Do your sibling children have their own toys or is everything communal?

[kijip]

I imagine this would vary based on the ages of the kids. My little brother and I are about 2 years apart and shared everything, even clothes at times. If ours were 2 or so years apart I think everything would be shared except for the special things. With T being 5 and 1/2 when #2 is born and past 6 by the time little brother even knows with a toy is, I doubt much will be shared. No electricity experiment sets for 1 year olds, IYKWIM. And I doubt a nearly 7 year old T will pine away for push toys and super fat crayons (though I am sure their will be some jealousy). I have already started boxing up toys from T's tot hood with his help that he never plays with and telling him they will come out again in a few years when little brother is big enough for them. I am actually kind of concerned about keeping #2 safe from all the small parts and such in T's toys and also concerned about the new addition breaking delicate things.

[Corie]

My little brother and I are about 2 years apart and shared everything, even clothes at times.

When we were little,
My mom took a picture of my brother (who is 6 yrs. younger) trying to hug me and you can see the back of his t-shirt. Right there on the back of the t-shirt, it says "Corie".

[Wife_and_mommy]

Loveys aren't shared unless offered by the owner. Toys are shared communally for the most part. When they're new there is a honeymoon period as a PP said.

[kijip]

When we were little,
My mom took a picture of my brother (who is 6 yrs. younger) trying to hug me and you can see the back of his t-shirt. Right there on the back of the t-shirt, it says "Corie".

We had drawers that were just our shared clothes at times, usually shared a room and usually we were wearing the same sizes, both jeans and t-shirts rough and tumble sorts.

[Asianmommy]

Almost everything is shared, unless it's a favorite stuffed animal or it's not age-appropriate.

[elephantmeg]

this is interesting to me because my bro and I were 2.5 years appart and the legos/knex/robots were his and the barbies/dolls/ponies were mine. We played with them together but they were very much ours. Thanks for the food for thought

[mamicka]

Basically communal. However, each child seems to have their favorite which we kind-of treat as if it were a lovey.

[Melanie]

It's such a struggle for us. Ds is 4 yr older than Dd. I wish we had a playroom so everything had a more communal feel. We don't so most things are kept in 'his' room or 'her' room. We do have several things that I say "it belongs to ALL of us."

[bubbaray]

Most toys are shared, loveys are not. The girls go to daycare and are used to sharing toys, so it wasn't a huge leap to do it at home too. Of course, we have our days, LOL.

[saschalicks]

Well for the most part it's all communal. Even things that are distinctly DS1's or DS'2 need to be shared. However, sleep items are not. DS1 has a very distinct elephant he sleeps with and DS2 knows it so we tell him it's not his to touch. Otherwise we buy 2 of everything. With us they are so close in age it's so hard not to have fighting if they don't share.

When b-days come around we allow the b-day boy some *mine* for a few days and then it's shared.