to be secretly ungrateful for mountain of hideous plastic tat from PILs

[apostropheelingchristmassy]

including this for the 3yo, which is too big to be put away, and several other "Learning" made-in-China plastic electronic things which bark bits of pseudo-education at the kids.

I did smile sweetly and say how nice it is but inside I was spewing out of my eyeballs. Maybe I'm not very nice really

When my ds was younger my former bil(no kids)bought him a drum kit.

It got hidden away in the loft then I got rid of it-ds fell on it shortly after getting it and bruised his chest.

What kind of person would buy a toy like that for their 3yr old old nephew-especially one with mild autism who at the time was extremely sensitive to loud noises?!

Any toys like that can be kept at his and his mum's place in future-then he can 'enjoy' them playing with it!

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here. I am going to start saying that I would hate that thing too and would not want it in my living room for anyhting.
However to reply to most of the post, no one buys presents with the intention to displease people or with the idea that they are going to be hidden or given away.
Of all my DC pressies you could spot from a mile the pressies given by those without children or the elderly relatives.

Blimey - i think its kinda cool

BUT, I am very grateful that this year, DD got all small non bulky pressies

Jeez its good to see that Christmas spirit is alive and well in this thread

These are Christmas gifts folks, not cunningly disguised arsenic. Would you prefer your friends and family to not buy your dc gifts at all??

...and I fail to see what is wrong with most of the gifts linked to here. Most are not my cup of tea either, but ffs ...

I dont like to be ungrateful either but I have begged my family this year to not buy huge toys for the kids because our house is tiny and I do not have the room for anything else. Its a two bedroom converted into a three bedroom and we have no space at all. Everywhere you walk you bash into something.

My kids have so many toys they can never find anything to play with!

would I prefer friends and family not to buy the dc gifts? On balance, yes, and here's why:

My children live in a safe, loving and supportive home. We have a warm, clean house, have good food to eat and comfortable and clean clothes to wear. They are fortunate to be in a country with an excellent public health system, and free schooling to 18, with good public libraries. There is very little threat from war or civil unrest.

Toys are an option - an added bonus on top of this. They have a lot of toys, as we have some very generous friends and relatives. Both dcs are under 5, yet between them we easily have enough toys to fill a small room. Some of the toys are well-made items saved from my childhood or my husband's, or other children: a cart full of wooden bricks, the duplo, a home-made rocking horse. Some were bought just for them. Some probably won't last very long. It's hard, when surrounded by so much, to teach them that toys need to be looked after - that things need to be treated with respect. If they're surrounded by ubiquitous brightly coloured plastic, it's not going to be something they treasure. So I think children can and often do have too many toys. The other issue is the sheer physical volume of possessions a small child can accrue. Is it necessary for a 3yo to own several toys larger than himself? Will it make him happy? I think that the excess that often surrounds children, particularly at this time of year, is a toxic influence, and does nothing to shape them into robust, confident, happy adults.

It should be hooked up to Bloomberg, like a real exercise bike in a real gym.

YANBU, but perhaps they could be bcc'd on next year's letter to Father Christmas.