Not suitable for under 36 months ...

[tomps]

What is it that magically happens overnight when kids turn 3 that suddenly makes all the toys suitable for them. Apparently it's not safe to paint / crayon / use musical instruments etc etc until you have achieved this milestone. Mostly I ignore it, but sometimes I wonder if there's a really good reason (other than ELC just covering their back ) for it ? So, has anyone dared to subject an under 3 year old to a bath containing 'bath tints' (they change the colour of the water ... and of two year olds also ?) or are they completely harmless ?

Hi tomps ... I have not usually bothered about that 'magic' age ... the only thing that I have thought about is if it says 'has small parts' ... I think that that age mark has a lot to do with manufacturers covering their backs as you say ...
I have never heard about the rule of paints and musical instruments before the age of 3 ... I have been doing all of that stuff with DS since before he was 1!!!!
I think all mums and dads know their own child and know what is suitable for the individual child ...
Oh, and no ... I have not tried the 'bath tints' but only because we have never had them!!!

Oh god, so many of those labels are complete pants! Sorry, I don't know about bath tints but mostly I've applied common sense and so often those under 36 months labels just don't apply. I assume it's some avoiding litigation thing. What's in these bath tints? If it's just plain old e numbers I'd say don't worry (unless you've got an e number sensitive child) - I used to put food colouring in the bath for ds at 2.5 and he loved it. Amazingly, it doesn't tint their skin or the bath when used in moderation and it's only 40p a bottle which goes a long way.

What a good idea, www. Bath tints are £4.99 per tub of 20 tablets and colour the bath water. Just as food colouring apparently does... shall never be distressed at refusing my boys tub tints again but rather will offer them their choice of food colourings for the bath!

I should imagine that toys for under 36 months have to pass more stringent testing and are under tougher (and hence more expensive) regulations. Must be cheaper (especially with own brand toys) just to bung the "not for under 36months" label on - or am I just a cynic?

When DS2 was born DS1 was just over 2 years old, so the time No.2 was getting about himself (11 months) he wanted everything that No.1 had i.e. hot wheels cars, trains, thunderbird rockets so all the toys that were suitable for a 1 year old got relegated to the loft. He would occaisionally beat the living daylights out of a musical toy for a 1 year old but that was as far as it went.
Obviously we keep an eye on things but mostly he's always just copied DS1 when playing with little things and things haven't dissappeared in mouths or up noses so by and large we ignore the 3 years+ symbol and as yet haven't had any Accident and Emergency visits

I agree with what EmmaTMG says. It is really difficult to keep all the 'over 3' things away from younger brothers and sisters - you can guarantee that they always want the thing with little wheels/bits etc!! My dd is 13 months and loves playing with ds's 'big boy toys'. The only problem is that she loves to put everything in her mouth, so we do have to try and watch what she is doing - easier said than done sometimes! We do keep some things away, eg ds has a game with lots of very small balls, so we only play with it when she is having a nap.

HI Tomps,
I've used bath tints with ds2 from about 18months, with no ill effects. Just seems to be a stick of food colour that fizzes around as it dissolves in the water, and I think they put the age warning on in case kids put them in their mouths. Like everyone else on this thread, I tend to ignore that 36-month-warning, unless there is something very obvious that may cause harm ( ie some of the fiddly bits on playpeople look like trouble to me).

food colouring's a Top Tip, cheers www. I also ignore the over 3 thing, it's just ridiculous, not dissimilar fom the boy / girl toys thing going on at Mothercare. Ghosty - i noticed ages ago that all the musical instruments at Mothercare are only for over 3's ! Maybe sometimes it means that developmentally they're more ready for a certain thing at an older age, but that's a bit rubbish too IMO - dd might not be able to hold a paintbrush or blow a recorder right now, but it doesn't stop her enjoying them !

The magical 36 months must be some milestone according to all these toys you can use after it!!! DD is only 10 months but we paint and coour occassionally, and we have playdough, etc. too. I'm with her when she uses it and I am hardly doing o let her eat them (before or after she is 3 years old!!!) am I? I just use common sense. She also has some little dollies that say for over 3 years but I have had a good pull on their hair and limbs and nothing comes off loose. I even had a prod of the eyes to check they were fine too.

I think the 3 year thing was brought in after a couple of children had choked to death on small parts. There was also the problem of a child falling with something like a paintbrush in their mouth which then pierced the back of the throat. Felt tip pen and biro lids used to be lethal because they had no openings, so if one lodged in the throat no air could get past. I think, but can't quite recall, that Esther Rantzen's consumer programme 'That's Life' might have led the campaign on that issue. Maybe the age of three was the cut-off point because by then children have grown out of putting everything into their mouth? As Clairandrich says, you just have to use your common sense.

It's such a shame my dog doesn't heed the warnings. She loves eating wax crayons and then does rainbow-coloured poos for days - the glitter ones really add that special something!

I made our own playdough, so I know it's not too toxic when the 16 month old has a nibble.

Some of my fave items with stickers on them saying "Not for under 3 years old due to small parts":

1. Ordinary size Frisbee bought in Spain.
2. 'Naughty', glow-in-dark, spice-up-your-love-life dice bought in a novelty shop, with words like "Blow", "Toes", "Suck", "Lick", "Pet" on them....

Any one can better those?

Message withdrawn

I must admit I thought that manufacturers stuck this "not suitable for under 36 months" label on anything they could not be bothered to manufacture to the stringent EC guidelines for such toys. Hence hugely toddler-friendly toys such as crayons being verboten.
What makes me cross is partyware catalogues featuring irresistible little toys for goodie bags, all "not suitable", and comics plainly aimed at 2-3 years with freebies similarly labelled.
But we've let ds have heaps of "unsafe" toys if they were developmentally OK, and just made sure he was constantly supervised if we genuinely felt they might be iffy. And he's been painting himself yellow and pink in the bath on a regular basis since he was 18 months...

I think (but am not completely certain) that the EU has actually designated certain sorts of toys as suitable for under 36 months (such as soft toys, although these still have to have a warning if they have for example small parts).

Scarily enough there is actually a list of chemicals and the maximum amount the child can be subjected to each day from a toy, so presumably ones that get sucked more have to take this into account.

Interestingly you still have to conform to the regulations and display the CE mark if you sell home-made toys (at church jumble sales etc) but not if second hand.

But the really mad bit is the list of things that AREN'T toys so don't have to conform to any regulations (including, I guess, those chemical ingestion levels...):

1. Christmas decorations
2. Detailed scale models for adult collectors
3. Equipment intended to be used collectively in playgrounds
4. Sports equipment
5. Aquatic equipment intended to be used in deep water
6. Folk dolls and decorative dolls and other similar articles for adult collectors
7. "Professional" toys installed in public places (shopping centres, stations etc)
8. Puzzles with more than 500 pieces or without picture, intended for specialists
9. Air guns and air pistols
10. Fireworks, including percussion caps
11. Slings and catapults
12. Sets of darts with metallic points
13. Electric ovens, irons or other functional products operated at a nominal voltage exceeding 24 volts
14. Products containing heating elements intended for use under the supervision of an adult in a teaching context.
15. Vehicles with combustion engines
16. Toy steam engines
17. Bicycles designed for sport or for travel on the public highway
18. Video toys that can be connected to a video screen, operated at a nominal voltage exceeding 24 volts
19. Babies' dummies
20. Faithful reproductions of real firearms
21. Fashion jewellery for children

So don't let your baby chew anything from Claire's Accessories...

Hmm, just thinking, I don't suppose the die-cast car DS2 has been teething on the last few days is the best idea!