TV Characters

[southcoaster]

DS is 18 months, since about two months he's allowed to watch an episode of ITNG before bedtime. As a result every time we are in a shop where they sell anything related to it he gets VERY excited, same with Thomas Tank Engine. So far I have refused to buy anything in order not to fuel this but should I give in and just get him a giant IgglePiggle for Xmas? I mean no other gift would have the same impact but it always went against me to buy this stuff, or should I accept that this is the way forward?

my friend did this [i think it was a dancing version] and her ds screamed the house down in terror.....

Its up to you, I personally dont mind character related items and like seeing DS's go through phases.

At some point though i'm sure somebody else will buy a present thats character related so I dont think its unavoidable unless you dont let them have gifts that are given.

I did, but we chose the smaller toys that dont do anything, so thay have to use their imagination a bit!

or you could get something practical like a chair to sit in (Argos) and a book to read while sitting in it. If you get the blow up chair you dont need to keep it when he has moved on to Bob or Pat

No I suppose if it's something he really really wants it's better to go with it ... and I'll deffo get something that doesn't make any noise.

try not to go too far down the road of thomas the tank engine...the wooden railway is so expensive with so many fiddly bits. our ds2 got an upsy daisy that says things when you squeeze the tummy and he likes to push her around in a trolley. i think its difficult to stay away from branded/tv character toys if they do watch tv.

Nothing wrong with character toys if they like them.

Guess I just have to relax a little

You get used to it, you start of with good intentions, wooden toys and fir cones, and by the time they are two you need batteries for everything!

there are wooden itng toys out there. My little girl (14 months) has a shape sorter that is the carosel,(sp?) it spins round and she loves this at the moment.

my 2 yo girl is also into itng in a huuuuuuge way! she absolutely loves upsy daisy. she has loads of them and they keep her happy for hours. i would definitely give in as you will not even know you have a child for days!!!

dd2 had the blanket time iggle piggle last christmas. she is now nearly 2 and still loves it.

Whilst I'm in no way immune to pester power I have generally resisted any character toys because I think on the whole they are appalling play value and value for money. The test I apply is would I buy it if it wasn't a "character" toy? If it stands on its own as a decent toy then I'd consider it but if it just seems like a vehicle for the licencing company to extract cash from parents then deinitley not!

Children are little for such a short period of time. Does it really hurt them to do the character toys? My dd is now nearly 8 and she's been through the whole gammut of characters. The ones that stick in my head are Disney Princess, Dr Who, ITNG (when she was 6!) Bear in the Big Blue House and undoubtedly there were many more.

She got lots of pleasure out of her character toys and I don't begrudge her any of them. She has, fortunately, avoided Bratz (I'm not a huge fan) and is showing the good sense to avoid High School Musical (or Horrible Sounding Music as she calls it )

I have a friend who banned all character toys and her dd is pathetically grateful to play with my dd's toys, even though she's now nearly 9, and she still hankers after pink princess things! Let them get it out of their system, imo, and you'll avoid prolonged obsessions.

I love DS's phases with shows etc, although remembering the bear in the big blue house phase makes me realise just how fast he's growing up.

Dont get why people ban them but each to their own.