out they were no longer practising and only continuing to attend because I was so deep undercover they thought *I* was drinking the coolaid. Still not sure how I should feel about that outcome.

Oh, what a waste!

My parents are still very much active Jehovah's Witnesses. They were grooming me to be a missionary like they were so are very disappointed in the choices I've made. I haven't seen my mom since 2009, and even that broke a ten-year streak. And my dad finally cut off contact around maybe 2012.

This thread has taken an interesting turn but I feel like I'm learning a lot about my fellow forum members, I dig it.

Definitely a change of pace from the usual in this thread, which is me trying to convince everyone else to stop buying Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus!

[Fembrogon]

Man, it's always heartbreaking to hear so many stories of households with such strained relationships, especially in the context of religious beliefs. I grew up in a religious household as well, but my parents never saw any reason for conflict between religion and paleontology; in fact, my parents actively encouraged my interest in the field. Our household loved nature and wildlife, and I'd say generally appreciated all fields and applications of science (even if I wasn't to fond of the math aspects in chemistry or physics).    My parents could tell I wasn't jus going through a "phase" with dinosaurs, so we were always checking out new books and recording new programs as they aired on Discovery, Animal Planet, etc.; and they always encouraged me to develop what art skills I had to pursue the interest even further (something I'm woefully behind on these days).
As for toys... Oh, boy. While everything since our move in 2020 is in storage right now, I still have whole BINS worth of dinosaurs, critters, etc which I accumulated through my childhood and teenage years. We pruned the collection occasionally, just because there were LOTS of toys; but in general I was making use of my dinosaurs so much, playing out my own "documentaries" and such, I don't think my parents were too worried about it.

If anything, I've slacked off in general since my childhood; I'm still trying to craft this interest into something livable beyond just a hobby, and to this day my parents seem to be on board with that (if I can actually make it happen eventually).

[Stegotyranno420]

@Fembrogon Exactly, Religion and science do not need to clash. If science is understanding the world, religion is its precursor. Many religious beliefs and ideas contributed to modern science. I grew up in a very religious family, but there was never a clash between dinosaurs and religion, since my religion accepts God to have created the cosmos and life, evolution just being a natural process with life forms.
I still love dinosaurs, I still love God, my parents are fine with it, and I will pass on my love for science and God to my children.I will just make sure they bring ONLY scientifically accurate figures in their collection, since that is the way God intended dinosaurs to be .
Anyways, I am glad your parents were able to let you explore the sciences and your hobbies.

[GojiraGuy1954]

My mum was exceedingly religious, though not evangelical.  However, she thought the Harry Potter books should not be read as they were encouraging people to turn to witchcraft rather than the Word of God!  (Mercifully she had no problem with evolution.)

I think having no attachment to Harry Potter stemming from childhood is an advantage at this point tbh

[DinoToyForum]

I have most of my childhood collection but not all of it. My parents fostered my interest in dinosaurs and dinosaur toys as a child, but I can think of two occasions when my mum disparaged me from collecting certain dinosaur toys when I was in my early teens (she differentiated Jurassic Park-style action figures for children, from more Invicta-style models).

One year I went to town to spend my birthday money, I think my dad took me to Woolworth's. I would've been 14 years old because it was the year Jurassic Park was in the cinema. I got two Jurassic Park figures (this one https://dinotoyblog.com/velociraptor-jurassic-park-by-kenner/ and this one https://dinotoyblog.com/dilophosaurus-jurassic-park-by-kenner/). I was happy with them but when I got home my mum was disappointed that I'd bought 'toys', I think they were quite expensive and she thought I'd wasted my money on something too young for me. It would've been different if they were Invicta models or kits or something more 'age-appropriate'. Anyway, I remember being upset... but in the end I kept the toys. I still have those two today, and a few other Jurassic Park figures I had as a child. That same year, my friend got basically the whole original Jurassic Park line, which I bought from him a couple of years later when he grew out of his dinosaur phase. So, most of my Jurassic Park collection belonged to him. However, today I only have the dinosaurs, not the humans or vehicles...

This is because, when I was 18 or 19, my mum reasoned me into getting rid of some of my childhood toys. This included the Jurassic Park humans and vehicles, and also several Dino Riders including the T. rex. To be fair, they were taking up space in my parents house, and I was preparing to head off to university. I don't mind having let go of the Jurassic Park figures, but I really wish I still had the Dino Riders!

It's a bit of a running joke with my family now, that my mum made me get rid of my 'precious toys', especially since they know I run the Dinosaur Toy Blog and still collect dinosaur toys in my 40s. She maintains that I didn't want them and wanted to sell them for the money.

Thankfully, I still have the vast majority of my childhood collection including the full set of Invictas.

[Lynx]

I am still in my childhood, but around 3-9, I had a whole other one, mainly consisting of Bootlegs, Hasbro JP3 and JW stuff, and some Carnegies.

Hasbros except for one JP3 raptor was sold by my parents or was given away, not quite sure what happened to all of them. Bootlegs were also given away except for a handful that I keep as they were very close toys. I have no clue what happened to the Carnegie figures. I recall having the Parasaurolophus, but that is about where my memories end.

Speaking of which, I also had many finger and hand puppets as a little kid. They were all, once again, given away to a church. I'm very upset about those.

[Stegotyranno420]

I used to have a myriad of cheaposaurs and a few expensive ones. One of my favorites being Imaginext sauropods, JP3 Spinosaurus and Rex, Schliech Giganotosaurus, and some more. Mother made me give up the junk, and while I was initally disappointed, then I became neutral, but watching an AndyDinosaurReviews video on painting cheaposaurs, I decided to restart and rebuild from the remains(From which fortunately remains my Safari Dunkleosteus, my best figure from the pre-revival based on current standards). Since then, the DTF, Mojo Win, Safaris from Michaels, Papo and Pnso all came into mh life again, but now I only keep fairly accurate depictions, and will sell decent figures I once cared for so dearly in a heartbeat if theres a better one.

