To say it isn't "plastic crap" and its not "destined for landfill"

[unlimiteddilutingjuice]

I will admit that my kids get indulged at christmas.
And not with Grimms Rainbows and wooden dolls houses either!
They like moulded plastic, things that make noises and light up, ties in's with cartoons and things that they see being "unboxed" on youtube.
It doesn't get chucked out. Maybe if something gets broken or too many pieces go missing.....
It all gets played with. Sometimes for years.
My 6 year old still plays with the tub of plastic dinosuars we bought him on a whim when he was 2 and a half.
Some of our longest running toys have come free with happy meals (furbies, minions, and the Alien from "Home" remain in regular use)
Some stuff thats not an immidiate hit on christmas day, gets an enthusiastic response when it comes out of the cupboard 8 months later (Marble run- I'm looking at you).
Eventually they go to the charity shop "so another little boy or girl can play with it"
I suppose a lot of things we use do eventually end up in landfill so its not a completely inaccurate thing to say.
But still, what a joyless way to describe things that will be played with and enjoyed by children.

@AnastasiaaBeaverhousen and @BirthdayCakes - can you think of a wooden alternative to Lego, that does everything Lego does? I have Lego that belonged to dsis and me when we were children, that my dses played with, and is now put away for future grandchildren to play with. If there are no grandchildren, we will hand it on to other children.

I don’t think all plastic is evil, but I do think we should be more careful about how we use plastic, and plastic toys should be durable and as timeless as possible.

I have to say I am very glad my children grew up before the days of ‘unboxing’ videos - I am reminded of my mum’s attitude towards TV advertising - commercial TV was the work of the devil in her view, and we weren’t allowed to watch it! ITV was banned in our house, and we only started being allowed to watch any commercial TV when Channel 4 opened, and mum found she loved Countdown!

My son still plays with a lot of the plastic toys bought for him 12 years ago ( he is profoundly disabled). They have been thrown and bitten many times and they are still going strong. Wooden toys aren't suitable for every child.

Isn't most recycled plastic just sent to incineration now? Or landfill. Because it can't be recycled (lack of market, facilities). Reduce is first principle, followed by reuse, with recycle better than binning but only just.

I don't have a problem with the toys themselves but i do have a problem with people who insist on always buying these things new, and turn their noses up at second hand.

I agree with you OP, although recently I have tried to buy more toys second hand, avoid cheap flimsy toys that aren't durable and make sure that I am as sure as I can be that the toys will be played with for a long time. I also encourage my kids to look after toys so that they are in a reasonable state to pass on once they are done with them.

”I don't have a problem with the toys themselves but i do have a problem with people who insist on always buying these things new, and turn their noses up at second hand.”

My dh has relatives who buy new Christmas decorations every year, @MeOldChina - that sort of wastefulness horrifies me. We have decorations that come out every year - I add one or two new ones to them each year, but I love seeing the old favourites each year.

When DS(3) was born, I fully intended to nurture him with a lovingly curated selection of hand crafted wooden toy classics (yes, including Grimm's rainbow).

As soon as he got old enough to focus his eyes and express his own personality through the medium of gnawing on preferred items it became clear that he chooses plastic, lights, noises, and poor taste. I buy lots of it 2nd hand, and recycle it to the charity shop ASAP. I dread his upcoming birthday because I haven't forgotten the tsunami of Paw Patrol he got last year, but it has all been played with.

The amount of sheer excess displayed in Tesco is enough to make me feel sick. Where on earth is all the waste going to go? Rapidly we are going to end up with a Wall-E type existence. Unless someone somehow works out that dumping it under the ground isn't maintainable and find a way to put it into space. It's utterly disgusting, boxes upon boxes of plastic roses and quality street. Why not in a small cardboard box? Why the need for huge plastic containers? It will just go in the bin the week after Christmas.A
Also, most people don't want to keep toys for years. They get rid the minute the next thing comes. Longevity of stuff is a very middle class concept, on the council estates they need their kid to have 'the best', most shiny, most plastic stuff to show they are good parents. My next door neighbour is an example, and her garden is full of strewn slides, paddling pools and so on, which are buried under growing grass. More and more and more piled in, with no recycling of the old stuff. It goes in the main waste because her recycling is full of normal waste as she produces so much she tries to stick food waste under cardboard boxes in the bin just to get rid of it.
YY to banning crap comic toys and macdonald tat.

