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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, it is about buying high-quality, open-ended, toys that my DD will be interested for many years. It is about building a toy inventory that grows with my child and will be around for the grandchildren. It is also about not overwhelming my kid with flashy junk (that, yes annoys me!).

She has an awesome set (multiple sets) of HABA blocks, play silks, dozens of Holtztiger animals, a simple wooden dollhouse, a couple wooden trucks (Fagus), and simple wooden peg people. She also has a small kitchen filled with wooden and felt food, and two baby dolls. She plays with this stuff everyday, and has for years. She has never needed more.

I don't like buying things that will only serve me and my family for a limited period time, toys included. We are somewhat minimalistic. We live in a small place.

I also try to buy local, support small business, avoid made in china.

We are also TV free while DD is awake and put our foot down on electronic toys. Plastic is OK sometimes (she does have some playmobil which we love), but we do not need anything interactive like Leapster or TAG, or whatever. We do not buy any type of educational electronic. We read books together. We also plays tons of boardgames. And, we will play some iPad apps together. DD loves books. It was important to DH and I that she enjoy books. She sat on Santa and asked for more books this past year. And, at 3.5 she can read at a beginning of the year first grade level.

I am a WAHM. DD is an only child and can entertain herself for hours in imaginary play. I don't think I have too much time on my hands. I have done a lot of reading on this subject. We all have different priorities. Her preschool has no battery-operated toys, though plenty of plastic for pretend. I never care if she watches TV or plays barbie at a friend's house. But, we can control what goes on in our home. I don't feel like it is "controlling." It is how we choose to raise our family.

Why on earth do you want a toy inventory and to keep the toys for the grandkids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Maybe it's you. Not the PP, but my 2yo boy's "natural instincts" include calm play.

Or maybe it is b/c he is autistic.

Hahahhaahhahahahhahah!

Okay, this whole thread has been cracking me up, but this one really takes the cake. Thanks for the laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone also point out that this is a class war? Not everyone can afford habba toys!

You can get Haba toys used for usually 1/2 off at consignment sales and on Craigslist. You can also get them for 1/2 off or sometimes more during big sales at places like Zulily. Not having cable TV and buying DC's clothing at thrift, yard, and consignment sales leaves plenty of money in the budget for a few 1/2 off wooden toys and games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does any of you actually get any toys as gifts at all? Our hour is full of toys given to us as gifts and most of them tend to be the despised battery operated plastic type. so, what do you actually do to prevent people from giving you these "wrong" toys as gifts? Are you actually tacky enough to tell people, your elderly grandparents, your best friends, your nanny, etc that their choice in toys is just hmm. inferior? That they should not ever give you toys made in China or having batteries, or made of plastic, etc?

It's funny, but my aunt actually purchased DS a nice truck set by the toy company based in Germany, the toys are made in Germany... from the good old plastic. Oh my! And she was so proud the toys were not made in China! I should probably go run to the nearest Home-depot and get started on the solid wood playset right away and go sew some organic cotton ragdolls stuffed with the premium quiality fair trade ingredients.

Yes, we can make choices to avoid certain products and market for the "pure" organic products is out there, but unless you are a total ass to people around you, you will not be able to shield your kid from such toys.

I posted before and said that I avoid battery-operated toys but don't mind plastic. The kids' not-so-elderly grandparents (*my* grandparents are long dead) know of this preference and for the most part respect it, although not entirely. Others do give us battery-operated presents, although we cut down on that as well by not hosting birthday parties when the kids are little, so we get fewer gifts in general. When possible, I just don't put batteries in the toy -- for example, grandparents gave DS a car ramp that makes an annoying noise when a car goes down it. I didn't put batteries it, DS loves it as a ramp and makes his own sound effects, everyone is happy.

[Anonymous]

I live such a simple life! Couldn't care less what the kids play with. If it it is loud and annoying, it stays in their room, if I step on it then it gets thrown in a bag. If I saw them licking the paint or or chewing off chunks of plastic, I'd probably take it away but otherwise they just play. So far the kids still seem relatively normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live such a simple life! Couldn't care less what the kids play with. If it it is loud and annoying, it stays in their room, if I step on it then it gets thrown in a bag. If I saw them licking the paint or or chewing off chunks of plastic, I'd probably take it away but otherwise they just play. So far the kids still seem relatively normal.

