Ain't it odd? I love the magnets, duplo, brio, wooden dominos, jigsaws, wooden blocks, knitted sheep etc. Mum gets DS plastic crap, like a toy camera which doesn't take pictures, just makes a noise.
I buy Niece books and spirograph and science-museum branded making toys... and SiL isn't happy. She likes a mountain of plastic tat.
In my mum's attic there's one black bin-bag full of soft toys, plastic toys and things DS has outgrown. (I have a small amount of "nice" baby toys here, which DS still loves!) I'm going to have to add to it soon. Some toys he received as a baby he STILL plays with of his own account (his godmother buys the greatest toys!) and others he ignores completely and always has.
Having said that, he does have a FP little people train set too. This comes out for one weekend every ~3 months and he is bored of it after that. Wooden train set (brio) - keeps him happy for years.
Thanks for inspiring me to re-cull the toys! I can think of a few I want to hide then throw away once I'm sure DS isn't going to nag for them. Wait until next week though - then I can insta-cull some of the birthday crap. I can't believe my mother is buying him MORE tools: he has plastic tools, wooden tools, PiL are buying him a tool workshop thing... and she's gone out and got MORE when I just said "money for him please, his trust fund is a bit low".
Although I will never get DS his first bike now: my sister did that for Christmas. Thomas-branded (eugh!) and even with the seat as low as possible he still can't reach the pedals. So much for me picking the big things!
I have toys that I put away at christmas and last birthday that still haven't come out. DD's birthday is coming up again in less than a month. She really doesn't need anything, but I know she will be given all sorts of stuff. I will have to think of things to ask for that aren't toy related.
It was my nephews 1st birthday recently and I asked SIL if she wanted something non toy related. They have a small house and he got some large presents for xmas. I think she thought it a bit strange, but she did say that he could do with a back pack.
Anyway, I'm hoping this thread has inspired me to sort out all the toys we have. It was one of the things I wanted to do before this next baby is born. Kids don't need a lot of stuff and it just makes my house untidy.
We don't have a huge amount of toys, mostly second hand stuff and a few soft toys only a couple of new bought things. But the plastic that DD plays with most is my plastics cupboard! She will spend hours pulling containers out, putting her fridge magnet letters into one and then the other, stacking them, etc.
We have so far avoided the toy glut as we live interstate from our families so all presents must fit inside a suitcase!
I joined a toy library to keep it interesting for her, but she is very content making do with what is around!
We have way to many toys too.. We are renovating in the next couple months so the kids toys are going to be going down to lego, cars and a car mat.. and DD will get a table with a tea set and a pram and a couple dolls.. I feel they don't play with what they have and have decided enough is enough.. Going back to basics..
Jenifer.. Freecycle is just great isn't it.. I am a member of my own town and a town an hour away (where my mum lives)
Have any of you ignored the plastic/trendy toys successfully? And if so, please tell me how! I know people must do it but I just haven't found any yet.
Yes, BR, I have! I just buy toys for special occasions, eg birthdays, Christmas and only a few really good quality ones. To ensure good ones I go to a specialist toy shop and not Kmart etc and buy usually wooden ones that can be passed on (to siblings, next generation..)
So at home we have a few baskets in the play area- one contains wooden building blocks, one felt animals that I made, one of books, one of a tea set and other play kitchen stuff (bought real ones from the Salvos), one of silk scarves in diff colours and sizes and a few smaller ones holding honky nuts, shells, pine cones and rocks. Then we have a cane dolly bassinette, a dolly stroller, a soft doll that I had handmade for DD and a few of my old teddies. In a toy cupboard, we have some wooden musical instruments, block sorter, finger puppets and bigger puppets, wooden jigsaws and a few other things. As I don't take DD to departments stores, or allow her to read the catalogues and we are friends with like minded families, we don't have a big problem with her asking for things. She plays happily for a very long time with her things as they really allow open ended play.
