To think children have far too many toys nowadays

[atthewelles]

Remember the days when your toys all fitted into a drawer instead of requiring an entire playroom, all to themselves? And you played with most of them everyday and loved them to bits and thought they all had personalities, even the toy cars? And how imaginative you had to be because a lot of things had to double up as something else eg your doll's cot became a cage when you were playing 'Zoos', or the bucket from your bucket and spade set became a soldier's hat when you were playing 'Wars'.
Nowadays playrooms are stacked high with toys that kids play with a couple of times and throw in a corner and that break if you look at them; and everything has a switch that makes it move and talk and flash lights at you; and Barbie doesn't need you to make her a wedding dress and veil out of tissue paper because you can buy wedding Barbie (and ice skating Barbie and gymnast Barbie and nurse Barbie and.....).

AIBU to think that children would be better off with a few well loved and worn toys and left to use their imagination a bit more when it comes to maximising the fun they get from using these toys, than having everything handed to them cheap, shiny, plastic and no imagination required?

Meant to say - I couldn't give a fig how many toys everyone else's DC have, but for the parents moaning about it - erm YOU are in charge!

I don't know. I was a PFB and my dad conveyed the loft so that I could have a play room and the was in 1965. My nan used to work in Gorge Henry Lee 's and spent her entire wage on me. It was all spent on clothes and toys. I remember having a walking doll that was as tall as tall as me when I was 5. It was only in the past 10 years that my mum has clered out the remaining toys from clear ups and there was two sheds full + atic stuff. So maybe too much stuff isn't a new thing.

Also I remember at Christmas me and my brothers and sisters used to have our own place at Christmas Evein the room and we used to put a large sack there and that was filed with presents. Maybe kids have always been spoilt.

We have regular clear ours. Ds remembers everything but isn't too upset if he asks for something and its gone. Although I would never give away anything that was a firm favourite. As I write we are in ds's bedroom playing with fairies and trains and cars. Although dd us using the building bricks that are our town as a phone.

Agree with the op Definitely had less toys when I was young. My brother and I shared a wooden ottoman of toys. Now my Dcs have a toy cupboard EACH in theit rooms plus games and craft stuff downstairs. A lot is given by family and friends. Def sgree that less is more with toys. Too much of a wimp to cull them tbough. In a few shory years the Dcs will be grown up and the house clutter-free. Trying not to wish the time away - toy clutter seems to be a feature of modern parenthood!

You only have to look at Christmas threads "what can I get my child" or read how many presents children will get.
It would be interesting to work out how many toys never get played with. Brio train set was a winner in our house, and a toy kitchen I bought second hand for a tenner complete with plastic food.

I couldn't bear the mess of toys, especially ones with little pieces, so mine never had loads. And I recycled regularly...every toy in meant a toy to the charity shop or passed on to a friend.

I do think it's a shame, just from what I've observed. Working as a nanny years ago I met some very priviledged children and they didn't appreciate what they had. In fact watching them open birthday presents made me uncomfortable because they'd open one thing after another, look at it for 2 seconds and immediately start ripping open the next thing. Things never got looked after 'oh someone can buy me another one' was the thing I heard a lot, one child delighted in trashing her toys, just for fun and despite having literally hundreds of posessions much of the conversation was 'so and so is going to get me this for Christmas, and I want that and that and that.'

I'm really not materialistic so obviously that influenced my response to these children, but I also think that it's not just about children not valuing things, they need boredom. It's vital really, and if I hadn't learnt to deal with it as a child, I would have struggled much, much more as a disabled adult who has found myself with hours of alone time to fill. Boredom leads to creativity. And being creative, for many people, brings far more happiness than owning x boxes and ipads and other electronic/plastic toys. If I had children I wouldn't restrict how many toys I'd give but I would try and buy things which specifically spark creativity rather than just serve up entertainment on a plate.

It's true some things are cheaper now and other things are more expensive.

My children have more toys and newer clothes but I had much more living space and a garden. I think I was luckier.

I was an only child and had a shedload of toys when I was young. Spoilt. I played with all of them and took great care. My Mum still has loads in the loft because I never damaged anything. I'm doing the same to my kids - they have everything. I put them on rotation so everything is played with in turn. So - IME - YABU.

if people think their kids have too much, why do they buy too much then? Seems a simple enough problem to solve.

I never had that few toys, despite growing up with rather limited money and being the eldest of three. We might not have had loads of toys but we had plenty.

Toys are far cheaper relatively than when I was growing up, and there are far more toys around - the choice is huge. You only have to compare a 1970s Argos to today's catalogue to see that.