But the Grimm's rainbow thing is about £150- £200 so hardly a toy everyone can afford. And without other toys it will have really limited replay value so it's a bit disingenuous to pretend it'll be enough on its own.

Quite often, the really sanctimonious posters that say you should just buy wood etc tend to forget that they are simply out of price range for a lot of people.

And whilst buying 'experiences' is genuinely great, you have to be able to afford the transport etc to the event and you have to live somewhere where they exist in the first place so again there's quite a few people excluded from this. And you often need a car to get to places which is not exactly environmentally friendly.

In my case, I actively avoid wooden toys as my son chips and cracks it so you get splinters and they need binning, whereas plastic toys tend to fair a lot better. And whilst I try and take him to stuff, the reality is that sometimes paying £30 for the paw patrol toy is actually better value than going to the pantomime for example, as he'll play for months with one as opposed to one evening's entertainment in the other case. And right now, for our family and many others, it's an either/ or situation, we can't usually afford both.

Also, whilst food is over packaged it tends to keep it better for longer therefore it doesn't get binned, therefore a lot of resources don't end up wasted, it's not as straightforward as don't use plastic packaging at all.

I keep the plastic tubs from chocolates, we store things in them or use them to store homemade cakes, we don’t chuck them away, most supermarkets are offering chocolates in a bag as well as the tubs.

That wooden rainbow thing wouldn’t have kept my kids busy for more than 5 minutes.

I think the problem is the quantity of toys people are buying, supermarkets are full of it because people will buy it. When we were kids we had to chose something from the 5 pages of toys in the Argos catalogue, supermarkets didn’t sell toys and kids didn’t get huge piles of gifts for Christmas.

Grimm's rainbows are around the £50 mark which is within the realms of normal for quality toys

“Everything in moderation including moderation “

I don’t buy my children toys throughout the year so if the want somthing plasticky for Christmas they get it but i will recycle it by donating to a charity shop or passing it onto another child.

I find with friends who are very adamant about having wooden only/open ended toys are able to say that their dc play very nicely/are engaged with those toys, not because they're wood, but because they are more expensive so they do not have as many toys compared to some other children. The lack of choice results in them being engaged with what they have.

A few (non-wooden toy) friends have expressed surprise that my 3.5 year old is still playing with wooden bricks and peppa pig toys. The word 'babyish' has been used. But I'm similar to the wood loving friends, my dd doesn't have a huge amount of toys so has to play with what she has, whereas these friends dcs have so many toys that few hold their interest for long as there is always something new to move on to (sorry, I've gone on a bit of a tangent).

@birthdaycakes
This is really rude. I think it’s more divided into half who can afford to care about the planet, environment, etc and those of us who cannot afford to care both in terms of money and in terms of having many other worries in life.
It’s a middle class thing as much as many may argue it’s not. The same as buying British meat and produce only, as somebody I work with lectured me on last week. It’s another world to me to be even able to afford to consider anything about my food except can I afford it and is it at least vaguely nourishing for my kids.

For what it’s worth, I’ve saved up all year and my dc can have whatever toy will make them happy on Christmas Day. Whether it be plastic, wood or bloody aluminium.

If you have a tantrummer who throws - wooden toys hurt a hell of a lot more!

Painted wooden toys also make great crayons for the walls.

"I wish the world could be divided in half - people like you on one side and the rest of us who are really trying to think of the health of the plant and everything who lives on it on the other."

This is surely the most over the top reaction anyone has ever had over someone buying another person a christmas present.

I all seriousness though....

I do know that overuse of plastics is a problem. I also think that plastic is sometimes the most appropriate material to use.
Particularly for toys actually.
Its very durable. It can be moulded into cool shapes, allowing more detail. It doesn't splinter or deteriortate when damp (as Ds's otherwise lovely wooden fire station did). It can be wiped clean.....

