please explain the "no plastic toys/no batteries" school of thought

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.

Why is it ok to chop down trees that take hundreds of years to grow in order to make toys?

Plastic at least can be recycled, so this nonsense about it clogging landfills is a bit much.

Toys are made from new trees, not 100-year-old ones. Pine and beech are most common, and it's easier and less expensive to replace a pine tree than petroleum. The old forests have been logged or are protected, for the most part. And the hardwoods that are still being logged in what might be dubious contexts are typically not going to be used for children's toys.

Even so, you're killing something to make a toy. How is that virtuous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:16 raises a good question (I'm 9:33). Do the parents who have no plastic toys have a completely-no-plastic-toys rule or just a no cheaply made licensed product plastic toys with flashy lights rule? Although I guess there are building blocks (Kevas) and stuff that are wood that allow kids to play in ways similar to Lego.

We don't have a completely no plastic toys rule. We have a few well-made plastic toys among our collection. What we try to avoid are cheaply-made, loud and intrusive stuff that does the playing for the kid. There are great plastic toys, but most of what you see today are not great toys. I'd say Fisher Price has evolved from a great toy company to a junk brand. Playmobile, lego / duplo, etc, are much better with respect to craftsmanship, longevity, and play flexibility (or whatever they call it). BTW, there absolutely are junky and less environmentally sustainable wooden toys, too. You can get wooden toys in the dollar store, but the paint and timber harvesting are probably less responsible than what you'll see elsewhere.

To answer another question, about older kids, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"And surrounding your baby and young child with tried and true traditional things (like wooden blocks) is probably safer in terms of chemical exposure than giving them lots of plastic to chew on. But my kids do have plenty of plastic toys. "

Hypocrite Alert!

Surrounding my son with wood may be safer for him, but it's more dangerous for the rest of us. Tonka hurts less than those wooden trucks when he translates "roll it to mommy" as chuck one towards mommy while she's not looking. He's 16 months.

[Anonymous]

I have read very good answers to the OP question but it seems that he/she still "doesn't get it. at the end, all words are thrown for nothing because every adult is already very clingy to their own believes. Battery operated toys are one-liners period. They do not prmotoe childrn creativity or imagination because they do everything for the child. Now, they do not have to be plastic made to be one liners. The plastic dilemma is another story. I read someone said is an aesthetic choice and I agree but it could be also an activist stand point with the "boicot China" label or any other reason.
I prefer natural materials as toys, and if they have to be toys I choose materials that have a solid presence and a tactile quality. example: ceramic made tea set from IKEA, recycled plastic for kitchen utensils, fabric made pretend food. If it is only shiny plastic in primary colors I am not providing a rich, visual and tactile experience for my child.
Now, you are free to do whatever you want for your child. If you like plastic or you find it not to be a problem go ahead.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a huge problem with plastic toys, although I suppose I'd prefer ones that don't contain BPA.

I actually avoid battery-powered toys becuase of the toxins inthe batteries. the button batteries contain mercury or lithium. The NYT had a story last year about kids who accidentally swallowed lithium batteries from remotes etc. It was really bad news - multiple stomach surgeries. The ones that take regular alkaline batteries I avoid because it's just one more thing to keep track of. I can never get the compartments open to replace them.

[Anonymous]

My son is 14 months old and we have chosen no battery, no plastic, and no character toys for him. Basically my reasons are these: no batteries because they limit creativity and as many others have mentioned active toy=passive play, also because the environmental impact. No plastic because of environmental impact and being unsafe due to leaching chemicals. No character toys because I think marketing and branding to children on that scale is harmful to their develop and encourages consumerism. I believe strongly that what we choose to surround our kids with makes a huge impact on the adults they become. I'm not talking about trying to control every detail so they turn out to be exactly what you expect of them, but not letting large corporations trick them into "needing" all sorts of material items to be happy or fit in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where did the philosophy active toys = passive child and vice versa come from? And honestly I dont care because its ridiculous.

Damn I grew up obviously living in hell since my mom gave up microwave dinners, we watched TV, had loud noisy toys, plastic etc. Where are all these insane standards coming from? Why cant a kid be a kid wihtout parents agonizing over every damn thing?

