Toys NOT to buy for xmas

[miggy]

Thought we could start a thread to warn people against wasting their money on certain toys for xmas. My vote goes to anything from the "ready steady cook" range. We have the popcorn maker-basically a light bulb that pops one kernel every 2 minutes, nearly as well used as the icecream maker which produces horrible slush from a sachet full of chemicals. Both have been used once and take up huge amount of space-utter rubbish!

i'm sure it's true as i think i read it on another thread from her....(i think)......my quetion is baths.do you bath them and then put their clothes back on? Would it not be easier to put on p.j's or is it the morning rows???

I am crying with laughter at my desk. My colleagues think I have gone mad. And I can't explain !!!

Angeliez - good question! However it doesn't sound like they get baths - just more arguments there you see - and at least the grandparents won't know!!!!!!!!!

Oh Zebra - pls come back - where are you?

Oh Zebra! Brilliant!!

lol Thomcat

I have this picture in my head of these children asleep in bed wearing their coats & hats & scarves because they are going out in the morning.

Kayleigh, I'm the same, this is just sooooo funny. I guess these kids get a bath every December, whether they need one or not !!!

ThomCat you're right. eccentric people make the world a more interesting place.
God tho' I hope this never comes to the attention of social services!

My ds needs clean clothes at least twice a day. presumably zebra's kids use anywayup cups all the time, and never eat anything spilly .

I think you guys are the ones who are irrational. How are young children, who barely ever sweat, supposed to get their clothes dirty in bed at night -- or wear them out?

I do change kids' clothes if they're dirty, but often the clothes truly do need days to get dirty (I am very fastidious about cleaning bottoms, mind). The worst I would say about our habits is the kids' clothes are sometimes wrinkled, but they would be anyway since I can't be bothered and DH only irons his own clothes.

I don't (usually) wear day clothes to bed myself (well, ok, sometimes I do).

Now, I'll go one better. For life of me I can't understand why most people insist on a shower in the morning. If I have one (gasp, not every day), it's at night time. Who wants to go to bed all smelly? Sounds disgusting.

I get the impression that a lot of people sweat a lot at night so need the morning shower. But I don't; if I get too hot in bed I get nightmares, so I don't run the risk of getting too hot. Or maybe I would take showers in the morning, too.

Yes, I go to great lengths to avoid arguments. We get tantrums from DS and fussing from DD most days over so many issues. Minimising the clothes debates is worth it. Sign me up for Wimps Anonymous, then.

Oh well, glad I brought some amusement to Mumsnet today!

Zebra - I think you're brilliant!
Yes you have amused my today but in a very pleasant way - I hope I haven't offended you buy thinking this most amusing and calling you barmy - I meant it in the nicest way possible!!

Zebra, you do have a point. And I guess you have the washing machine on one hell of a lot less than most of us. Which can't be a bad thing.

do you think they're comfy though? i hate sleeping with anything restricting on!

PS - I have a bath in th evening, although not every night, and shower in thre morning so I smell fresh but also becasue it helps wake me up.

Also Lottie wears PJ's as it's part of the winding fdown from the day and slipping gently into bedtime thing. PJ's + bottle of milk = story and bed.

However I do like your view on things - I couldn't and wouldn't go there personally - but no matter - you have a very relaxed and possibly slightly unusual outlook which I like

For the followup questions that appeared in the time it took me to write the last essay:

Usually do change the kids clothes after a bath, but they don't bathe every night; they usually like taking baths, but we rarely insist on it if they don't feel like it. I don't see the need for a bath with a creature that doesn't sweat, and in winter it's the clothes not the kid that gets dirty, (not that the clothes do always get dirty).
My kids prefer drinking out of AnyWay Up cups; from ordinary cups they would only get water which dries cleanly if it does spill.

DD did have a recent phase of insisting upon sleeping in her coat, complete with hood up. She wore coat 24:7, including post-baths, but it was prised off to get washed every 4-5 days. Getting other, older child to wear a coat & shoes to go out the door is such a big hassle, I can live without bed- & morning-time arguments about clothes, too.

I can assure you that dsses pjs are dirty.... Yuk.

My point was that BY wearing pjs you make the clothes last longer.

The pants thing worries me

DS1 went to bed with his wellies on once. Does that count?

Personally I don't see what's so barmy about sleeping in day clothes. Sleeping in a cycle helmet, now THAT'S wierd

I guess even more time/money could be saved if the children were bathed wearing their clothes and then popped into the garden to run around until they were dry. You'd only need one set, then.

I must admit, I like to "let it all hang out" in bed and couldn't bear to sleep in my clothes, esp jeans. I dunno about children not sweating - one whiff of my dd's feet will convince you otherwise and they've been smelly since babyhood.

My initial thought was "what about the weetabix?". A significant duty of my DS's pjs (which I change about every 3 days - he is 2.8) is to have weetabix spilled on them. Sometimes at weekends I don't get him dressed until lunchtime because he doesn't want to and I can't be bothered with the hassle which is where I very much do agree with you Zebra. But its more the washing/teeth cleaning that causes the problem than the dressing.

Our grandparents don't buy pjs though. Just horrible socks which are poor quality with cartoon characters on them. I have made the mistake of calling them "nasty socks" and DS has picked up on this so I'm heading for trouble.

I suppose we are just all VERY conventional. The problem is how long do you go on in this way, before you realise that perhaps habits should change.

For example, the first time a child goes to stay over at a friend's house. That child is likely to get laughed at for going to bed in dayclothes (or the friends mum will ostracise you).

the other thing is that if you let them dictate when they do or don't get dressed, they have the upper hand. How do you get your kids to acquiese to your wishes when it's important?
Hey but Zebra I admire you for living your life the way you want.

only bath kids every 4-5 days??? They must be ultra-fastidious kids! DD comes home from nursery coated in glue, mud up her legs and so on. It's only since she started school that i've switched to washing her hair every 2 days instead of daily (attempt to minimise chances of nits).

Like everyone else, what about underwear???

weetabix is a valid point and soupy - no he is obsessed with his helmet STILl but doesnt sleep in it.

My ds doesn't get bathed every night. No way does he need it! And with his excema it's not good to do it too often anyway. Every 2nd or 3rd night is well enough. He's 2.3yrs.

I find that a wash of the hands, bottom and face before bed is sufficient. Unless he's been painting or drawing on himself!

Clean PJ's every night, but after reading this I don't actually know why!! I wear the same PJ's for 2 or 3 nights in a row... hmm.

I must say lottie is only 22 months and not crawling yet so she's going to get a lot dirtier - but already - there's no way I couldn't not bath her for 4-5 days. She loves to spit out the last bit of her yoghurt for example and rub it all over her face and hair - NICEEEEEE!!!! I haven't had a chance to bath the little minx for 2 days so begged my mum to do it for me today as her hair was solid!!! I might just let her have dreads tbh - that would be a lot easier for everyone.