My dad wants to give my childhood rocking horse to my pregnant sister for Christmas, I said no.
So here’s the deal, I’m the youngest of five, meaning I have four older siblings. That means my options for claiming stake to childhood momentos are very few and far between since I’m last in line to compete for them. What exactly am I competing for right now? A rocking horse. Not some vintage, wooden rocking horse, but a stuffed commercial grade rocking horse my dad bought from Lowes Hardware Store when I was about six.
My sisters and I all grew up horseback riding, so naturally, my father was compelled to say yes when we begged him to buy it for a Christmas decoration by our tree. It’s important to note, my two older sisters (we’ll call them E and L), were 15 (E) and 10 (L) at the time. This silly rocking horse, to say the least, was well loved. E and L were too old to use it, but loved its aesthetic by the tree. I, however, as a small kid, really loved this thing.
I’m talking about waking up every day just to play with it. It has a little button on the ear that made the horse neigh and built in iron stirrups to simulate a saddle. As a little girl taking real horseback riding lessons who never wanted to go home after lessons, I got to go home to something as close to the real thing I was going to get.
Today, E is 29. She and her husband are also expecting their first kid together (yay! I’m an aunt!) The other day, my dad called to ask me if I’d be okay if for Christmas this year, he gifted E and her husband our childhood rocking horse for their baby. To which I said, “Uhm, no.”
That was not the reaction he was expecting, but no, I am not okay with that. E was 15 when we got the rocking horse, she had much less appreciation for it. Also, what about my future kids? It was more my rocking horse than my sisters, so why would E’s kids get my childhood toy?
My dad also asked L, who apparently is a much more generous and caring sister than I, because she said “Absolutely! That sounds like a great idea.” I argued, L also doesn’t get to claim stake since she was 10 when we got the rocking horse. She didn’t play with it, so why should she care so much? Additionally, both of my sisters moved out either for college or other reasons, so I spent more time with the rocking horse than they ever did.
I suggested that a new, woodcarved one (a hobby my dad enjoyed) with engraving of their names would be much more heartfelt. Plus, not to be harsh – but the baby isn’t going to know the difference.
Additionally, just because I’m a decade younger than my sister and much further away from having my own kids, don’t my future kids deserve an equal chance at mementos from their moms childhood?
Do not get me wrong, I have so much love for the niece or nephew I have yet to meet, but there are plenty of things from my oldest sister’s childhood that could be gifted instead. Or, make a new memory with a new rocking horse.
I get it, the youngest child soapbox is not one many want to hear. Most often, the youngest children are deemed as spoiled and that they get special treatment. This was not my case. The youngest of five in a busy, military household – more often than not I had to fight for scraps of toast if I so much as wanted breakfast or was forgotten at school.
My mom jokes, but is also very serious, that my oldest sister, E, listened to Mozart in the womb, had every moment of her life documented in pictures, driven to every sport and function she wanted to attend, had special heart-shaped lunches and was the golden child to every grandparent and aunt/uncle ever. By the time they got to me? They tapped out.
As the forgotten, youngest child who only ever got hand-me-downs (literally, the first article of clothing I ever got that was all my own was when I was 15 years old and got my first part-time job). All I want is that silly, rocking horse from my childhood.
My brothers and L don’t see an issue and said I should just concede and let my dad give it to E, because it’s the “nicer” thing to do. I, however, think it’s unfair that a piece of my childhood is being given away just because she’s having a baby. I’m sure if I could talk to E about it, she’d agree, but that would ruin the potential surprise.
So, am I the problem?
