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

[LovestoLove]

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.

I have a very dear friend who wanted only wooden toys when her ds was a baby , she has three dc's now and a house full of plastic and electronic tat-we howl about it now

Ahh op I was like you once, in my idylic, idiolistic daydreams during my late pregnancy my mind was full of images of a neat little ds with dark curly hair, wearing only mini boden and clothes from french catalogues, playing with a lovely looking selection of nice wooden toys....bliss!
Fast forward 2 years, ds is currently running around the room wearing only a spaghetti stained tshirt and I can barely move for the array of brightly coloured, hideous plastic shite all over the floor! People will buy you plastic things, and you will probably end up buying the odd plastic thing yourself! Just hide it when you take photos in the house

First two had shed loads of plastic shit and aside from a couple of little people things most have gone, dd and ds3 have 'nice' toys which get played with more often and last longer. In fact if you stick to nice wooden toys you'll probably have less.....so win win.

i think it will come across a bit much if you tell people to buy the wooden ones as it may seem a bit "demanding" but if you chose to buy those yourself or let people know and see tht you prefer them then i think its fine.
you will probably end up with some plastic but you could have a range, variety is for the best..

Ingrid sorry I'm in childcare so do have an idea of how to avoid some of the common pitfalls!

And errrr hopefully we'll never pass an ELC?

Oh Posie that sounds good! Good to hear a positive story out of all of this.

Fully prepared to get told off by seasoned experts!! I am officially now blaming the hormones.

Parenting is very different, and you idea of a 'pitfall' isn't everyone's. (Typing one handed with left due to feedihng baby, sorry)

Suggest you extend the house to hide the avelanche of plasic tat, especially the noisy sort, and the dusty wooden toys they don't play with...works for us

Aawww.... bless
Just bear in mind that wooden things thrown about - and thrown about they will be at some point in time - do a lot of damage.

"won't give copious amounts of juice/biscuits, won't give into tantrums"

Yeah, good luck with that...

I was not bothered about plastic tat but my child was never going to play up in restraunts. She would sit nicely and eat her meal whilst enjoying the company. If she really needed to, then she could do a colouring book. She would do this because I would raise her properly not like all the ferel children I saw in cafes/pubs all the time

The first part is true. She doesn't play up in restraunts. I leave her at home

What about splinters?

HAHAHAHAHA!

Please re read when your pfb is about 5

OK then, turn it around. What would you think if you met a mother who only ever dressed her child in purple with lime spots because SHE only like pruple and thought all other colours were horrendous. Even when her child grew and was able to wear other colours at playgroups, the mother would insist on only purple with lime at all other times. Would you think she was imposing her own views on her child...?

I did know one mother who managed to escape plastic toys at home. She had a chest of lovely toys; if it got too full, some went to the charity shop, plastic went straight there. Both she and her 3yo were lovely and down to earth.

I wouldn't be that strict, have already bought DS some of those textured interlocking rings and put them aside for christmas (he's not "handling" toys yet as he is just 9 weeks, he's at the batting stage), but I shall avoid anythign that plays a tune or needs batteries for as long as humanly possible, at the moment he prefers bells and chimes to tinny nursery rhymes (we tested this in the toy shop, it was much fun).

You do know that your baby is going to be unslightly (thinking of the various bodily outpourings of babies!)and noise-making too don't you......?!

Seriously, you probably have a lovely image in your mind of a beautiful sunlit nursery, baby cooing in cot, beautiful toys/coordinating clothes and yourself at the centre of this scene all serene and motherly. Scrap that thought or you are setting yourself up for a fall - picture perfect moments like that are rare! The reality is you will be stomping round that nursery at all hours of the night wondering why your baby won't sleep and you won't give a toss about what it's wearing or what toys have been given to it. You'd accept a truck load of plastic toys in return for a decent night's sleep......

Good luck!

I said that too...

You work in childcare? Have you ever met a child who actually wanted wooden toys and not plastic tat?

FWIW, you don't have to be overrun with crap, but I'd suggest a hefty dose of realism. Our house is tiny, thus friends and relatives are gently steered (with help from my mum) towards buying DD books, clothes, small toys, etc. As a result, we have no ginormous plastic tat (other than a ball pool which DD loves) and the small plastic tat is easily shoved in a big plastic toy box. She is only 18 months, but as a strategy it's not working too badly at the moment.

I'm afraid that a great deal of wooden toys are shit and only bought by a certain type of person who think as it's wooden it must be better. These people are a complete pain in the arse. It doesn't clean easily, it's more expensive and paint usually come off of it. Wooden doll's house furniture is particularly bad as it doesn't look much like furniture and falls apart really quickly. Without doubt my least favourite wooden things are high chairs or 'captains' chairs. Once you have a bit of dried Weetabix stuck in a hard to reach place you either have to learn to live with it or sand the thing down and re-varnish it.

Resistance is futile....

I'm taking it all in good stride and trying not to cry...I really do think I'll be a good mother and won't give into tantrums, is that so hard to believe really?

Okay I get the point about the toys - will shatter my image now before I get too hopeful!

ha ha ha! You wait! (sorry...)

And wooden toys hurt more when your toddler is in the "throwing toys at mummy's head" phase.

Oh and I do feel I should say I'm planning to buy a plastic high chair and we have a baby swing with a good deal of plastic in it...does that help?

I attend a parent class and there's very lovely lady with one one year old who is really well behaved it does make me laugh when she says that a lot of the probelms some of us are having with our dcs she doesn't get with her daughter.....yet