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Parenting

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Original poster

Who should be in charge of the toy cupboard?

17 replies

mrsright · 29/03/2006 22:05

DS aged 1 has an open shelved cupbord in his bedroom that I have used to store bedding and toys.Now that he can crawl and point he is trying to reach up to the shelves the toys are on and when I hold him up he is pointing to all the toys.Whichever toy I get down for him,he points to the next one.Should I put all the toys on the lower shelves so he can help himself or should I keep rationing them out so that he plays with a couple at a time? What age do you think is OK for control of the toy cupboard?

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WestCountryLass · 29/03/2006 22:27

Is this a joke? Or am I missing something?

If not a joke, let the boy have his toys already!

bushytail · 29/03/2006 22:37

I agree... as long as they are safe to play with unsupervised, put them where he can reach them! :)

yeamam · 29/03/2006 22:38

My boy is 1 also, he can have his toys anytime he wants!!! He throws them all out the toybox and climbs in himself mind you, but it's all good fun!!

let him get at the toys :)

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mumeeee · 30/03/2006 10:35

Let him have the toys.

zippitippitoes · 30/03/2006 10:37

Buzz lightyear!

Or failing him,i'd have them in his reach, except the ones with lots of bits perhaps and if there are too many then put a few away out of sight and roatate them from time to time

colditz · 30/03/2006 10:57

Let him have his toys! Why do you want him to play with them when you say so?

Original poster

mrsright · 30/03/2006 15:53

The verdict is unaniamous-let him have his toys! Of course I do,I'm just wondering whether the 'game' is going to be 'take all the toys off the shelf' and he wont actually play with any of the toys in particular.This happens in the kitchen all the time-'take out all the tins' and then wander off to play with something else. I suppose there's only one way to find out.

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iota · 30/03/2006 15:56

mrsright - get ready for the long haul - mine still do that even now and they're 6 and 4

Original poster

mrsright · 30/03/2006 15:58

...on second thoughts...

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Kelly1978 · 30/03/2006 16:01

er, can I have the dissenting vote? Mine didn't have their toys where they could reach them until they were old enough to tidy up after themselves! Def not one year.

We have a system of boxes, one box out at a time and all tidied up before the next box comes out. The dts are 1 and have a few out at a time, the rest stored out of reach, in the cupboard or in a giant box out of the way. Otherwise my house would be turned into toysrus! The older two can reach theirs now, they are 3 and 5, and they are responsible for keeping them tidy. I goes in there once every few months and sort through, but the rest is up to them.

Original poster

mrsright · 30/03/2006 17:30

oh dear...it is the toysrus nightmare that is making me hesitate in giving DS free rein...

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LIZS · 30/03/2006 17:34

mrs right, as long as it is safe then does it really matter ? Save your energies for when it really counts. If you feel the need to control things then use crates and pack away each one before he gets the next. Funnily mine never did tins

Roobie · 30/03/2006 17:37

We have the box system here too - applies to nearly 1yo ds as well as to nearly 4yo dd. It would be carnage if every toy was capable of being pulled out!

fruitful · 30/03/2006 17:41

At that age, when I only had dd, I had a box of toys in the living room and one in a cupboard in her room. I swapped them over once every couple of weeks. But she could get all the toys out and we just put them all back in the box before bathtime.

Now I have two children, and every room in the house has a pile of toys in it. Ds (13 mo) follows me around and finds some toys to play with for 10 minutes wherever we go. Dd (3y10mo) tidies hers up at the end of the day.

Original poster

mrsright · 06/04/2006 16:01

Well,I have rearranged the shelving unit so that DS's toys are on the bottom two shelves,bedding etc on the other shelves and toys that are too old for him or need supervision on the top shelf(at my eye height).There is a mixture of books,cuddly toys and hard plastic toys.It has been ok so far ,not as bad as I expected.He does pull everything off the shelves but as all his toys are of the bulky variety it doesn't take long to shove them back on the shelves when I'm passing.I'm not sure how this will work when he is older and has more toys of the fiddly variety e.e.lego-we will have to go for a box sysytem.I was worried about some of the soft-backed books coming to grief but Ds just pulls them down and flicks through the pages -all intact so far. DS very happy with arrangement.

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theothersteve · 06/04/2006 16:36

I wanted my son to be able to get at his toys whenever he wanted (without having to fetch them on request for him one at a time; which soon becomes a game in itself) so I built him a small wooden castle. The top is open so we can load it with toys and there is a door in the front so he can get in to get them. Unfortunately he prefers to play in the castle than with the toys so he climbs in through the door and pushes all the toys out into the lounge. I’m now thinking of making another box to put next to the castle to actually put the toys into.

lazycow · 06/04/2006 17:10

Blimey theothersteve - your ds is lucky. I wish dh was so handy in the DIY department. We just have several rather unattractive clear plastic boxes and nowhere to store them other than on the floors .

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