To despair at the garish, noisy, plastic tat

[Plateofcrumbs]

First Christmas with PFB and until now have managed to keep our toy collection small and free from plastic eyesores. PILs have gone to town on presents and we are now the 'proud' owners of all kinds of light-up, flashing, beeping, singing plastic monstrosities.

AIBU to want to bin the vtech and its ilk before DS gets near them?

[SeverusEsq]

So far the toys we've got have all been good ones but we've not seen dp's family yet and I think they'll have the plastic tat!

I don't think it's snobbery to not want mountains of plastic tat taking over your living room.

[Waltonswatcher]

Your kids your choices.
I banished all noisy tatty crap and I've raised three happy kids . You don't need a houseful of useless shit to call it a child friendly home.

[Sparklingbrook]

I still don't know what 'open ended play' is. It must be new. Although my two had a tub of matchbox cars and a playmat with roads on so they may have done some without realising? Or was the playmat too restrictive because the roads were already there?

[Plateofcrumbs]

Just to be clear I won't be binning the plastic toys, am sure DS will love them and I'll get over it (though may change my mind when I've heard the damn things sing and beep for the thousandth time!)

Hoping and praying we can get him into Duplo/Lego - love the stuff (though then again when I've stood on a Lego brick in bare feet for the thousandth time...)

[TheLastThneed]

I hate the plastic stuff, but DD likes it so I got over my dislike. I with you on not liking it OP, but I wouldn't go as far as to give it away...

[TheLastThneed]

X post...I type so slowly on this phone...

[LetTheRiverAnswer]

I'm with you plateofcrumbs. Maybe I'm a snob, but we have barely any flashing noisy plastic toys amongst our toys, and I'm not a pfb new mother. The dc don't prefer it to simpler toys in my experience, though they're happy enough to fiddle with it for a while.Works for us.

[liquidstateisonthemulled]

Sparkling

Another thing that annoys me is the duplication, a lot of the toys do pretty much the same thing particulalry the learning frog/dinosaur/bus type alphabet counting things with beeps and lights. The ILs have all bought variants of the same toy whereas my family asked what DD needed so we have ended up with different items. Another reason why some people feel swamped with plastic tat.

Fortunately I have a large cupboard and DH is very forgetful so will charity shop the less played with items in a month or so. But it is a shame as it feels like a waste.

And after all the expense and fuss DD mostly played with the wrapping paper and boxes today...

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

After a day spent being attacked by a plastic pirate sword and 'examined' by a wooden dr kit I'm very grateful the sword was plastic tat. Think of your future and embrace plastic.

[Sparklingbrook]

I was in The Entertainer a while ago. Two Mums with toddlers were in there. One picked up a toy drum, and showed it to her friend. 'My Mum wanted to get this for DS' she said 'but that's not exactly developing him is it?'

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

My children got not one, but three toot toot driver sets today. All with those little vehicles that flash their lights and drive around playing annoyingly catchy tunes. "I'm a police car off to solve a crime doo be dooooooo"

No its "catch the burgler solve the crime"

The most fucking annoying things known to man

[Springcleanish]

Before you know it all they'll want is money, toiletries and clothes and you'll be looking back on that plastic tat wistfully. Embrace it, enjoy it, because in just a few short years it will be banished and replaced with computer games and nail varnish. It's a sad day when you realise that there were no visits to toy shops or trips to argos in the buying of the children's gifts.

[Sparklingbrook]

I agree with that Spring. You could buy a garage from ELC in a huge box for about £30. Their eyes would light up.

Now it's all vouchers and gadgets. No late night trips to Toys R Us.

[Sparklingbrook]

And whether they got plastic tat, V tech or hand carved educational toys they come out pretty much the same as teenagers.....

[Ohnodisaster]

But regardless it's the waste of the earth's resources that sickens me-I'm far from a lentil weaver but the piles of packaging alone are horrific let alone the contents.

[StrattersThePreciousSnowflake]

Also agree with Spring, mine are all grown up now, and God do I miss the plastic tat and gleeful laughter :(

[Plateofcrumbs]

Aww you're all making me excited for the coming years of DS being overjoyed by plastic tat - like liquid he was really more thrilled by the paper this time

[80sMum]

I have found that kids often prefer the plastic toys because they can do more, have special effects etc

That's interesting and it's the fact that children expect toys to "do something" that concerns me. So many toys nowadays require very little effort or imagination; the toy entertains the child, rather than the child entertaining him/herself by playing with the toy and actively using it to create new scenarios. Toys that do things can create a kind of passivity, an expectation that the reward from playing with toys comes through merely pressing a button.

It's a bit like giving someone a season ticket for the bus instead of buying them driving lessons. They still get where they need to go, and see all the same scenery passing by, but they haven't had to make any effort to get there, haven't been challenged to think about what they're doing and haven't developed any new skills.

My understanding of what "open ended play" means is that the play is not limited, ie the toy can be used in as many ways as the child decides and is not limited to a fixed scenario.

[MrsMook]

I may have been known to unscrew V Tech toys and cut the wires of the speakers within 8 hours of ownership... Most of their range is pseudo educational rubbish, and it doesn't take a 1 year old long to suss out that a toy that only has one outcome when you press a button is downright boring.

No plastic snobbery here, the DCs have had a mixture including plastic. My guideline is that interest level and developmental benefits are inversely proportionate to a toy's dependency on batteries.

[imme]

80smum, no need to be concerned, maybe I didn't express myself very well. In some cases my DS has preferred the plastic stuff because it was more like the real stuff. The more realistic plastic toys like a toy kitchen or the till are really nice for role playing because they are more like the real thing.
He has grown out of his baby toys and now loves anything that he can build stuff with. Ie Lego, duplo, his wooden train set etc. I don't think his ability to do 'open ended play' has been adversely affected by a few plastic toys with bells and whistles.
In the end I think it's good to have a mixture of toys.

[AngieBolen]

YANBU

You need a large oak chest/wicker basket/LV trunk to house the plastic tat.

I feel you

[AngieBolen]

I didn't actually type that last sentence

[Mehitabel6]

I think it is such a shame when parents impose their own aesthetic values on children. Has it got play value is all that matters. Either it has and will become a favourite of it will be a five minute wonder and be ignored afterwards.

[KittiesInsane]

Sparkling and Liquid -- if it's any comfort, DD aged 13 pounced on her brother's guitar-wrappings yesterday with a cry of 'Yay, a big box!' and climbed in and hid herself under the wrapping paper...

[Mehitabel6]

It doesn't restrict open ended play because it is plastic and garish. Mine had hours of play with an orange, plastic kitchen. To my adult eye it would have been much nicer in natural wood but they wouldn't have got any more play value out of it (and I wouldn't have got it for £2 at a car boot sale!)