to think my DDs destroy all their toys or is it just their ages?

[sweetkitty]

if that makes any sense

I have 4.8yo DD1 and 2.8yo DD2 and they seem to break every toy they have (or attempt to) today I have sewn up Scooby Doo's tail as he was leaking stuffing pribably from being dragged about by aforementioned tail, patched up one of the dollies cot as they have been jumping on it, thrown out a Dora laptop as it is stuck on one song (tried repairing it), oh and I bought them a jigsaw off ebay left them with it for 5 mins and DD2 had torn one of the peices, yesterday I threw out a dolls highchair. They rip books, bite hands off Barbies etc they know if something gets ruined it has to go in the bin but they don't seem to care.

With Christmas coming up they will be getting new toys but I am loathed to buy them just to be ruined and even if I had shedloads of money I still wouldn't buy replacements.

They don't seem to play with things, just pull things out and wreck them. The 4yo is worse than the 2yo.

Is it just a stage, are they particularly bad?

mine (9, 5 and 4) break everything. I used to get wound up. Now I just bin them, and don't replace. It's their loss!

Sounds like typical 2 and 4 year olds to be honest.

At 4 or 5 I wouldn't have dreamed of destroying my precious books, but I've always been a geek. However my almost as precious ELC toy animals were reguarly docked,dehorned and had their hooves trimmed. I had ambitions to become a vet.

I was a very odd child as you can tell.

I'm glad it's not just mine boys I could understnad but I never knew girls were so destructive.

falcon - I'm like you I was a complete nerd loved my books and was very precious about my dolls too

The books bother me the most I have taken to buying second hand ones on ebay as within a week they looks really used anyway.

It doesn't sound like typical 2/4 year olds to me, sorry - I ave a 2 and nearly 4 year old. If they were breaking things to that extent I'd be taking things away and explaining just how to play with things without damaging them. and def not buying (more) toys to get trashed just because it's christmas!

I simply wouldn't let them trash toys like that. They need to be taught to treat things with respect. I certainly wouldn't buy more until they treated them carefully.

Thats what I feel like why buy more toys to get wrecked?

They see me putting the broken toys in the bin, they don't seem to care. I have taken things off them for weeks, theres some toys they only get under strict supervision. I have shown them how to play nice with the dolls house for example but the minute I am out the room they are climbing on it and throwing the furniture about

DD1 is at the "I want" stage and I say "No Santa Claus does not bring toys to children who break them"

I am not allowing them to break things, if they break toys they go in the bin and don't get replaced.

My lot tend to break them through 'alternative play' rather than vandalism. Eg. the domino box gets used as a ramp for the cars, the dolly blankets are used as sledges on the slide, the skipping rope is used to pull the bike..........etc! Frustrating, but at the end of the day the toys belong to the children, I shall have no use for them when the children grow up (I have put away the odd precious favourite for the grandchildren!) so whilst I agree they need to respect things espcially other peoples stuff - they are not allowed to climb on the furniture etc, their toys are theirs to play with- how they like..........

I have no objection if they are using them in an imaginative, alternative way but not if they tear books, pull arms off a doll etc. They have to be taught to treat other people's toys carefully when they go out and so they should apply it at home.

At that age, mine mostly only got pre-loved toys from car boot sales etc. Which means that 1) the toys are usually durable enough to have survived one child without disintegrating, so they'll probably survive another, and 2) there's not much financial loss if they do manage to destroy them.

its a stage i think

my sister went through from 3-5 breaking EVERYTHING but she's just started year 2 adn is nearly 6 and is starting to cam down a bit

i was like this too

although we were are very spoilt and parents occasionally replaced the toys and always fixed them if they could, i have only since the birth of my ds started learning the value of things