Toy safety and the under three's.......................

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I have ds1 (3.8) and ds2 (18 mths).

What I find tricky is the constant vigilance needed about ds1's toys in relation to ds2. Toys do get broken and I have to keep a constant beady eye for eg a little tyre that has come off a car belonging to ds1 that ds2 might swallow etc. It's just not realistic to keep all of ds1's "age 3 and over" toys tucked away, as ds1 wants to play with them.

We always try to buy good quality sturdy stuff, which is less likely to break. Sometimes ds1 has been bought things I confess I've binned because I know they will fall apart in 5 mins, and I don't want to pass them on to another child (via a charity shop say) for the same reason.

I just wanted to check that I'm not alone with this problem which can't really be resolved unless you have separate playrooms for each of them!

a lone voice in the wilderness..........

maybe this is just a really boring post

hmm i think it's pretty impossible!
you could have some toys that they can both safely play with, but if ds1 wants to play with his "older" toys then try and get ds2 interested in something else?

don't know really sorry!

I have ds who's 3 and dd who's 2. The only things I keep seperate from dd is ds playmobil other than that everything else is fine.

I was just wondering really if like me, everyone else lives with it and acquires a third set of eyes to go with the ones on the front and in back of the head .

not alone at all, my long fingered friend, my boys are 3.9 and 17 mo and at Christmas I had to put away quite a few things as ds2 would just swallow various parts, sad for ds1 but I haven't got the capacity to watch him constantly.

We are lucky as in the playroom we have what used to be a bar unit thing and ds1 has his own toys on there, but of course now ds2 can climb up too so I have to watch out for that.

I also bin cheap market crap that anyone (often MIL with whom we live) because it falls apart like you say.

So you aren't alone, you just have to take a deep breath and deal with it as it happens, like all the other stuff, which is certainly easier said than done

It's a nightmare and the trouble is, the older they get, the tinier the bits get. Geomag, Lego kits (i.e. with loads of teeny weeny bits), bead stringing sets - all of these conspire to give me heart failure on a daily basis (oldest is 6, youngest is 21 months). And felt tip pens!!! Don't get me started on those .

now that must be difficult

blinkin felt tip pens

Ds is 7 so old enough to know what's dangerous to his sister (14mos) but we still find geomag silver balls/beyblade bitbeasts/other small dangerous things on the floor. We try to keep a lot of his things in his room (i.e. geomag comes down and is then supposed to be put away again) and he knows he has to keep them out of her way, but I don't know what to suggest for a younger one.

my oldest is 5.5, youngest is 22 mo. Actually his favourite toys are the plamobil and the marble run, but he is good with the latter really. Still have to keep an eye on him tho.
Basically I don't get those toys out unless I'm able to stay and play with them all (or another mum is) or the baby is asleep of course.
If I have to be in another room (eg making tea) then I don't let them have those toys or the tiny Lego.
But there are lots of other things they have instead, dress up stuff, Bob toys (labelled as not for under 3s but totally fine), jigsaws, books etc.
This has been an issue to watch for quite a while as DS2 was mobile early and into everything from about 6 mo.

that's a good point about getting the "dangerous" toys out as a treat and you playing with them too when the little one is asleep. That way the older one doesn't seem to mind those toys being generally out of bounds

Yes, I do this, there are definite "complete adult supervision" toys only.

I do like the brio stuff and realised why it's so expensive. I bought a few little trains from the much cheaper tesco range, but bits began to fall off them fairly quickly and had to be binned. The brio trains etc have stood up to very heavy wear and tear and never broken or fallen apart.

WHY do toy manufacturers out there think that ANY childrens toy needs to have about a million (give or take the odd thousand) or so tiny parts!

When a friend came and shared Christmas with us, her girls got L'il Bratz (can't even start on the NAME of that toy) and some "pocket" dolly, of which I can't remember the name, and each thing came with the teensiest, weensiest shoes, handbags, sunglasses, etc ALL of which were strewn around the house within seconds of opening, even by the 7 and 9 year old! Even I couldn't have kept track of all the pieces if it were MY doll! (not suitable for women under the age of 35 years)...

ahh yes catbert, you mean polly pocket, definietly not suitable for an anally retentive, toy-tidying mum like me.
I would fret over the missing shoes