Reply to EVA foam play mats outlawed in Belgium & France....

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP, thanks for your message, this is really interesting.  [b]Why do you find the battery operated toys developmentally detrimental?  What do you recommend instead?[/b]

Also, in that article that someone linked to, they mentioned using natural yoga mats on the floor, which is a great idea, but does anyone think that perhaps those yoga mats aren't that safe?  Any suggestions on places to get good natural fiber textiles? [/quote]

Let me just preface this that I am only giving you my opinion, not trying to act like a developmental expert. I've read some studies on this, but don't think there is much work out there on it. But, just like I think television is a weird medium that confuses young children under say, near two years old or so (based on my opinion only) I think these yapping toys don't do anything good for kids and, at worst, can actually damage their development. Think about it. A kid sits down with tickle me elmo and what does he / she do? Press a button. Giggle. Have a good laugh, yes, but the toy is basically playing with itself and the child sits idly by and watches or presses a button. We have this v-tech helicopter. There are tons of buttons to it, and he just puts these balls in and it says "red, green or yellow" according to which ball he puts in. He loves it, I hate it, especially because when he leaves it and moves on to another toy, the damn thing makes a noise designed to lure the child back in. A lot of the v-tech toys, especially, are like this. He also has a steering wheel toy that does the same thing. Sometimes he gets both of them going at once, and they're yapping at him and he's engrossed and I think, this is overstimulating at worst, and at best, just plain old annoying. And why do all the toys have to talk? My MIL bought him a plastic barn. When he plays with that, the animals talk for themselves. They have little plastic pieces that snap together so that the barn can only look one way. The animals can each go only into one place. Compare that to when he plays with the 12 dollar cloth barn from Ikea. He sets up the fences himself. He can put fences in the silo if he wants. The cows can hang out in the barn loft if they want, the pigs can go swimming, and he has to make his own animal noises, which is so much more fun for me, as a parent, to listen to. And I feel strongly that he's DOING more with this set than with the plastic, premade, battery operated, scripted, well, frankly: crap.

I'd much rather my child use toys that require imagination or more active participation. I like shape sorting toys for my 17 month old, he has a tea set, he has a magna doodle (thinking of plastic toys that I don't mind so much), eventually he'll have legos. He has crayons and a big pad of paper. When he was a baby, I did wooden or rubber toys only because he put everything in his mouth. Now I've relaxed on the plastic, but not on the batteries. I allow a few of those toys, but not a ton. He has tons of trucks (plastic, and from that recycled company) and cars (smaller, from a little store attached to the brewpup franklins in Mt. Rainier on Rte. 1). I like the websites oompa (I think that's a website, or a brand of toys) and I get a lot of stuff from giggle.com. Even diapers.com has some cute eco-friendly / non-yapping toys.

I'm also with another poster when I say that I hate to donate these toys because I really think they suck. I'd rather recycle them. My brother recently had a baby, though, and actively wants all these plastic things. He's going to buy them anyway, so sometimes I think I should just save him the money, give him the plastic stuff he wants, and then buy my nephew toys that I think are "better" without making an issue out of it.

It's tough to navigate the plastic / battery-operated world...
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