What toy do you refuse to allow in the house?

[Soubriquet]

Here it’s slime. There’s no need for it and it’s just a load of mess. I don’t want it all mashed into the carpet which my 9 year old would do. He is the type who would also leave it somewhere, then staining and ruining stuff

We never had much slime either as I'm very conscious that it's not always made very safely. So was very wary of any brought into our house that I didn't know where it came from (that would often get lost). We do make it at school with the students but they aren't allowed to take it home.

Even the bought stuff can be doggy if you order it online.

See we had tablets, but I never took them out. They wouldn't have been watching them in the buggy or car or at a restaurant. I would take colouring for that.

DD also gets car sick, put a screen in front of her and your asking for trouble. Now they are older (teens) DS will play his switch in the car, but DD still can't.

Games consoles, tablets, phones etc. Managed to be tech free so far (eldest is 11).

DDs had lottie dolls only but then an elder cousin kindly donated her old barbies 😩 but its rather sweet really, they became the 'mummies' of the lotties. I did weed out the most brazen of the provocative clothing they came with!

Bouncy balls are dangerous, I try to bin them whenever they come into the house.
Any vtech type gifts have always gone straight into the charity bag.

Glitter is not allowed.

My brother recently gave DS5 his old action man collection. DH raised his eyebrows at my putting all the hand grenade and machine gun/sniper rifle accessories in the bin. I kept the knives and shotguns and DS plays that his men are pioneers hunting deer etc and had a fine old time, it would never occur to him to have the men killing each other.

I've always thought those sets of plastic dressing up shoes for girls are quite awful.

I always regifted Barbies, the DDs had Lottie dolls instead.

We have a ridiculous amount of weapons. No realistic guns (can you even get them in the UK?) but nerf guns, various styles of water pistols, light sabres, 'laser' guns that made 'pew pew' noises, wooden swords/daggers/axes, bows and arrows, pilums.

We always go to the pantomime on DDs birthday and the Dame always speaks to the birthday kids and asks what they got for their birthdays and the little kids always give a cute answer. Except DD who, with perfect comic timing, said 'I got a crossbow' . In my defense it was a very educational EH toy wooden crossbow not an actual crossbow.

No hate for tablets at all, they have a place in most homes for most kids. It's just, my son is getting very addicted to watching TV, so it just doesn't seem to be a good idea for us right now. I might change my mind as he gets older (he's only a toddler now). The tv is something we are battling with, so I don't want to add to the problem!

@JaninaDuszejko if you go to your nearest market there will most likely be a toy stall selling cheap toys and they always seem to have horribly realistic looking toy guns.
I can't understand why anyone would want them for their children.

Toy guns, play doh, kinetic sand and slime 💀 but I have 4 boys 4 and under

And then water bead things that expand and marbles

I always banned baby dolls. Although not a toy, when my daughter was still at primary school, I banned all the make up that people gave her as birthday presents. Tablets weren't really around when my daughter was very young but I wouldn't have let her use one other than for school work.

@Growlybear83 out of curiosity - why baby dolls?

It was partly because I saw giving baby dolls to little girls as really conditioning them to assume that they would have babies when they grow up, but also because I never had one as a little girl because I thought they were horrible 😆. Barbie and Sindy dolls were never an issue because my daughter never wanted them - she loved her Sylvanian Families and toy cars.

Most little children, girls and boys, are fascinated by babies. Both of ours loved their Baby Annabelle.

@MrsSkylerWhite when my daughter was about 8 or so we went to the library and she took her BabyBorn doll with her.
There was a group of toddlers (boys and girls) who happened to be there - they all wanted to play with "the baby". It was adorable.

Mine wasn't! And she had plenty of opportunities to play with her friends' baby dolls. My mum didn't realise how I felt about baby dolls, and bought her one when she was about three and put it in a little pram. My daughter loved the pram but chucked the doll out and replaced it with her big Sesame Street Ernie 😆. When she found the doll stuffed in a corner with a beard and moustache drawn on, my mum took it back and gave it to a friend's granddaughter 😆

My little boy has a doll but he has hardly any interest. That is an interesting take! My boy gets gifted dinosaurs and sharks, as that's where his interest lies. I hope this isn't conditioning him into wanting those as pets when he's older (yes, I'm aware dinosaurs are no longer with us🥲)
🤔

Slime and Play-Doh. I hate the smell of Play-Doh, and slime is disgusting when it warms up. I actually like Kinetic Sand - feels very tactile and is easy to clean up.

Loose glitter.

Sand-pit in the garden - the gritty sand gets everywhere inside too.

Toys with very bright lights (e.g. a laser pencil). I know my kids would look directly into the light all the time, and I'd worry for their eyesight.

My kids are only 4, so no guns etc yet. I hadn't even thought about them, but reading this, will likely ban them too.

I wouldn't mind Barbie etc - I don't think kids would even notice the dolls' proportions.

Marbles

Ipad, except when we're on a plane. They used to watch YouTube and constantly flicked from video to video. So I took the ipad away, and now they can watch TV.

We banned Recorders and Harmonicas.

How did people manage to ban recorders 😳. School did them in music as a first instrument and either kids had their own to practice at home or school lent them one (not popular). The in year 5 we moved on to wood wind instruments, they all got one to bring home.

DH was straight on the Internet buying a mute for DD's trombone. To be fair we had a small house at the time and DD seemed rather keen to practice.

I feel a bit sad reading this thread.

DD has tons of playdoh/ kinetic sand/ paint/ musical instruments. All those things are really beneficial to the development of their fine motor skills and creativity. Yes, they are a bit messy and noisy but surely that's a given when you have kids? Messy and noisy play is important for young kids. I've hidden the odd noisy battery-operated toy but open-ended toys which encourage her creativity and take her away from screens, I'd never discourage, even if I don't love all of her Ocarina solos.

As for guns and weapons, we've not really faced that issue but the research suggests that playing with toy guns is actually a healthy outlet for children's (particularly boys') aggression and doesn't lead to negative outcomes.

The only things I've stopped her playing with have been toys which are dangerous for her age, such as when someone tried to give her marbles when she was about 18 months old (!) and anything I've thought would be bad for her development, like a lot of loud, flashing plastic things when she was very small. I'm more likely to say no to certain TV shows- I've don't allow Cocomelon because I can literally see the impact on her as soon as she sees it.

Mine never did Recorder at school... ukulele then guitar.

Noisy toys, slime, sand, flutes, kazoos, god I sound awful!! BUT I do allow probably more than recommended screen time 😵‍💫🤣

I banned guns in my house as I felt they were an aggressive symbol. My DS constructed them from sticks, Lego, stickle bricks, cardboard etc

He then went on to join the army ( where they give him real guns)! 🤔

A lot if posters here would be horrified by e house. Autistic nine year old DS is obsessed with WW1 and 2 and often runs about with his guns. He also has his toy soldiers in various colours so Russians and Germans etc and loves looking at maps.

Orbeez. Dangerous as fuck

🤣😆