My DD is an only child and we have far more money than I did growing u, so yes she has a lot of toys. But she isn't spoilt. She may be privledged yes, but not spoilt. She appreciates what she has, she plays/uses her toys and when she grows out of them we pass them on either to friends/family, charity shops or my school.

But having lots of toys doesn't equate not appreciating what you have - that comes down to parenting.

Ds took all of Christmas day opening his presents because he wanted to play with each thing as he opened it some for 5 minutes others for hours.

MrsDeVere

Didn't you know? Primary colours deactivate the centres in the brain for imaginative play!

Before this becomes an urban myth quoted all over the internet, I'm being sarcastic, MN. There has been no such research.

Exactly Sirzy.

But parents love them

I think this is a huge problem-children do not have adult tastes.

Except when it comes to my goddamn chocolate, where my children have gained adult tastes remarkably fast!

We have tons of toys but I'm a childminder so they get played with until they beg for mercy most days!
I also have 3 DC's who have their birthdays either in the weeks before or after Christmas, nice timing there so they do get a little inundated, but as I said the stuff does get played with.
I hear you about the happy meal toys MrsDV, we have a few and they seem to be favourites among the slightly older children for some reason.

I have 3 children and an inordinate amount of barbies, Disney figures and I'm fine with the amount of stuff they have - most of it pink, plastic, sequinny and shiny. I also have a huge collection of cheap handbags for myself. I quite like stuff. My parents didn't really do toys when we were kids, a fact that I was determined not to repeat with my own.

Their imaginations are grand, most of the barbies at the minute are currently impaled on the mast of a Scooby Doo ship on account of them being Zombies!

You won't spoil a child just by giving them toys.

Mine have loads of toys; they are not spoiled. Because even though we loved to indulge at birthdays or Christmas, anything else has to be earned or saved for from their pittance of a pocket money.

Of course any family with 4 boys like ours will look like it is drowning in toys after that many Christmases no matter how careful they are- ds1 is 13 now, ds4 is 4.

But my nephew who rarely gets gifts, his parents save it all in cash instead to the point where Mum and I were quite upset when they bought him NOP presents one year at all, instead relying on us- is quite spoiled and will happily throw back toys at you as 'not what I wanted' or 'why did you buy this Aunty C, it's horrible' (something I bought as a sticking filler for n8 kids and only he rejected, ice cream flavour space food).

I don't know why he is that way, but he most definitely is.

My two have a playroom and I love it :-). Mind, I only allow one trofast single depth box of tat (that gets regularly cleared out as they forget about it)

The rest is actual 'things' - I'm in there now (it is also the dining room so is the biggest room in the house - I get to keep my love,y front room tidy as we hang out and do homeschool in the playroom)

Starting at the gas fire...high up resources cupboard (arts and crafts, board games, education packs, workbooks) bookshelves, dressing up, armchairs, little table and chairs, unit holding paper and pens, lego, trains, cars, musical instruments, dolls, toy kitchen, farm, fridge (with magnetic poetry) easel then a road mat on the floor and educational charts on the wall. Its like a little nursery, and most of it is wooden or good quality plastic and second hand. I try and ban electronic toys and take the batteries out of most gifts. All in labelled trofast so it can be found and tidied easilly.

The DDs have friends round and they all play nicely in the playroom and me and the parents can sit in the front room and chat.

It is a pretty small house, but I don't allow playing in the bedroom and only one toy each and no rowdyness in the front room so the playroom lets them have totally child focused space and also keeps it contained. Bedroom has beds and clothes in, a couple of teddies on each level of the bunk bed and that is it.

I'm poor, but I don't really have expensive hobbies - just playing music, drinking tea and reading books - so I can spend £50 or so on secondhand birthday and xmas presents and get nice stuff.

My kids have a lot of toys, most bought by other people and ds (6) has many more than dd (2).

They do play with most of them though - just in rotation. Eg ds is obsessed with his toy soldiers just now, a few weeks ago he played with nothing but Star Wars. Dd plays mostly with teddies .

Just because they have toys doesn't mean they play loads on electronic devices though. Hardly ever. We also spend plenty of time baking / drawing / dancing / going places / reading etc so actually I don't see the harm in lots of toys.

I agree that kids do have more toys generally these days but my mum often comments on how much cheaper toys are now. For example a decent doll 30 years ago was about £30 which is similar to what you would pay for one now!!

My dd def has more stuff than I did but then she is an only child whereas I had two brothers and could play with their stuff as well I suppose.