I live such a simple life, too. My children have toys and they play with them. Why are people acting like choosing toys we like to have in our homes makes some of us overwrought and neurotic? Families are different, parents are different, children are different. And, yes, all our children will learn to use computers, no doubt about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone also point out that this is a class war? Not everyone can afford habba toys!

you are full of it. My household makes very little money and we buy a few high quality toys, including HABA and leave it at that. We buy less and we buy better quality.

[Anonymous]

wow, i don't bother myself with this stuff...DD has all sorts of toys....imo, the kid is very intelligent, extremely creative and most of the time doesn't even play with toys but naturally is inclined to use her imagination....i don't think it really matters...but if she wants something 'cool' at the store and if I think she deserves it or it's age appropriate, I have no issue getting it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do not let DD play with anything plastic or anything with batteries. I am sort of an "old soul" and believe in calm play (no flashing lights, loud noises, distracting movements). I think it leads to ADD and other attention issues. I also hate the annoying sounds of battery operated toys myself. I also think it stunts the imagination.

Woah. Clearly you have a single female child, and probably a pretty young one at that. At least now we know who we are arguing with.

As a mom of two boys, I have to tell you that your ENTIRE PHILOSOPHY would go against their natural instincts. I've only rarely seen my 2 and 4 year old boys "play calmly with no loud noises or distracting movements." And that is even with our limitation on toys with batteries. My goodness, their favorite game in the world is to basically chase each other through the house yelling "aaaaaahhhhh!" Then the chaser becomes the chasee and they turn around and retrace their path.

As a mom of two boys, you are wrong. Not having toys with noises/lights doesn't prevent kids from being kids. Why are you arguing anyway? The poster is just giving her opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for the well-thought out replies, I appreciate them, and they make a lot of sense. Now I have a follow up question: does your daycare also just use wooden/woolen toys? Or is it the kind of thing where when the kids are in an environment you can't really control, you don't worry about it? Or do some of you stay home? I ask because I appreciate your answers, and would think about putting away some of the more obnoxious toys, but I know in her daycare there are plenty of plastic toys (not necessarily ones that run on batteries, though). Thoughts on that?

Thanks again for non-snark (for the most part!)

Most day cares will have non-battery operated toys both plastic and wood. The only places with things made from wool/wooden would be montessori or Waldorf schools.

[Anonymous]

It's safe to say all of these posters have kids under 3. Imaginext is great plastic crap. No lights or sounds...but it is like the old school wooden Fisher price (only not as quality since it is plastic). My 3 year old can play for hours with their Samurai and Superhero line. He is constantly having battles and fighting battles...sometimes the dinosaurs get in on the action.

I don't say 'never' to anything. I've been burned to many times and my oldest is only 6. Trust me--kids will make you eat your words.

We have loads of puzzles, crafts stuff---but my kids do play the longest with the passive type toys. Older one is very into Legos. I get a bunch of the buckets of plain blocks, an order of wheels spokes, figurines and a few of the star wars. He makes the coolest things. They will sometime enter into battle with younger ones Imaginext stuff.

6 year old just starting begging for a Wii this week. I have been putting it off forever. I don't care if he plays at somebody else's house. I just don't want to constantly be having the battle about when he gets to play and the time limit. He is the type that gets sucked into computer games very easily. We have strict time limits on the use of our ipad.

My kids never got into something like GeoTraxx...we used to just have the wooden tracks and lots of trains and we'd build tons of different configurations of tracts across the floor and around the house. I liked the train table less because it wasn't as fluid.

[Anonymous]

So, no one allows their children to play with Legos? Magnatiles? Playmobile?

I don't like battery-operated toys because they are loud and annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Maybe it's you. Not the PP, but my 2yo boy's "natural instincts" include calm play.

Or maybe it is b/c he is autistic.

That's a shitty thing to say about a child you don't even know.

This is so disgusting!

Disrespectful to say the least...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, no one allows their children to play with Legos? Magnatiles? Playmobile?

I don't like battery-operated toys because they are loud and annoying.

Most of the posters on this thread have not been extremists. Lots of people allow their children to play with those toys.

Imaginext is great plastic crap. No lights or sounds...but it is like the old school wooden Fisher price (only not as quality since it is plastic). My 3 year old can play for hours with their Samurai and Superhero line. He is constantly having battles and fighting battles...sometimes the dinosaurs get in on the action.

I agree. My son loves Imaginext. I love it because there are not a lot of little pieces that my son (4 years) can't put back together himself (which is sometimes the case with Playmobil).

[Anonymous]

"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!