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Parenting

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Original poster

How many of you ignore the 3+ guidelines on toys?

28 replies

beowulf · 02/11/2007 21:21

Is it just me being wanton? My almost 2-year old seems to be fine with these toys - I don't give him anything with gratuitously small parts that look appetising, and he generally doesn't put things in his mouth. In any case, he's supervised most of the time. I realised while wrapping the presents for his second birthday that none of them are supposedly suitable for him for another year. Tell me I'm not alone here, please.

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SmellyMurkySky · 02/11/2007 21:24

I have made a judgement on 3yr+ toys for my children - mainly for the XMas before they were 3 in MAy though - so not as young as you.

chankins · 02/11/2007 21:27

I've done this loads of times - you know your own child and know whether a toy is suitable for them safety wise and developmentally. I remember my dd1 had a toy guitar when she was one, and she loved it, then we saw the 3+ symbol on it. Probably just in case a child strangled themselves with the cord thing, but we never left her unsupervised with it.

bodiddly · 02/11/2007 21:27

I gave my ds toys that were for over 3s when he was 2ish .... in fact if you look in a lot of the cataglogues, elc, gltc etc loads of the photos are of 1-2 year olds playing with things supposedly designed for over 3s. It is all down to the stringent laws for things deemed suitable for under 3s I suppose.

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HeadHeartorHormones · 02/11/2007 21:31

Tend to view it as a disclaimer - the toy equivalent of 'dry clean only'. Yes, I will let my child play with them with varying degrees of supervision, but would not for example leave them in his cot. Some of them are quite farcicle as the toy itself is clearly pitched at a baby or toddler and clearly of little interest to a 3yr+.

My particular favourites are the age badges that come on birthday cards. i.e. "I am 2" - not suitable for a child under 3.

Nemo1977 · 02/11/2007 21:32

I look at the toy rather than the age on it. DD1 and dd2 play with some of ds toys that are age3/4+ but I just watch them closely.

Weegle · 02/11/2007 21:32

DS is 17 months and recently I've been letting him have things which are 3+. No matter how I word this it's going to sound like a think my DS is the most intelligent child ever (which I'm sure he's not!) but baby toys just don't cut it for him any more. Obviously I make sure the parts are fine etc but toy kitchens etc are mostly 3+ and these are his favourite thing at the moment. Likewise he's really getting in to playdoh - he's not once tried to eat it and is always supervised so don't see the problem. He also likes my friend's DD's megasketcher which is 3+.

haychEebeeJeebees · 02/11/2007 21:33

Im terrible, if it cant be swallowed or chocked on thats good enough for me!

llareggub · 02/11/2007 21:35

I think there are two sorts of messages.

If it says "not suitable for children under 3 due to choking risk" I avoid. However if it says 18mths+ or similar then I would use with supervision. I think the latter refers more to developmental stages rather than a risk warning.

myjobismum · 02/11/2007 21:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

llareggub · 02/11/2007 21:38

So long as there aren't any bits that can be swallowed/eaten poked into noses/ears etc I say fine.

myjobismum · 02/11/2007 21:43

This reply has been deleted

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Flibbertybatsgiblets · 02/11/2007 21:43

I sort of ignored it for DS1 from about 18 months but it depended what the toy was, but now feel I have no choice but to ignore it for DS2 unless I want to put them playing in separate rooms!

hunkermunker · 02/11/2007 21:45

I was led to believe it was an insurance cost thing. It's cheaper to insure a toy as being suitable for 3+ than it is for younger. Or something.

I take the line that unless it's got chokey bits in it, it doesn't matter. Hence DS2's favourite toy being a large metal spinning top from the age of 7m.

smartiejake · 02/11/2007 21:46

My dd1 didn't put ANYTHING in her mouth until she was 3!

IdrisTheDragon · 02/11/2007 21:49

The playmobil areoplane (if it's the one we have) does have some very small pieces, but tbh, DD who is 2.1 has been around it since DS got it for his 3rd birthday.

sweetkitty · 02/11/2007 21:49

Your right hunker it is an insurance thing, most companies just do the blanket not suitable for under 3's to cover themselves, toys for under 3's have more strict testingand insurance costs (bloke in toy testing lab told me this).

I have DDs 3 and 21 months, we can't just have "baby toys" out it wouldn't be fair on DD1. I have to get two of everything anyway as DD2 thinks she is 3 and has to play with everything DD1 does. She was never interested in "baby toys" either. Small bits get binned as they drive me mad anyway. There is only so much small bits of plastic tat you can have in one house.

suwoo · 02/11/2007 21:50

I saw a peg type jigsaw puzzle today with 3 huge pieces that stated not for under 3 etc. Looked age appropriate for 12m IMO. An average 3 year old would complete it in seconds.

bozza · 02/11/2007 21:50

I really didn't worry about these things at all when my children were small. Neither have been particularly "mouthing" children and DD had pretty much full access to DS's toys (other than if she was likely to destroy) from when she learned to crawl. We did have one panic on a Saturday morning when we couldn't find the keyboard for the Playmobil airport computer and considered that she might have swallowed it, but it turned up.

bozza · 02/11/2007 21:52

Oh well DS got that aeroplane for the Christmas when he was 3.10 so DD would have been 7 months and she was definitely playing with it at that age. She didn't seem interested in the small pieces particularly.

PigeonPie · 02/11/2007 21:53

MyJob, my sis was saying the other day as my DS (also almost 2) was playing with the Playmobil fire engine at her house that her DS was playing with that at DS's age and she just took the small bits away. In fact it was only when it was supposedly suitable for DNephew that he put a hose connector bit from the fire engine hoses up his nose!

DS has also been playing with loads of stuff supposedly not suitbable for under 3s for ages. I'm just careful about small bits. He loves the ELC cut and play food, for instance, and I couldn't see any problem with that at all.

myjobismum · 02/11/2007 21:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dd666 · 02/11/2007 22:01

yep i tend to look see if dd can get bits off or not if it will be safe for her kinda thing. once i got her a woden dog which was 3months+ she was 13mo now 18mo and whilst wheeling it across the floor the head came off and all the little rings if i hadnt of been watchin she could have choked

boo64 · 04/11/2007 20:40

God what could a typical 2 year old play with if you take note of the 3+ warnings?
It's especially annoying when ds's well meaning, childless uncle takes a lot of notice of them and always buys ds too babyish toys cos he figures ds isn't 3 so he had better not risk it.

Generally I give things the once over and am relatively easy going as ds doesn't put stuff in his mouth (or other orifices like ears!)

LoveAngel · 04/11/2007 21:38

My son has plenty of 3+ toys. I use my own judgement, to be honest.

BroccoliSpears · 04/11/2007 21:44

I was told that they have to put 3+ on a toy if, should it get broken, the broken pieces would be small enough to choke on.

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