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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think it is completely normal to play with toys at 6 years old?

53 replies

pinkpaperpiggy · 31/10/2012 09:56

My older dd is 6. She has a great imagination and plays the most elaborate games with her sister and all their toys.

But lots of the mothers of the kids in her class seem to think 6 is too old for toys. They are getting IPods and laptops/tablets for Chistmas and are surprised when I tell them what dd wants.

My SIL was here at the weekend with her 5 year old and was shocked at the amount of toys my dds have on the go. Her dd was playing quite happily with mine but she said she has given her toys away as all she wants is art and crafts stuff now.

OP posts:
Mrsjay · 31/10/2012 09:57

OF course it isn't too old for toys some people think kids need mobiles ipads and want them to be older than they are,

MyLastDuchess · 31/10/2012 09:59

How bizarre. It sounds totally normal to me.

Not sure why so many people are in such a hurry for their kids to grow up. It starts at birth for some of them!

Themumsnot · 31/10/2012 09:59

My 10 year old is getting lego for Christmas as she has for the past three years. She loves it.

RightUpMyRue · 31/10/2012 10:00

YA sooo NBU.

6?!! They're still little kids at 6.

DD will be 10.5 at Christmas. She still wants Barbies and Sylvanians.

Jeez, you only get a few years being a kid but decades of being an adult, let them stay little as long as you can.

DameEnidsOrange · 31/10/2012 10:00

YANBU

ladythatlunches · 31/10/2012 10:02

My 6yr dd doesnt like to play with toys as such anymore!!

We sorted all her stuff out and her room is bare!

She likes to play on her karaoke machine, loves drawing and anything art and crafts , when weather is nice she is out playing on bike and scooter with other kids and because we have a lovely community the kids are in each others houses so she is always entertained!!

Every child is different, my 9 year son has loads of figures he plays with still.

If your dd is happy let her play and ignore silly comments!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 31/10/2012 10:02

I'd be in a lot of trouble with my 6 year old if I started getting rid of toys tempting though it is on the clutter front. Or my 8 year old for that matter.

lovebunny · 31/10/2012 10:03

perfectly normal to play with toys at six. and sixteen. and sixty. and at other times. what is wrong with people that they can't let others get on with a happy activity that harms no-one?

LunaticFringe · 31/10/2012 10:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ditavonteesed · 31/10/2012 10:04

actually my 9yo has only just recently strated getting toys and she now plays with stuff more than she did when she was little, playmobile and lego are timeless hits in this house.

OxfordBags · 31/10/2012 10:04

It's ABNORMAL for kids of that age to only be wanting gadgets and gizmos. Stops them using their imagination and developing all sorts of important types of intelligence (empathy, for example).

I think the thing is, their parents are probably glued to their smartphones and iPads, etc., and see them as fun things which they share with their kids in lieu of perhaps otherwise getting down with them and playing more, so the kids see them as desirable and as major sources of fun. I find it heartbreaking that parents think SIX is too young for toys! Even hundreds of hears ago, when kids would be working down mines and so on at 6, they'd still have a dolly or a hoop to play with at home!

flyoverthegoldenhill · 31/10/2012 10:07

your never too old for toys

FlaminNoraImPregnantPanda · 31/10/2012 10:07

My daughter is 19 and at university. She still sometimes 'sorts out' her Barbies when she comes home. :o

FlobbadobbaBOO · 31/10/2012 10:08

6?? God, DS s 12 and still has toys! Him & his mates go up tohis room and frequently get his hotwheels cars out! Granted it's usually the xbox or playing darts but still.. DD is 7 and into Barbies ang littlest pet shop, crafts and her DS lite. A good mix I think.
YANBU.

StarsGhostTail · 31/10/2012 10:08

DD2 had a lap top when she was 6 or 7, she also had playmobile when she was 11. She bosses about virtual SIM people on her lap top and bosses little plastic people about all over the rest of the house.

DD1 had far fewer toys and loads of art stuff and a big climbing frame, because she was never into that kind of imaginative play. Not hugly good at people real or pretend.

I'd have thought six was the best age for toys, because they can build proper Lego, get the roofs and seats on and off playmobile vehicles and build proper brio tracks without Mum.

Hexenbiest · 31/10/2012 10:14

I've had similar comments since my first 4 year old started school.

Lots of DC got in her class got electronic gadgets for Christmas and Birthdays.

I had some call me a luddite when DD1 told then what they got. Pointed out both DH and I worked in IT and had spent years writing code and playing with gadgets and things as a matter of course bt took view our DC didn't need their own yet there was [hshock].

kim147 · 31/10/2012 10:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoggySummer · 31/10/2012 10:19

My 11yo is still asking for more Sylvanians for Xmas this year. I think its bloody brilliant she is not yet obsessed with mobile phones and techy shit.

They are only kids for such a short while and I intend to cherish it.

shinybaubles · 31/10/2012 10:20

My ds is 6 and still plays very happily with his toys, and I hop he will for many more years, he uses our ipad occasionally - but that's about the extent of gadgets, isn't that what the teenage years are for.

McHappyPants2012 · 31/10/2012 10:21

yanbu, my 6 year old still plays with toys

BattlingFanjos · 31/10/2012 10:21

I'm 24 and got sooooo excited when my mum sent all my old toys and teddies down for my son! We played for hours! One of the most amazing things my mum ever did for me (and my brother and sister) was keep us innocent children, there is nothing more lovely than watching (and playing lots! Lol) my 5 year old play imaginative games with all his toys. I'll follow his lead and if/when he does stop playing with his toys I'll be happy to move him up to "the next level" as it were. If he's anything like me though, it'll never happen! Lol. So no, I think YANBU, sod em!

aldiwhore · 31/10/2012 10:22

I think it's very sad when people think it's weird to play with toys pre-puberty. I was FOURTEEN and in between being a normal teenager played with my toys!! (I didn't shout about it though)

Anniegetyourgun · 31/10/2012 10:25

Nothing wrong with arts, crafts and electronic gadgets, but alongside toys, not instead of them, surely? It's not as if most children don't have the time or brain capacity for more than one leisure activity.

KellyElly · 31/10/2012 10:26

Strange mothers. Of course six isn't too old for toys! Never heard anything so silly!

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 31/10/2012 10:30

The problem with screenbased stuff is that doesn't always encourage imagination in the same way.
DS1 is 9 and loves playing with toys and lego and I sometimes get roped in to play too.

Is 43 too old to be playing with toys? Confused