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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want my DC to only have wooden toys? (Or is this a case of PFB Syndrome?)

632 replies

LovestoLove · 20/10/2010 16:18

I don't think I'm generally PFB - I want my child to respect adults, eat with no fussing/faddiness (or at least no reaction on my part), have no quibbles about the step, won't give copious amounts of juice/biscuits, won't give into tantrums, etc.

But I really have a thing about the bucket loads of plastic toys that I fall over when at friends' homes.

I love wooden toys/puzzles, books, cloth dolls, make-believe things, fancy dress, etc.

Is it totally unreasonable of me to ask parents, in-laws, and anyone else who's expressed interest in getting a baby gift to get something wooden/natural? I know wooden toys are generally seen as more expensive but I've found some on Ebay and other sites that aren't bad.

Or am I going to be seen as crazy? I'm 30 weeks pregnant by the way with DC1. Grin

OP posts:
TandB · 22/10/2010 19:27

Either that, or she has an overactive imagination. A well-behaved, clean, tidy toddler - oh the hilarity!

TandB · 22/10/2010 19:28

Natural materials are better for children because.....

....it is much more fun to throw mud at mum than playdough.

GoreRenewed · 22/10/2010 20:05

Natural materials are better for children because it keeps mummy happy.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 20:47

are much better for children because they offer more interesting textures/feelings than synthetic plastic ones - take a felt ball.wooden rattle/linen ball and compare with a bunch of plastic toys (close your eyes!) see ?!

mathanxiety · 22/10/2010 21:00

Try and bounce the felt ball. See it bounce?
Shake the wooden rattle. Hear anything?

My DCs all shook, bit, chewed, pulled, squeezed, talked to, whacked each other with, and threw toys. They didn't sit around just feeling things. I had a basket of various odds and ends that they used to sit and go through when they were babies. Each item got taken out and investigated thoroughly for all of its properties, usually beginning with edibility, then how hard it felt when whacked against the head. When everything was taken out and strewn around, I would load it all back into the basket, plop the baby down in another spot, and let him or her start all over again. They loved plastic toys just as much as natural material toys -- the little sets of plastic keys, a rattle in the shape of a daisy, a clear plastic ball with glitter all through it that entranced them.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:02

mathanxiety - in response to your msg, I'm all for markers, crayons, and anything creative, LOVE lego etc, it's just the other stuff - for example 'peppa pig' - i think it's a TV programme, yet you can buy soft characters, crayons, books, plastic toy figures, potty seats, and just about anything else (a lot of it plastic) - children should have a range of toys, it's just that some homes only seem to have these cloned and commercialised toys and not a range

ledodgy · 22/10/2010 21:04

Wait until you have more than one and you realise wood hurts alot more than plastic when one cracks the other on the head.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:05

I have made a felt ball - and yes, it bounces! and the wooden rattles - yes they rattle! (one of them has a bell inside too!) My point is that surely a range of different textures/feelings/sounds/senses are more interesting than a bunch of plastic ones? like I said before, my girl has some plastic toys, but she also has other ones to give her the best of both worlds.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:06

surely if a child is going to hit another child on the head with a toy it will hurt whatever it is made of?

ledodgy · 22/10/2010 21:07

Wood hurts more.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:09

ok!

ledodgy · 22/10/2010 21:09
Grin
mathanxiety · 22/10/2010 21:10

That's probably true, but I think the children probably use the merchandise toys in the same ways that they would use any other toys. DD2 loved Disney's Lion King 2 and spent hours and hours playing with a stuffed Simba, roaring and prowling, wrapping Simba in a baby blanket for a nap, taking Simba out for a walk in her little pink plastic buggy. She could sing every single song from that film at age 2.5 -- 3, words perfect, tunes a bit off (has wooden ear). She would maybe have had just as much fun with something else, but the lions appealed to her for some reason, and who am I to question that or try to convince her that something else would have been superior?

terryble · 22/10/2010 21:10

Natural materials are ber for children because.....