Once a fortnight we get a toy from the toy library- usually a Fisher Price Little People thing that gets played with for a day or two and that's it. We have a craft basket too of good quality stuff and lots of homemade play dough. The craft basket is bought out every now and then and not left out.
I am opposed to lots of plastic toys for many reasons- philosophical, environmental, financial, developmental etc and I find that if I let people know really politely, then they don't have much of a problem buying gifts accordingly.
For birthdays etc I either guide family to websites that sell the type of stuff we like, or request vouchers or else things like clothing, books, or handmade gifts. I also photocopied a list someone else gave me that suggests suitable non-plastic type toys (I gave it to my mum and MIL).
Hence, we don't have lots of things that are not used, we have a cleanish play area, DD and friends are happy with what they have to play with and I know DD values what she has (to the extent that she can!). Anything received that I am really opposed to gets passed on to cousins or stored down the back room until I figure out what to do!
We mostly make sure that we get toys that are constructive. I have one of those 20 liter tubs with wheels half full of blocks and a couple of soft toys. Charlie prefers to go outside most of the time and just watch what's happening. DP and I did get her a playmat at about 4 weeks old to encourage tummy time because she'd get grumpy but after we put her on the mat she was too distracted to be grumpy.
So we go to east coast for christmas and well............... rellies get her toys and toys and more sodding toys. By Christmas lunch Charlie is so overstimulated and cranky and the rellies are shoving MORE TOYS in her face.
My parents made sure they didn't get charlie toys but deposited money in a bank account for her 18th which they'll add a little each birthday and Christmas.
I'll second CrazyLady on that. DS refused to open any gifts on Boxing Day because he had been all "presented out" on Christmas Day. It took him 5 days to open all the sodding toys! I did tell everyone that I like books for him and trust fund money. I did ask mum for his kitchen set, which she got. But I wish she'd stopped at that!
I am failing already! I think we've bought DD about 3 toys ourselves but she has heaps. And she doesn't even play with them. She likes blocks and things she can stack and exploring outside. Her b'day is coming up and god know how much more she'll get!!
Small comfort heaven- the first year, I found,w as the worst. the rello buying slows down a little after that.
The bank account idea is great. I told our close rellos to pop $$ in ds's account for Xmas, then buy him a few little, cheap things (matchbox cars,sticker books,etc) to unwrap- it was the unwrapping that was the exciting part for him, and I didn't want to deny him that.
I just like the irony that it's my parents' generation (who were WW2 kids themselves and grew up extremely frugally) who are the worst offenders for overloading kids with bucketloads of generally useless toys. Well, that's my experience anyway, and from the sound of it, I'm not the only one. Perhaps they are overcompensating for their own lack of 'stuff'?
My mum looooooves to buy DS plastic, noisy, single use toys that don't do anything to engage the imagination. 'But he loves them' she says. Of course he does. They're bright, shiny and they don't require him to do anything. He'd love Maccas too but it doesn't mean that it's good for him. But at least she does listen (sort of). She has restrained herself somewhat and mostly buys things that are more engaging in the long term. Like about three tons of Duplo. But she couldn't resist buying him one of the baby laptops for Christmas Very sweet, but...
It doesn't help that my DP works in a toy shop, but in reality, he's only responsible for a very small proportion of the crap that we have in our house.
A lot of it is packed away for the new one, and we have all of his small or 'componented' toys (like blocks, puzzles, musical instruments, cooking stuff, drawing stuff, etc) separated by type in plastic tubs which are on a set of shelves in the loungeroom - when he wants to play with something new, he has to pack up and put away whatever he was playing with previously. Larger toys and soft toys are in trug tubs.
I don't have so much of an issue with the quantity of stuff, as long as it is organised in a way that facilitates rather than hinders active, imaginative play, but I do have an issue with the quality of stuff. Not necessarily what it is made of, because there are some very good quality plastic toys, but what it has the potential to do.
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Very sweet, but...
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