OS for kids: Limiting the quantity of toys.

trolleyrun

Money/toys/stuff can't buy love and happiness. Simples, really. I like hearing stories like the OP and similar. It brings me hope that I'm not living in a completely commercialised and capitalistic place.

Well done folks! :T

Disclaimer: I don't judge people who have lots of toys/equipment to deal with ads/adhd etc. You do what's best for your child and should be applauded as well :T Actually, I try to not judge anyone, as that's not my job.

Lizbetty

Rebob wrote: »

I found the easiest way to deal with Grandma who wanted to keep buying my ds "stuff". I asked her not to buy more as we did not have space for it but this did not work so I started to send something for her house out of his toys each time she bought something. She complained a lot but it got through in the end.:D

We did that with Grandma too! Especially the paint kits with non-washable paint in them :rotfl:

We told her that the kids would be better off with pocket money and she could take them shopping every so often to spend it. It helps teach them the value of it. Or it will I hope, even though my 6 year old STILL wants to spend it all on one of those huge animated, over-priced fluffy rabbits :wall:

valk_scot

I agree...tons of useless plastic that they barely play with is a waste of space and money. But two boxes? We've got two boxes of dressing up stuff alone and goodness knows they've been used endlessly over the last 15 years or so. Very little of the clothes are commerical costume ones btw...most are charity shop buys, handmedowns and things i've made for them. You want an Orc warrior or Elven princess? Come to our boxes.

We've got two huge stacking cases of lego. You can never have too much lego, belive me. Almost all second hand.

A chest of drawers for the art stuff...

Three full bookcases for the kids. (The other 20+ belong to us adults) One of them is full of games and jigsaws. Most of them we've had for years. I used to buy one new game every Christmas, like Jenga or Ludo or Monopoly.

In the past we've had play tents, toy kitchen stuff, train sets, dolls with buggy, bath, bed and clothes (not that Baby Annabel stuff, just basic dolls from ELC and ingenuity) and yes, Barbie & Action Man. These things don't all come at once though. Thank goodness!

And finally, there's the Playmobil. If you're going to have one plastic toy this should be it. We have a lot of Playmobil, almost all of it second hand. It all goes together and you can end up with knights on a desert island or on top of a crane or loafing around in the Victorian dollshouse.


Now as to what we don't have? Plastic tat of the £20-£40 variety stuff that's fad and fashion driven, played with a handful of times, non-educational tat that barely requires any input at all from the kids. Yes, we've had a lot of toys over the years but they've all had a lot of use and they've encouraged the kids to actually play, not just squeak for more of the same. I do limit them but I don't do it by volume. I do it by quality.

Looby_Lou

I get told by DH's grandparents that my kids have too many toys, but I have bought toys that last. Ds had a wooden train set for his first xmas, it still gets played with 8 years later! I don't buy toys except for Christmas and birthdays, but I'm not going to throw toys away simply so that I can say my kids don't get lots of toys after all throwing away toys is hardly environmentally friendly.

meritaten

How Refreshing your post is Avocado! I applaud you! Kids dont need most of the toys they have. I mind my 6 grandkids a lot, and they are happier being creative with craft, or playing with the few toys I DO have available for them. Dolls house is popular with GS as well as the girls - tho he plays with it in a different way - the girls tend to rearrange the furniture and pretend parties etc - while he prefers to pretend to be fireman sam or the police and come in and arrest all the dollies! the very soft sponge football and frisbee is popular as are the toy cars and playtown mat.
and ALL of them prefer to go in the kitchen and make treats!
It took me a while when my kids were young to understand that its not, HOW MANY toys they have - but how MANY WAYS they can play with them!
your kids arent deprived in any way! never think that for one moment!

Cheapskate

Well said, Avocado!

We've rarely had the money to buy expensive presents, but even so I loathe rampant commercialism like this. There's nothing wrong with having a Buzz Lightyear toy (older DS and the youngest both had/have one), or whatever, but that was their Christmas present that year, nothing else! Our kids use their imaginations a great deal, too - Buzz has spent time as a baby in a pram, wrapped in cotton wool as a snowman, in tin foil as a robot and a couple of others I forget!

We set a budget for birthdays/Christmas, and stick to it, and I regularly go through toys, books etc., and get rid of outgrown things to CS and throw anything I can't mend, although I keep a small stock of baby toys for visitors. I only buy quality - would rather have one good game/teddy/dolly than a bagful of tat - some of DH's family (& one of my sisters) have the pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap mentality towards toys, and I try to persuade them to give our kids money, clothes or vouchers as I "don't know" what they want! Quantity-wise I think we've enough toys to fill 3 medium sized storage boxes (incl dolls/teddies), plus a lot of books, some puzzles and board games (most of these last 3 items hand-me-downs or from CS), and a few outdoor toys, like bikes, prams.

My other sister (more OS like me) is doing a dressing up box for our 2 this time - using a box she already has, some outgrown costumes of her son's, a couple of her old handbags and a few things she's got in CS - probable cost around £10 for both of them and it will be stuffed, and I know they'll play with it forever! I'm making a couple of things to add to it as well. I'm hoping to get some Lego for them both, as well, as they're both into construction, would like to go the new Lego shop in Liverpool so I can buy some basic blocks/boards rather than just kits - I love the stuff, too - it's something we'll play together with for ages.

I think that, whatever you buy for your children this Christmas, if you play with them with their toys that's what's going to matter, and what they'll remember!

A xo

rozeepozee

I have 3 kids, a five year old and twins of nearly 2 years.

I bought a few expensive new toys for our first born until I realised what a waste of money they were and how little he played with them, so I stopped buying new and bought from the car boot sale. This still mean he had loads of toys, so we were still consuming, but at least they were recycled. However, he didn't differentiate and it fuelled the "want, want, want" that I think is probably pretty instinctive in small children.