[Pliosaurking]

I'm in my late teens, and still collecting strong. My family is religious as am I, but they also believe in science and love nature, so the 2 never crossed thankfully. My family and friends know I collect them and know I like dinosaurs and while at times they might make a joke at it, ultimately it doesn't effect anyone negatively, and they have been supportive about me going into palaeontology after high school. I'm sorry to see some other people's families struggling to accept their children's beliefs.

[Duna]

My parents made me give away my most preciated (and now, very expensive) toys when I was 14. I managed to keep them until then, in perfect condition.
But there was no way in the world I would dispose of my dinosaur figures. Not a single one of them. These were bought or obtained as free promotional gifts between 1990 and 1993.


My parents did not buy me any figures at that time, they were expensive. I did not bother my parents to buy me a lot of toys, I had very little toys and was happy with them. All of the figures (except the pteranodon) were given free with some food products: meat, yoghourt...
What my parents did buy me (in 1992, a year before JP) was the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs from David Norman, in Spanish edition, which had to be very expensive at that time and I was over the moon with it. It was a Christmas present, along with it came a UKRD 1992 Pteranodon. It was one of the best presents I've had ever. I keep it as a treasure. It was very scientific for a 10 year to read but I lost count of the times I read it from cover to cover. I loved it. It's full of errors and misconcepts and outdated reconstructions, but I still think it was a fabulous book at the time.

These UKRD from 1993 medium line were given free with sausages. I couldn't eat more sausages before the promotion ended, so I only got these 3. For me were the best in sculpt and colour. I complete all the collection about 3 years ago. Not only these 12, but also the small line, the large line, the museum line, the skeletons, the glow-in-the-dark versions, the poseables ... I have almost everything UKRD (1991-1993).




The apatosaurus was a chinasaur inspired in the Carnegie but larger. The hard plastic Tyrannosaurus came from a winning ticket in the supermarket. I was disappointed because I knew tyrannosaurus didn't have that look but it was quite large. In fact, the surprise come almost 30 years later, because I discovered that it was made from the famous and very rare (and insanely expensive) Spanish Jecsan molds. A very coveted collection from the 50s, probably one of the first fully coloured hard rubber dinosaur figures in the world. This tyrannosaurus and the triceratops, also, were recast in the 90s in hard plastic, but there were/are very few of them. I'm so proud to have 4 (two rexes and two triceratops, in all the different colours they were made).


Some of the minis of the right came inside Tombola surprise eggs (a Spanish brand similar to Kinder Surprise). The yellow and green minis came inside eggs from Dinosaurus (spelled like that) biscuits but were made by the Spanish Yolanda (now Comansi).
The itchyosaurus and cynognathus are from the Panini collection of 24. I managed to complete all the collections (Yolanda, Panini) three years ago.




The pteranodon was the present from my parents. The other two came as gifts from (I don't remember with which edible product, probably processed meat or Coca-cola) and were key chains, but I cut the chains and painted the missing mark.




These are from an official Jurassic Park collection given with Danone yoghourts, also in 1993. I was missing 4 of them: camptosaurus, pteranodon, triceratops and diplodocus (I couldn't eat as many yoghourts!) but I managed to complete the collection 3 years ago. And I got a bag of spare figures.




So all these are my childhood collection, but I also decided to collect 2 complete Invicta sets and 1 complete painted version (for my children to have). I collected also some sets that probably children of the time had: Starlux, Marx, Nabisco, Ajax and others.
My children are luckier in this aspect, they can play with all of them and all my discarded figures from Safari, Collecta and Papo. But I also bought for them the dinosaurs from the Altaya collection (yes, I like them too!) and the books.

[Dusty Wren]

My parents never discouraged dino collecting when I was a kid, so that makes me luckier than I knew. When I moved out after college, my mother did tactfully ask how many of my childhood toys I really wanted to keep, which was fair, since I was storing them at her house. I downsized most of my toys, including all of my dinosaurs, between 2007 and 2009. Nothing from my childhood is in my current collection; it's all stuff I purchased as an adult. Well, I didn't purchase all of it--my mom and dad still buy me dinosaurs as birthday presents once in a while  

[Roselaar]

I was lucky with my parents as a dinosaur collecting kid, as they not only endorsed my collecting habit but even supported it. I was raised an atheist by them, my father is an ornithologist so he kinda understood the craze over a group of animals (though in his own case they're still all around us). So I never had to endure scorn from my parents about my hobby or see my collection donated to younger family members or thrift stores. As a result, I still have all my childhood dinosaurs. And I'll always be thankful for my parents for gifting my first ever Jurassic Park toy (the 1993 Young T-Rex)!

Like my mother used to say 'better that he's into dinosaurs than into drugs!'

[Quen]

I'm honestly still a bit upset at my mother for throwing away all of my dinosaur and other animal toys over a decade ago. She kept the metal Thomas the Tank Engine figures (which I lost interest in when I was six) because she thought those would be valuable someday. But she discarded the toys from age six onward, which felt a bit like being cut off from the parts of my childhood that I remember best.

My dad, on the other hand, has been very supportive of my collection as a child and an adult. I received many of my childhood dinosaur toys from him. And when I started collecting as an adult, he helped me acquire my more expensive Battat and Sideshow figures, which adds personal value to them, as well.

After reading some of the other responses here, I'm grateful that both of my parents were supportive of my unusual (for a girl, though I no longer identify as such) interests.