I take the point about kinder egg toys and magazine toys which can be very fragile. But i also find that a lot of stuff that gets a bad rep as "plastic crap" turns out to be remarkably sturdy.

Like a pp, I have bought second hand "plastic crap" from ebay that was still in very good condition when i bought it and remains in reasonable condition now. (Octonauts bundle since you ask). Yet this is exactly the kind of thing I've seen described almost as if it were disposable by mumsnetters.

So I don't think I'm going to become a "wooden toys" person any time soon.

Bloody hell, OP. The point that Its very durable is the whole point. 450 years durable, roughly!

I agree with you that not all plastic toys are easily broken/short lasting crap. (Plenty of references to intergenerational Lego etc).

But it's also fair to say that a lot is. In your opening post you talk about something being used for three whole years as if that's a long time (!), its really not when you consider the environmental impact of that plastic.

I do think 'destined for landfil' is fair comment. It doesn't mean people are sending it to landfil the day after they buy it, but that is where it's likely to end up.

Toys do frequently get broken (around my kids at least!), and a thrown out broken wooden toy decomposes, whereas the plastic just sits as junk.

And just because you passed it to a charity shop doesn't mean it didn't go into landfill - charity shops are always dumping plastic toys that didn't sell, or the next person who uses it dumps it.

Plastic is pretty unavoidable in daily life, though, @AnastasiaaBeaverhousen - I don’t live in a plastic-free house, and I can’t see how I could live a plastic free life - and I would be surprised if you are living a plastic free life (is the phone/tablet/PC you are using to post on MN all-natural materials?).

But I agree that plastic pollution is a problem, and we need to reduce our use of plastic where we can, and make sure that when we do use plastics, we use them sensibly and carefully, making durable items that will last, and that can and are handed on when we aren’t using them any more.

As I said earlier - there is no natural materials equivalent Lego that does what Lego does - it is hugely creative, durable and utterly timeless, so it really can be handed on from one generation to the next/from one family to another. There are plenty of great plastic toys that are durable and can be passed on, and I think it would be awful to deny children the pleasure and education they will get from these toys.

But the fragile, pointless plastic tat? I doubt many people would mourn its loss!

I feel sorry for the children that will be just getting a wooden rainbow for Christmas 🤣

I think the main problem with almost anything these days is nothing is built to last, this is done on purpose to make us spend more money replacing these things, keeping manufacturers and comapanies in business, it’s not just toys it’s everything, electrical items, cars and furniture.

There’s also the issue with packaging, most toys are packed in plastic, we then wrap them in wrapping paper (most of which isn’t recyclable).

I don’t think peo0e should stop buying plastic toys, I think we should just put more thought into what we are buying, how long it will last, if it can be passed on and will it end up in landfill?

As always, I wonder how old the children of the worthy wood-worshippers are.
I am guessing preschool or reception, but if they actually exist yet.
You see, you like all child rearing spats, it is very easy to have principles and resolve when the principles and resolve are not tested.
There Will be a time when your PFB will want some horrific plastic item more than anything else, but no matter how 'gently' you explain to him or her that it is against your eco credentials.

People are much less likely to save toys nowadays, IMO.

Houses are smaller and most people have lots and lots of toys. OK there will be some Lego you can worthily point to but it’s likely by the time your kid is 18 you will have thrown out a LOT of plastic.

Add the fact that Lego and Duplo has had a useless downturn recently - for every decent, multipurpose block you seem to get two really specific tat items like flowers, or stupid moulded flame things, or odd curved bridges, or trough type things with smooth tops that can’t be used for normal building. It’s totally infuriating how much tat Duplo we have when I think of it (and think it ought to be) an open ended durable brand.

I started off not bothered about eco toys and just bought loads of stuff. Now, three kids in, we do toy rotation and only buy wooden new stuff. The kids are happier when they have less choices and toys are less specific. It’s not an idealistic thing for me it’s a genuine observation of my kids and how they play.

Mine have some plastic. But just quite selective. I won't buy LOL dolls, blind bags, any random hyped stuff. The older ones are 8 and 6, and until recently did only have wooden toys bar Lego and magformers really. They don't seem too unstimulated.