We've since moved from the city to the country, partly due to the desire to escape from the consumerist lifestyle where shopping is a hobby or a career. It is certainly less "bling!" here, the shops are rubbish even if you do want to buy and there's way more going on in the community and more opportunities to be outdoors, so there's less need for toys as there is more social interaction and activity.

We don't go shopping as something to do (it's purely to buy food), there's invariably something going on at the weekend that we can go to as a family or we get out to the country or the beach. In addition, we didn't bring the TV with us and this means there's so much less exposure to advertising.

I agree that some toys are worthwhile. Books are wonderful. My son has learnt to count through playing dominos (you play more games when you don't have a TV!) and he enjoys his Playmobil and as his sisters are desperate to get their hands on it so I've just splurged on some Duplo for them. But they are as happy playing with a ball or going for a walk with us, or watching the horses as they pass by the house (you find entertainment where you can when you don't have a TV). A bucket and spade and a frisby are cheap great buys when you live five minutes drive from the beach too!

In my experience, spending time with your kids is some of the best play time they can have.

rozeepozee

Cheapskate wrote: »

Well said, Avocado!



My other sister (more OS like me) is doing a dressing up box for our 2 this time - using a box she already has, some outgrown costumes of her son's, a couple of her old handbags and a few things she's got in CS - probable cost around £10 for both of them and it will be stuffed, and I know they'll play with it forever! I'm making a couple of things to add to it as well. I'm hoping to get some Lego for them both, as well, as they're both into construction, would like to go the new Lego shop in Liverpool so I can buy some basic blocks/boards rather than just kits - I love the stuff, too - it's something we'll play together with for ages.

I think that, whatever you buy for your children this Christmas, if you play with them with their toys that's what's going to matter, and what they'll remember!

A xo

Your post just reminded me how much fun our kids have in their superhero outfits - all hand me downs from friends. The best birthday present my son had (his words) was last year when my friend who has a son a few years older stuffed all his old dressing up items in a plastic bag and posted them to mine on his birthday. He was utterly delighted!

VJsmum

Lucyeff wrote: »

We told her that the kids would be better off with pocket money and she could take them shopping every so often to spend it. It helps teach them the value of it. Or it will I hope, even though my 6 year old STILL wants to spend it all on one of those huge animated, over-priced fluffy rabbits :wall:

Yeah, well my 15 year old is still a bit like that - the idea of pocket money was that she learned the value but she still spends it - ALL of it. She does earn it - but save it? Don't be daft.

Looby_Lou wrote: »

I get told by DH's grandparents that my kids have too many toys, but I have bought toys that last. Ds had a wooden train set for his first xmas, it still gets played with 8 years later! I don't buy toys except for Christmas and birthdays, but I'm not going to throw toys away simply so that I can say my kids don't get lots of toys after all throwing away toys is hardly environmentally friendly.

My son has "brio" or Brio type stuff and, I can honestly say, it is the best stuff we ever bought - he is 12 but still plays with it at times.

valk_scot wrote: »

I agree...tons of useless plastic that they barely play with is a waste of space and money. But two boxes? We've got two boxes of dressing up stuff alone and goodness knows they've been used endlessly over the last 15 years or so. Very little of the clothes are commerical costume ones btw...most are charity shop buys, handmedowns and things i've made for them. You want an Orc warrior or Elven princess? Come to our boxes.

We've got two huge stacking cases of lego. You can never have too much lego, belive me. Almost all second hand.

A chest of drawers for the art stuff...

Three full bookcases for the kids. (The other 20+ belong to us adults) One of them is full of games and jigsaws. Most of them we've had for years. I used to buy one new game every Christmas, like Jenga or Ludo or Monopoly.

In the past we've had play tents, toy kitchen stuff, train sets, dolls with buggy, bath, bed and clothes (not that Baby Annabel stuff, just basic dolls from ELC and ingenuity) and yes, Barbie & Action Man. These things don't all come at once though. Thank goodness!

And finally, there's the Playmobil. If you're going to have one plastic toy this should be it. We have a lot of Playmobil, almost all of it second hand. It all goes together and you can end up with knights on a desert island or on top of a crane or loafing around in the Victorian dollshouse.


Now as to what we don't have? Plastic tat of the £20-£40 variety stuff that's fad and fashion driven, played with a handful of times, non-educational tat that barely requires any input at all from the kids. Yes, we've had a lot of toys over the years but they've all had a lot of use and they've encouraged the kids to actually play, not just squeak for more of the same. I do limit them but I don't do it by volume. I do it by quality.

Well i have bought Baby Annabel and that type of stuff and the plastic tat of the £20 - £40 variety. Baby A has proved remarkably good value (still played with by 15 year old DD - if no-ones looking:cool:). But there has been a lot over the years that has been donated to charity....

Should we have stood our ground and not bought it? I don't know, maybe, but there has been little that we have bought which has not been used. Gifts from others - more so. We have also bought them a fair share of experiences - show tickets etc. This year we are going for theme park passes (we live quite close to one), and not a lot else - they do grow out of it, and this year will be quite a frugal one.

candygirl

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

If you walked into our house, you would probably describe it as one of those with no space and toys buried under toys buried under toys.

What you wouldn't immediately know is that (1) three quarters of those toys came from charity shops and car boot sales, rather than brand new; and that (2) we are still experimenting with different toys to see which help our son best with this learning, hearing and attention difficulties.

If you did ever visit us, I'd rather you didn't immediately jump to conclusions about us having a "consume consume consume" lifestyle.

I'm the same with my Grandkids.They have every available book toy etc, n like Tigs I get a lot from boot sales and charity shops:D:D