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.

yeah, you'll give in to tantrums.
I looked after my friend's son for a whole afternoon once and I gave in to his tantrum (was instructed not to, though!)

i've got a wooden tennis racket...

"Model kits are easier to contain and I'm thinking are 7 or 8+?"
Duplo (large lego) is suitable from ages 2-3 and Playmobil from ages 4-5.

When I tutor younger children, I give them stickers for working hard. When they have 10 stickers they can choose a prize from my prize bag. I can have absolutely fantastic colouring sets/interesting puzzle books/comic books etc but every boy under the age of 10 will choose the cheap plastic toy from the pound shop every time! Girls can be more discerning at an earlier age I find but will still choose plastic animals (pocket pets) over other stuff.

I think there is fantastic play value in some plastic toys. Lego/Duplo is ace and very educational (teaches manipulative skills, design skills, 3d awareness etc) and Playmobil is absolutely fantastic for imaginative play - everything from vets/doctors to knights and dragons.

Plastic toys can be easier to clean and you can often have them in the bath too. (wooden saucepan from lovely kitchen set may be beautiful but you can't have it in the bath and put your wind-up swimming (plastic) frog in it!)

Sarah if you scroll up I've commented on the Duplo and Playmobil already.

overmydeadbody LOVE the one in one out policy! Wish I could get DH to stick to that with his trainers - which are mostly plastic :-D

oh dear sorry, I was trying to help. you just seem to have a really idealistic view of how its going to be... that's just from the general tone. If you think you are being realistic all well and good. But I think from responses here re toys, your expectations aren't really realistic! sorry.
It's not easy, and you will be tired, and hormonal, and irritable and you might snap at your children, and you might not have the patience you expect or want. That happens a lot!!

Adults love classic wooden toys
Children prefer plastic ones, esp if they are realy brightly coloured, and ideally noisy.

I have spent so much money on lovely wooden toys. They don't get used anywhere near the amount of times the plastic does. Pretty much the case for all the parents I know. Same happens at school in the Y1 class I work in too.

Right I've got a few words to say.

I never said I'd "only do wooden" or anything like that BUT it is my experience that some of the better constructed enduring toys do happen to be wooden - depending what you are talking about but for instance we have a toy wooden kitchen which is stunning to look at, incredibly well constructed and will give us years of play. We did previously have a much cheaper plastic one which was awful, not specifically because it was plastic but because the shelves sloped downwards (!?) so stuff fell off it and and the oven door would just ping open for no reason, etc. It just annoyed us and them.

In fact the bigger role play type toys (playhouses, washing machines, that kind of thing) are often nicer and better in wood.

However there are other things that are great in plastic. God there's nothing like those plastic music playing books that 1 year old-ish's like. And a lot of the v-tec crap with pushy buttons and lights gives you hours of mumsnetting yoga time.

I have a very nice wooden labrador baby walker too, which looks lovely and is really sturdy.

So I guess what I'm saying is sometimes its better, sometimes its not, have an open mind but dont completely give up on your philosophy.

I said I wouldn't let my children eat in the car. Everyone laughed at me. I dont let my children eat in the car. Not everything goes completely out the window. Depends what it is.

YABU if you tell people what to buy though for sure but I'm sure you know that!

I really don't see how everyone commenting that it's going to be a lot harder than I imagine it is helping??

Yes, I realise that already. YES I know parenting is very hard, the hardest thing I'll ever do and that I won't give a monkey's about its toys by the time its 4, etc. etc.

But all I really asked opinions on was the wooden toys thing?

How is someone's responses and expectations of toys magically connected with their expectations of children and parenting?

I work with children, so I'm not clueless!

I'm possibly the only person who even prefers plastic train sets. We had a wooden Brio one from a toy library and DS (2 years) didn't take to it at all, and I wasn't keen. Now we have a Take Along Thomas set and DS adores it, and it just seems so much nicer and easier to play with! The magnets in the trains seem much stronger too?

Agree with others, you can only see what your DC goes for. I'm always astonished with how a really cheapy plastic tat thing that came free with a magazine can become a cherished favourite toy. We have a gorgeous wooden xylophone that cost about £20, but no, DS goes for the tiny plastic un-tuned ITNG bridge xylophone every time (and has even named it Ben).

lovestolove, people are trying to help.
The general tone of your posts suggests you are being a bit naive. And I bet 90% of the posters here were like that too! They are trying to pass on their experience.Some are a bit more eloquent than others!!
Not suggesting my posts are eloquent, don't think I'm expressing it well either!

The plastic toys we have aren't gender specific, colour-wise, and are easy to clean. The same cannot be said of the wooden toys.

However, it is not unreasonable to believe you will want all wooden toys. It is unreasonable, however, to think you can dictate to all friends and family what they can buy for your child!!

I feel differently about my house now that I have DS. It's his house as well, IMO, and his plastic toys, paintings and shoes (among a million other things!) make it his home, too. I tidy things up, but I don't hide them away in cupboards or grown-up boxes/baskets like I thought I would!

