Collections can look playful from outside while holding deeply personal meaning for the person who built them.

For one successful woman, a room filled with childhood dream toys represented everything poverty once placed beyond her reach.

Instead of simply admiring it, visiting relatives began treating the treasured collection like a free gift shop.

Let’s see how this playdate became a serious boundary test.

AITA for not giving up my toys collection to SIL’s kids?

“I am 28f and I grew up in poverty.

My parents barely kept roof on our head or fed us. But they gave me and my brother proper education. We won scholarships to private schools.

But the things other kids had always left us in tears, as we couldn’t afford it.

We also faced mocking from rich relatives  cousins and schoolmates.

We promised to better ourselves, we will reach level of success. And won’t let others mock us.

She’s done very well for herself.

I studied hard, cleared bank exam at age of 22 and working as manager in bank with six figure check in my country.

My elder brother is even doing better working for international company and making double compared to mine.

Last year we both purchased duplexes in same building and though the mortgage is high, it is worth the investment and giving our parents good living conditions.

He also married an angel named Rebecca who herself works at a reputable job.

I am dating Jack 30m and we just got engaged.

He comes from upper middle class family and we are very different. He finds my toy room weird for my age.

But it is all of those dream collection of toys that I wanted as a kid.

This room sounds cool to me!

Ranging from teddy bears to Barbie dolls to remote cars to Playstation. It is my holy grail. So he doesn’t question it anymore. It even has vintage video games from Super Mario to others.

His elder sister Trisha 38f and her two kids 12f and 10m visited my house with him.

Trisha has always been passive aggressive towards me and I feel she looks down upon my background.

But have never been direct.

I showed her around my duplex and she made comments ranging from my walls decoration to furniture. I let it go.

When her kids saw my room, they asked me to let them play and I allowed them to.

Ummmm, no.

The moment she started leaving, kids asked me give them some of my car and doll collection and my vintage Super Mario. I refused.

Jack and Trisha said to me that I am too old for all this and to give some of them to kids who are going to be my family.

I still refused. She left in hurry with her kids who started crying after I refused.

Jack and I had huge fight afterwards. We don’t live together but we hang out together often at each other’s places.

He told me to grow up and I told him these collections are my childhood dreams, envy that I have and I am never sharing it with anyone else besides my kids.

I told him that when we marry, I will gift to his family members on occasions. But these are my private collections and aren’t up for discussion.

Things are weird now.

Now he is giving me cold shoulder.

I didn’t mean to make kids cry, but even as kid I was taught by my parents that not to demand things at other people’s homes. Even when we were poor.

Rebecca is on my side too.

But my brother says that I am doing same. Like other kids did to us including our cousins. But I don’t see it as same. Trisha and her husband are well to do.

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Also we are meeting today and I will tell him the differences in our growing up and why do these toys matter to me..I don’t like to talk about my childhood much.

But I hope this might open his eyes

AITA?”

Now let’s see how Reddit users reacted.

This person said she’s NTA.

Another reader agreed.

This Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Another person spoke up.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who is annoyed that her brother is making their mom’s international trip all about how broke he is.

And this Reddit user had a lot to say.

After allowing her fiancé’s niece and nephew to play with the collection, OP refused their demands to take several valuable toys home.

Redditors called her NTA and warned that her fiancé’s contempt for her hobby could threaten both the collection and their future marriage.

The children entered a private toy museum, mistook it for a clearance aisle, and somehow their uncle volunteered OP to host the liquidation sale.