Because of "toxins", I thought.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:17

I'm not disagreeing with you at all mathanxiety, as by the sounds of it, you have loads of creative toys and your child/children play in a very entertaining and creative way - my annoyance is with people that buy what their kids ask for but don't really think why they want the toys and how they can be used, do you understand my point? generally, in my view, the wooden (perhaps more basic/traditional ones) have more imaginative play, for example - a waldorf doll - just like any other doll (take or leave the fact that it's made of natural fibres) but it has a face with no expression - therefore the child can play with the doll and pretend it can be crying/happy/asleep etc, whereas some of the dolls in the shop seem to wear eyeshadow and have a big grin on their faces.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:18

bpa free toys?

MyThumbsHaveGoneWeird · 22/10/2010 21:19

Ha ha lovestolove you are me! I am 30 weeks pregnant with pfb, and as we fought our way through the huge pile of plastic tat to get out of a 2 year olds birthday party recently, I said to DH "do you think we can tell people its allergic to plastic?".

I think it was the amount and size of everything that scared me more than the plasticness. Because plastic is cheap people can buy A LOT of it.

ledodgy · 22/10/2010 21:21

Children can play just as imaginatively with a smiling doll they can imagine it's sad, angry or that it's a train for the smaller dolls etc. I think you are reading far too much into this.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:26

mythumbshavegoneweird - i get what you are saying - my thoughts completley!

ledodgy - i try to keep things more simple for my daughter - 1 x doll, a few rattles, a shape sorter etc - one toy of each instead of a a huge pile of plastic - do you see what I mean? I'm not against plastic though don't want my daughter to grow up with a room packed full of toys where she hasn't learned the imagination to play with them all, plus so many children seem to be unappreciative of toys at Xmas or birthdays because they already have a toy similar or have so many it's not a 'treat'

InGodWeTrust · 22/10/2010 21:28

I don't allow plastic toys in my household because a) I hate tat.
b) wooden toys are far more educational and I think forces the child to use their imagination
c) I don't approve of the child labour that goes into making toys in China and South East Asia.

I haven't given in, yet, my ds loves the play with plastic pegs...despite me hiding them.

YANBU

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:32

yey! someone else on my wavelength! he he

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 22/10/2010 21:36

DS was given a carbootful of wooden toys by a relative whose kids had outgrown them.

They were in mint condition because they had been largely ignored.

They did look very nice in the living room after the kids had gone to bed and I could pretend that I lived in a White Company catalogue for a couple of hours.

Now that DS is toddling, they are steadily making their way to the charity shop. Wooden toys hurt when he falls on them, and he uses the bigger ones as a step to climb on the furniture.

tori0609 · 22/10/2010 21:38

Natural materials are ber for children because.....

wooden toys are more hygenic

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 22/10/2010 21:38

...wow I sound so ungrateful... It was a really lovely gesture!

piscesmoon · 22/10/2010 21:51

'are much better for children because they offer more interesting textures/feelings than synthetic plastic ones '

How do they know they offer more interesting textures if they don't have a contrast-or is this 'mummy knows best' again with no opportunity for the DC to work it out for themselves or disagree? I wasn't sure what you meant by feelings.

I'm sure that if giving babies plastic teething rings was going to be toxic they would have been banned. Isn't the wood treated-varnished etc?

If a DC is imaginative they can cope with a smiling doll-if they haven't got that much imagination I doubt whether they will use it on an expressionless one.

'wooden toys are far more educational and I think forces the child to use their imagination
'
HOW AND WHY? This is the very question that I keep asking! What is the difference in play value for a DC between a wooden Noah's Ark and a plastic one? (see back to my comments on cotton reels if you are going to tell me it forces them to be more imaginative).

Are you trying to say that all plastic toys come from China and South East Asia and all wooden ones don't-InGodWeTrust.
Maybe your DC loves tat!