to wonder how long avoiding plastic tat can last?

[ParadiseChick]

Oldest dc is 8.

For as long as I can remember we've been surrounded by brightly coloured plastic.

Dc2 is ten months, I'm not bothered by the fact most of their toys are Tomy, v tech, Fisher price and plastic, bright and noisy.

I have a few friends now on their first dc quite smug about not wanting plastic toys. Opting instead for nice classy neutral wooden painted things. Fair enough, easily done when they are under 2 but I'm wondering how long it's achievable?

Anyone managed it?

Roary the Lion is a very special toy in the Floyd house!

BiL bought if for my Niece in a fit of over-tired over-emotional sentimentality the day after she was born. She loved it and played with it ever night in bed.

When DNiece (3 at the time) came to see me for the first time after having DS she proudly handed over Roary "because it was my favourite when I was little so I want to give it to him".

He still plays with it every night whilst settling himself to sleep at 19mo.

I still hate all the plastic singing crap but it's not for me is it. Plus (hormonal heart string tugging waffle alert) it's for such a short space of time when you look at the grand scheme of things. They're not children for long and before you know it you'll have a lovely, tidy, quiet house with no toys in at all.

However much they enrage me, I can't imagine how sad I'll be when they're gone. Except for the vtech puppy walker thing. That can fuck right off.

I don't think all modern colourful toys are 'plastic tat'. Neither are all old fashioned wooden toys dull and more for the parents' benefit than the child's. Personally, I think a mix is good but the more interactive the toys are, the better. Some modern toys leave little or nothing to the child's imagination so a playroom full of those is depriving a child of the opportunity to fully use his/her imagination and creativity. But there are lots of modern toys that are bright, colourful, innovative and fun for a child. Likewise there are some more old fashioned toys that modern children would get just as much fun out of as previous generations.
I think there's a bit of inverted snobbery on here about wooden toys. Not everyone who buys them is turning their nose up at modern toys or being precious and pretentious. Some old toys are lovely for children, some modern plastic toys give kids hours and hours of fun. It's not a competition.
For me, it's the sheer amount of toys that some children have that is a waste of money. Playrooms piled to the ceilings with stuff is crazy. How many toys does a child need? Also, children are very resourceful and are quite happy to use one toy for several different purposes. They really don't need the amount of toys that some of them are plied with nowadays.

I have been an avoider, and yesterday had to undo my first plastic tat PACKAGING. No one told me about this - to get the Peppa Pig Big Wheel out of it's box you need not just a pair of scissors ("hang on a second, darling") but also a SCREWDRIVER ("just nipping upstairs for a screwdriver, tiny tot - don't swallow the fourth screw that has obviously come out by itself but I can't quite locate, will you?").

DDs birthday next week. I'm going to be ready for the tat-packagers with a full toolkit in the unwrapping zone.

So, in answer to the question, sorry about the rant, until the child is nearly three in my case.

TheSurgeonsMate the wrapping is the worst! On Christmas Eve we put out the usual stuff for FC and then when the DC's are in bed get out screwdrivers, scissors, spare batteries, binbags and memorably one year the drill...
It's part of the ritual in this house
To answer the question OP, about 6 months. That was 12 years and 3 children ago.

I am not particularly fussed whether things are plastic or wooden or fabric or whatever, but we don't have any battery operated toys - so no lights/sounds stuff. Also not keen on toys that are very prescriptive/only do one thing.

We also live in a smallish flat so no room for huge toys.

DS watches TV but we don't have Sky etc so Cbeebies only (which means no adverts).

DS is 2y 3m. He has in total: lots of puzzles, toy (plastic) animals, Playmobil 123,doll's house, fold out cooker with Ikea food/pans, wooden blocks, Brio style tracks and trains, dressing up stuff, a peg hammer bench, shape sorter, various vehicles, stacking boxes, a big craft box, lots of musical instruments and a ton of books.

I love plastic toys, easier to clean , its noisy toys that make me want to run! For the past 30 mins dd3 (2.3) has played with her older sisters Littlest Petshop house thing, she has trapped 4 mini Disney princess in the top floor and is currently deciding which one of them will be eaten by Jasmines pet tiger. It doesn't look good for Cinders!

I have seen plenty of wooden tat in my day- badly made and falling to pieces at the first touch. Otoh a plastic toy doesn't have to be tat.

I've never been bothered by what the toy is made out of. We have had plastic tat, wooden, fabric etc.

DD is now 9 and doesn't play with many of her toys now. She prefers drawing, playing on computer games, reading and playing outside on her bike. It won't be too long til her toy box is empty and I must say I am a bit sad about that. They are small for such a small amount of time that I can't get het up about irritating toys.

DSIL HATES it and tried desperately to keep it out of their house. DN loves it. DSIL gave up. I'm not even trying.

It's simple. Wooden, hand crafted, organic, Fairtrade toys in natural and primary colours are for displaying on your windowsill to show the world your nice MC credentials.

Plastic tat is for playing with and bringing joy and entertainment to children.

I think you can do it for a pfb until 2 or 3 ish but once at nursery/school, it's v difficult not to own plastic toys without making your child a social outcast. Lego is surely a childhood staple as well as many collectibles such as Moshi Monsters, Polly Pocket, My Little Pony...

I just assumed the no plastic toy rule was less an aesthetic thing and more to do with that Fisher Price lead based paint recall a few years ago.

Maybe that was just in the Americas.

We have lots of plastic. It didn't start out that way. I give it a year, tops, before the plastic takes over.

About a year, I think.

mine didnt have hardly any plastic stuff til they were about 5,but theyve never been mad on toys,they play in the garden most of the time,make dens and do colouring/drawing most of the time,i think its because there are 3 of them so close in age they tend to play with each other rather than with toys.oh and dressing up too.

oh we did have a huge box of duplo once they got to about 3,2 and 1,but apart from that all they had was wooden traintrack,some wooden toy animals and dressing up stuff.

My 10 month old adores the plastic tat so we and other people giving him things buy it as isn't that the point to give him things he likes and wants!
However we do a have a small collection of wooden toys to take to the yacht club to play with!

We lost the battle in this house years ago.

DD1's favourite toy was megabloks

DD2's favourite toy is a toy dyson upright teachingheryoung

Far too much plastic tat in this house.

That said, I think a lot of "plastic" toys are worth their weight in gold - Schleich animals, bobbins, lego, duplo and playmobil are all played with extensively here and I don't have a problem with them.

The noisy VTech-esque stuff drives me up the fucking wall, though. Shame DS2 loves it.