Childhood treasures can hold more meaning than we realize.

The following story involves a young man who found out that his long-lost American Girl doll was taken by his younger cousin years ago.

Now, his toddler sister was roughhousing with it, leaving him upset and desperate to protect the doll.

His mother insisted he should just let it go, but he wasn’t really ready to give it up.

Let’s take a closer look!

AITA for taking a doll from my 3-year-old sister?

Tonight, I (18M) found out that the American Girl doll was stolen by my slightly younger cousin a few years ago.

I have had this doll since I was about 8.

The way I found this out was because he gave her to my baby sister (3F).

I missed the doll, Blair, for many years.

This young man got upset when he saw that his childhood doll wasn’t being taken care of.

I had tried to look for her before.

But when I couldn’t find her, I assumed my granny had thrown her out or put her away somewhere.

Now that she’s back, my little sister has been dragging her and throwing her by the hair.

It really upset me to the point of tears. I picked her up after she had thrown her down.

I left her there for a while and began finger-combing her curls back out.

He tried to take it back nicely from her sister.

When my little sister noticed, she ripped her out of my hands by a small piece of her hair, pulling some of it out.

I tried telling her how important the doll was to me and how I really wanted her back.

I promised I would share her when my sister got a bit older and could be gentle with her.

I explained that Blair meant a lot to me.

But their mom stepped in and told him to just give it to her sister.

At that point, my mom stepped in.

She told me to just let her have the doll.

Because she didn’t know it was mine when she gave it to her.

So I just left.

He decided to take the doll while her mom and sister were sleeping.

I went outside and sat in my car to calm down.

When I went back in, they were both asleep.

I took Blair, and I feel kind of guilty.

But I’m scared of her getting more messed up, and I don’t know what to do.

Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This one makes a valid point.

Here’s some helpful advice from this person.

This one agrees with the suggestion.

Finally, you sound like a lovely big brother, says this one.

Some battles are worth fighting… even if your opponent is a three-year-old.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.