I don't think that because a parent chooses a more healthy and natural lifestyle for their kids means that they have "insane standards" or somehow stops a kid from being a kid. There's no way I'd give my kid a microwave meal, we don't even own a microwave, there's no way I'd let my toddler watch tv, he doesn't own battery or plastic toys, but there's also no way my kid isn't having an AWESOME childhood. It's up to parents to decide what's best for their kids and hopefully we won't equate what the big manufacturers and mass media are trying to sell us with what it takes for a happy childhood. So you may think that I have insane standards and life is no fun without tv, but we'll have plenty of fun drinking our green juice and eating fruit and singing, tickling, reading, going outside, and playing with our wooden toys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children only play with wooden toys I carve myself out of wood from trees in our backyard. And only wear clothes made of wool made by our own family sheep.

How silly of you! Mine only play with toys made from petroleum purchased from the Middle East!

LOL LOL.... So funny when people try to turn this around and make parents doing the right thing for their kids and the environment into something to make fun of

I thought there were no judgments and that was just the "values" you are trying to teach your family and we were all singing kumbaya. See, the wooden toys people really are smug and elitist even though they pretend that they are open-minded.

Most of us say we don't judge. But again, and obviously or we would not be making those choices, we believe that our choices are better choices. It's like when you feed your child X over Y. Maybe, to you, X is organic. So you think you're making the better choice. Or maybe, to you, X is actual food, not processed stuff. So you think you're making the better choice. Or maybe yous imply say hey, I don't do mcdonalds every night. You think that's a better choice than doing McDonalds every night, right? But that doesn't mean you devote a lot of time to other people's choices (or maybe it does?). For me, I do what I think is best for my family. I try to make the better choice according to my values. I'm not going to pretend that your values are the better choice or that it doesn't matter, because I personally think it does. But, if I come to your house, my kids will enjoy and play with your children's toys and you can be assured I won't give a second's thought to what's in your house (obviously aside for anything dangerous, etc). And if you come to my house, you can expect to have a nice time, our kids will play together, and the subject of toys and why ours are different will not come up unless you ask me about it. It's just a damn toy choice, not a manifesto for life.

However, it does burn me that people mock parents who are making the choices they think are best for my family. You really can't argue that, at least environmentally, the kind of toys at my house have a lower impact. It's okay if you don't think it matters, but you can't really dispute it. My toys are built to last, we pass them on to other families, and when we're done with them, they won't hang around a landfill for the next 3000 years, polluting your kids' planet.

So yeah, if pushed, I'll make a value judgment. But I don't do it unless someone sits there and mocks me for caring. Do you also mock people who pick up trash at the park?

Kudos to you! You put it well and summed up my thoughts on it!!! Here's another one of my thoughts along the same lines: I wouldn't DARE ask other parents why they give their kids mc donalds, or soda or processed foods or disposable diapers or plastic toys BUT all sorts of people question my choices of feeding my child all organic, getting natural fiber toys, cloth diapers and not having him watch tv. I've had people tell me how cloth diapers and maxi pads are gross. I just love how people judging and commenting on my choices (that I make because I truly care about what world I leave for my own kids and everyone else's kids) but I would be a judgey elitist if I ever commented on theirs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're not choosing what she likes better- you are choosing what you think will better stimulate her creativity. And imply that plastic and battery toys are some how anti-creative or dangerous. Are those wood blocks from sustainable wood that has no paint made in China?! If so, glad you're wealthy enough to buy on etsy.

So should we just let our small children pick out their own toys?

Not saying that- just saying it's ingenuous to claim that you/she "knows her child and picks toys she likes" when we are stocking only what we think will be good for them. My mother and other family members buy my DS stuff I don't love, but he loves them, and unlike some, I'm not going to rip it out of his hands because it doesn't accord with some lofty, scientifically baseless, values. DS doesn't get to watch TV at home because the effects of the screen on his little brain are well known. When at my mom's it's on and we get over it. Kellymom is not the NIH, and being anti- for the sake of being anti- is just annoying.

It seems very sad to me that now the only values people should have need to be scientifically based. How are these mom's being anti for the sake of being anti?