LOL Rhian at his naming it Ben - he sounds fab

Thank you Skeleton. That's the type of post I was expecting/hoping for!

As someone who regularly joins in the bunfights about MN being judgey/patronising I have to say this thread has turned my opinion the other way quite a bit!

I fully expect that my child will throw temper tantrums, bite, hit, be a fussy/faddy eater, want to latch onto plastic tat, etc. etc. but I fully expect I will be a parent who doesn't give into such whims. I find it a bit upsetting that I have received no congratulations on this thread but a deluge of snarky comments! I take the tongue-in-cheek and light hearted posts with good conscience and think 90% of them are funny and accept I'm being PFB. But the other 10% are just downright rude, IMO.

LOL at the remove batteriesI still do that now!Also will not have slime or any of those sticky things in housethey even get removed from so called science sets.

But of course you can have some rules myds1 didn't realise that the sit on toys outside supermarkets actually moved until he was about 4 he was happy just to sit.!One of his favourite toys was a small plastic pig from ELC called Huxley;can't remember why

Whatever ideals you have when you are pregnant with your first are soon completely disregarded when your baby arrives in my experience. I think DH and I have slowly gone through our list of no-nos one by one and gradually succumbed. I remember mouthing off to a group of mum friends when I was first pg and them smirking at my ideals. I don't remember what I said now but I still cringe.

You are not being unreasonable to have ideals and plans. YABU to think you might be able to stick to them and get others to.

We had the plastic Tomy trainset and it was lovely (in fact it's for sale if anyone wants it[grin}

I cringe everytime I hear parents plan their parenting. There is far too much overthinking of parenting on mumsnet. All children are different, even siblings and they respond to different ways of parenting. It's not until they come along and you know their personility and how it changes as they grown older.

When DS was little pokemon cards came out, at first I thought expensive for a few pieces are cardboard. But as we collected cigarette cards, it seemed a bit silly denying him something to collect. They bought DS so much pleasure for many years and I suspect helped educationally, with maths and reading they were worth every penny. We used to play name a pokemon beginning with A or B etc.

Nice idea! I can guarantee your family won't feel the same. I have had to talk my mother out of:

a water table (when we lived in a flat with no garden)
a portable dvd player (when dd was 2)
a laptop for this christmas (she is now 3)

Last christmas she bought dd a giant doll, expressly against my wishes to spite me over the dvd player.

You learn to hide the noisy toys asap.

hem hem not all posts were sarky

hae you heard about treasure baskets for a sitting, non-mobile baby? (us ole timers refer to them as wnaky baskets rofl)

I alsao think it is a sign of very insecure parenting to ban dolls etc you don't approve of, as if a doll can overide any sense of values.

DD ahd many of the dreaded Bratz dolls when she was little. She has grown into a jeans and t shirt teenager , who doesn't wear make up and is very secure in herself.

Lovin' this thread, ahhhhhhhhhh for the days when I was as idealistic.
I'm sure your kids will love dressing up, they'll love wooden blocks, hoops and rattles but there will be a place in their hearts for stuff that's exceptionally loud, gaudy, plastic and does nothing educational at all-apart from show them exactly how far they can push your last nerve

All I'll say,(with four from birth and one from four) is remember that you wanted them to play with natural substances over the next few years because toddlers love anything that wriggles, squishes, smells, leaks, stains or makes Mummy scream and if they find something that covers it all, well, ecstacy!

Oh and as regards model making kits yeah, prepare to hoover them up on a regular basis and don't hand over model making glue without supervision to any boy under 14

But ultimately, relax & enjoy :)

Bumper that kitchen and teepee on your profile is fab

LOL at the giant doll!

haven't read all the posts but here is my experience (DS is 2.4)...

DH was vehemently opposed to plastic tat and declared war on all toys and books with batteries. I have inherited all my old wooden toys and tend to like traditional wooden toys too. But a couple of years on, look at the list of things we made exceptions for:

stacking cups that convert to balls (ebay purchase - DH justified this on the basis that second hand plastic is better than new for eco-friendliness )

baby lego (and now duplo) - because well "it's classic"

toys for the bath - obviously more practical

the toys we've been given that were big hits including the multi-functional musical drum type thing and musical turning stacking thing - why deprive DS of so much enjoyment?

cheap plastic we bought on holiday that was much loved including plastic food

not forgetting all the playpit/beach toys

That said, DS does have a couple of "talking books" that were freecycled early on and batteries mysteriously went missing from a book with annoying sounds.

I really think you cannot ignore the lure of brightly coloured plastic. It's foolish IMHO to hold fast to wood at all costs when so many good toys come in other materials. On the other hand I do try to choose attractive tactile toys with plenty of lasting power and often these are more traditional and may be wood. I am lucky that DS hasn't had an obsession with any modern children's characters yet so I haven't got masses of branded merchandise in the house. I know that will come though whether it is Ben 10 or star wars or whatever.

Agree with whoever commented on the painfulness of wood. It's lucky our house is still not fully decorated cos we have masses of damage from wooden blocks thrown down the stairs and hall too!