Etiquette on toys?

[doadeer]

I have a 10 month old, whenever we go out to meet other mum friends or an activity that's a "bring your baby style" I always bring lots of little toys for him to keep him occupied. Like mini maracas, musical instruments, rubber toys etc

None of my mum friends ever seem to bring any and they always use my little ones toys. Obviously we are happy to share but often they have coughs and colds and it's not very fair of them when the babies will obviously put in their mouth. I try to wipe them but it's not ideal out and about.

What's the etiquette here without being a dick?

Bring loads and keep the ones they use separate - I'd say: "oh does little George have a cold? I'll take that home and sterilise it after then because I don't want my DC to catch it."

Yes I can do - but why don't they bring any?!

Odd they don't bring any, not even a pram.toy.

Could you take fewer toys with you so there aren't enough for everyone to just rely on. Sometimes people can get funny in a group and someone gets the label of toy bringer or organiser. They might be thinking how it's great.you always bring toys and think nothing more of it.

It really get on my wick! These are different mum friends too - so it's not like an nct group where we all meet up.

Yes whats weird is they always comment on me having toys and I want to say bring your own!!!

That would annoy the hell out of me too.
In your shoes I would start just bringing one or two toys when meeting up with them for a while.

i never took a load of toys out with me-
Depends on the plan. My DD had a play thing on her buggy I’d detach, I tended to carry a book or her toy phone not much else.
As for the kid with a cold- went to enough playgroups and soft plays to know at least one kid will always have the sniffles. Anti bag wipes!

@OnlyFoolsnMothers But would your baby want to play with other's toys? The activities have been bring your baby comedy shows and things like that where you know you will be sitting for an hour or so.

I think part of the problem might be uou taking so much. My dd would happily sit with 1 toy if it was her favourite and all that was available. However if you bring out 5/6 new toys, of course she would want to explore them. I ageee that you might want to consider limiting your collection sp that they're less appealing

doadeer probably would bring a mix of the odd toy, a snack, a bottle.
Guess every child is different, once mine started crawling all the toys in the world wouldn’t have kept her still and younger than that she was just intrigued with observing the world.
I’d take less toys or choose meet up locations that are kid friendly like soft play centres or cafes with toys etc

I do go to soft plays and baby classes as well - we have quite a busy life 😂

My little boy just loves maracas and music instruments so I always have a few of those knocking around my bag. He's much more intetested in them than crawling in a soft play.

I just think given I've been out with these people many times and everytime their babies want to play with the maracas that they should bring a couple items for their babies.

I agree that the issue is probably that if you're setting up a load of toys their babies will want to play with them, even if they would have been perfectly happy without them if they hadn't been on offer. I never really carry toys for DS about because he's not very interested in familiar, boring things from home if we're out and about and there are new things to look at - but he'd certainly be interested if someone brought along a selection of toys that he'd never seen before!

Just stop bringing so many toys with you if it really bothers you so much to see other babies play with them. You can't ask people not to let their baby play with a toy without sounding really precious, because you are in fact being really precious!

Also, I hope you're not bringing these musical instruments or mini maracas to cafes or anywhere that isn't strictly for babies - I think even taking them to a 'bring your baby comedy show' is very much pushing it!

I agree with LisaSimpsonsbff children tend to gravitate to toys that aren’t theirs that are new to them. me and my friends tend to let the other’s kid take a toy home from a play date now

I didn't say I'm making noise in a cafe I was just giving an example that he likes to sit and play with things. I'm talking about baby- centric places. Today his favourite thing was a little toy hammer from his DIY kit.

I don't think im being precious at all that's quite rude... I always let the other babies play with my sons toys, in fact on a couple of occasions I've given them to borrow as they were enjoying so much. I just wish the parents would bring an item for their baby as they know we will be sitting for a while and their little one will need to be occupied and as babies often have colds and coughs and everything goes in the mouth it means my son can't in fact play with his own things. I do a bring your baby quiz and I always sit on the floor and play with him during it. I wouldnt expect him to sit in a high chair for 2 hours without anything to play with.

Just share the toys. Life is too short.

If they brought toys it wouldn't stop their babies wanting to play with yours. All it would achieve is that your DS would want to play with their toys and stick them in his mouth, and you'd realise how incredibly annoying it is to spend the entire time stopping your baby playing with a toy that they find incredibly tempting.