[Anonymous]

For the person who said "so you are killing something to make a toy - how is that virtuous?" about wooden toys: trees for wood products are now grown on tree farms like any other crop. They are actually good environmentally because they sequester lots of carbon. We kill plants all day long to eat. Trees are plants. Old growth trees, trees in wetlands, deserts, and other fragile environments are different, but trees from a tree farm...just a plant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the person who said "so you are killing something to make a toy - how is that virtuous?" about wooden toys: trees for wood products are now grown on tree farms like any other crop. They are actually good environmentally because they sequester lots of carbon. We kill plants all day long to eat. Trees are plants. Old growth trees, trees in wetlands, deserts, and other fragile environments are different, but trees from a tree farm...just a plant.

Exactly. And trees are a renewable resource. One tree gets cut down to make toys. Another is planted in its place to replace it.

Not that it's carbon-neutral - there's still significant resources expended - but compared to using petroleum, it's environmentally friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Kudos to you! You put it well and summed up my thoughts on it!!! Here's another one of my thoughts along the same lines: I wouldn't DARE ask other parents why they give their kids mc donalds, or soda or processed foods or disposable diapers or plastic toys BUT all sorts of people question my choices of feeding my child all organic, getting natural fiber toys, cloth diapers and not having him watch tv. I've had people tell me how cloth diapers and maxi pads are gross. I just love how people judging and commenting on my choices (that I make because I truly care about what world I leave for my own kids and everyone else's kids) but I would be a judgey elitist if I ever commented on theirs!

I totally agree with this one. I feel the same way. People constantly look at me like I am crazy when I say I make my own baby food and I cloth diaper. They even get kind of angry at me, but I do not comment on how others use disposables, feed their kids from jars, let them play with plastic, chinese made toys, etc.

[Anonymous]

For those who are against battery operated toys, relax a little. Trust me, once those batteries go dead you will probably not replace them. You have to unscrew so many things to even get to the batteries, it is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children only play with wooden toys I carve myself out of wood from trees in our backyard. And only wear clothes made of wool made by our own family sheep.

How silly of you! Mine only play with toys made from petroleum purchased from the Middle East!

LOL LOL.... So funny when people try to turn this around and make parents doing the right thing for their kids and the environment into something to make fun of

I thought there were no judgments and that was just the "values" you are trying to teach your family and we were all singing kumbaya. See, the wooden toys people really are smug and elitist even though they pretend that they are open-minded.

Most of us say we don't judge. But again, and obviously or we would not be making those choices, we believe that our choices are better choices. It's like when you feed your child X over Y. Maybe, to you, X is organic. So you think you're making the better choice. Or maybe, to you, X is actual food, not processed stuff. So you think you're making the better choice. Or maybe yous imply say hey, I don't do mcdonalds every night. You think that's a better choice than doing McDonalds every night, right? But that doesn't mean you devote a lot of time to other people's choices (or maybe it does?). For me, I do what I think is best for my family. I try to make the better choice according to my values. I'm not going to pretend that your values are the better choice or that it doesn't matter, because I personally think it does. But, if I come to your house, my kids will enjoy and play with your children's toys and you can be assured I won't give a second's thought to what's in your house (obviously aside for anything dangerous, etc). And if you come to my house, you can expect to have a nice time, our kids will play together, and the subject of toys and why ours are different will not come up unless you ask me about it. It's just a damn toy choice, not a manifesto for life.

However, it does burn me that people mock parents who are making the choices they think are best for my family. You really can't argue that, at least environmentally, the kind of toys at my house have a lower impact. It's okay if you don't think it matters, but you can't really dispute it. My toys are built to last, we pass them on to other families, and when we're done with them, they won't hang around a landfill for the next 3000 years, polluting your kids' planet.

You see, I was with you while you were in the "everyone makes choices they believe are best for their family". But then you moved to ranking these choices. And to "it burns me that people mock my choices, not because mocking is bad, but because my choices are better and therefore exempt from mocking." I would wholeheartedly agree if you said everyone mocks others' choices. Because we do. And there's no way to stop it. But once you move into "mocking me is horrible, not because all mocking is bad, but because I'm a trash-picking angel", you lose my sympathy.

[Anonymous]

PP here..screwed up the quote marks. The last paragraph is mine.