Getting rid of all plastic/flashing lights/noisy toys ... did you? ... my son is 5 months old....

[Hymanroth]

My son is 5 months old and he has never been interested in toys ... I have a manhattan wooden toy/bead thingy and he loves it. He loves a baby gym that's kick and play piano and thats really it. 

For xmas my son got a really obscene (from grandparents) amount of toys that are ALL plastic and most are actually quite loud and have flashing lights. My gut instinct tells me that these are not good for my son and do not promote learning or whatever ... and most studies I read say they aren't good and most have a noise level that's dangerous for babies. 

In desperate times, like when I'd like to prepare dinner or something and he is not interested in being carried/in my carrier at that moment ... I'll give him a toy and put him on his wool mat next to me in the kitchen and let him play. 

What do you do in those types of situations? When he needs something to entertain him? 

Is it too late if he is showing interest in the toys???

I found all these toys that are montessori and waldorf on Etsy and will replace with those. I guess I'll donate the ones I'm getting rid of to a church or Salvation army. 

What do you think? Any advice? Is it ok to get rid of them? will he miss them? 

[azhie]

My dd is 7 months old and loves the loud plastic rattles that my SIL gave her. I can see she prefers them to the other toys she has. That said, she doesn't miss those rattles when they're gone (we rotate her toys so she doesn't get bored). I don't think babies that young can remember what toys they have?

[Just1More]

I would pass them on.  I'm in the "not good for baby camp."  My kids have had very, very few toys like that, and I really think it has been good for them.  They have times when they would like passive entertainment (don't we all!), but I've taught them to find that in looking at a book, or being read to by dh or I, or some other calm activity.  He'll learn to find great joy in taking things in and out, banging a wooden spoon on a metal pot, and the like...and all of those activities are so much better for him than being blinked and flashed and noised.

A side note...people always comment on how quiet and calm our children are.  One friend said that contrasting our minimal, mostly wood, no flashing things house, with another friend who did the flashy toy thing was very striking.  She said she just hadn't realized before what those toys, and regular household clutter do to a person.  Even grownups feel more tense and stressed in that environment.

I'm not saying that loud flashy toys will necessarily make a child loud and crazy, but I do think that the LACK of them certainly tends to keep a child more grounded in things that are solid and real, and take his own careful thought.

[Gracecody]

Ditto, I would agree and say to pass them along. We try and steer clear of things like that too but a couple have snuck in as gifts. I have held onto one in particular which is a Baby Einstein soft caterpillar that plays classical music and has saved our sanity in the past on car rides, as none of my kids have been fans of their car seats and don't take pacifiers. :)

[Hymanroth]

So I gathered the toys in a huge tub and I'm getting rid of them! Donating I guess. 

My son doesn't even care lol. I was a little worried he got used to his toys being all in a pile in the living room. 

I even ordered some waldorf/montessori toys from etsy :) 

I kept one loud toy which is a fisher price monkey that makes noise ... actually another that is a tummy time toy ... :) LOL. Those are for emergencies!

[yellow73]

At five months he really isn't going to miss them.  We've keep things pretty minimalist with toys, and the older my kids get the more entertained they are by "non-toy" things anyway.  Anything in a kitchen cupboard is way more exciting than something in the playroom anyway :)  Books, outside play, dress up, coloring and art supplies, puzzles and blocks keep my kids very busy.  (They are boys ages 3 & 5 now, by the way.)  My kids weren't ever interested in tv until after age 2, and movies are my emergency tool.  Mostly nature videos.  People are often surprised at how my kids are able to focus on tasks when the situation calls for it, and how interested they are in learning about the world, plants, animals etc.  But they are also high energy boys and have their share of 'crazy time' when nothing but running in circles for a few hours (when they can't go outside) will do.

[Hymanroth]

Speaking of tv, since about 2 months old, the tv really gets his attention. I don't have the tv on ever during the day (I'm a sahm) but my husband will turn it on when he comes home from work and well watch movies or sports on the weekend ... Still, baby just loves looking at the tv. I never have put cartoons or sat him in front of it - and made it clear to SIL we do not encourage tv and definitely not cartoons, when she began playing a cartoon for him. He's 5 months old. Lol. 

[yellow73]

My personal feeling with technology and kids, tv, game systems, etc. is that moderation is the key.  Part of me would love to have a household with no television at all, but that's probably not going to happen, so we just have a tv that plays movies for the kids once in a while, no cable.  I've been able to resist having any game systems in the house or handheld electronics for the kids so far. I'm fine with them playing at someone else's house, I just like to have my home be a quiet, less frantic paced place. So far, mine haven't asked, but I anticpate that in the next few years. :)

[modestmothering]

Since the moment I conceived, I have told all my friends and family that I do not want any products with a large list of chemicals, preservatives, and other ingredients in it.  I have been so stalwart about it that everyone calls me before they purchase anything for our baby. I tell them no plastic anything, and the list is long.  They know that if I do receive something toxic, I will send it back. 

I think that there is nothing wrong with be very transparent about your values.

[Hymanroth]

I actually really enjoy movie time with my husband ... too bad we have a gigantic flat screen mounted to a wall in our living room ... so anytime it's on my son just stares at it. Lol. I usually am holding him all the time so I turn his back to it ... and play/talk to him and get his attention. I don't really mind when we have movie time or watch a football game because its more like family time because DH/Me/Baby sit right next to each other :)

I am bothered when I go to grandmas and she wants to put baby/sil wants to ... right in front of the tv on a pillow watching a cartoon. NO THANKS! or on the iPhone/ipad. 

My nephew is ADDICTED to having an iPhone in his hands constantly playing video games and will not even look up from it. He's 4. I vowed that I will never give my son video games! Lol. Hopefully my SIL and MIL do not spoil it for me. Also, they're another story. They buy a huge box of mini muffins and chocolate and chocolate yoo-hoo and fruit rollups which my husbands siblings kids devour and I will NEVER buy that stuff or eat it or give it to my son or even my husband lol. They know it too. So I wonder how that will work?

I already made it clear that I don't want anymore toys given to my son. I don't have any room for them anyway. I wonder how to handle Bday parties... in Aug hell have his 1st and I don't want any plastic toys given b/c I will just give them away. 

[rinap]

For parties, you can request no gifts. For close friends and family, you can make it clear what you want and don't want.

For everyone, you can thank them for being so thoughtful and then donate the gift to someone who would like to have it.

Especially with grandparents and food, they want to be able to give the kids treats they don't always get. So figure out what would be a treat that you *will*allow. When I was little we got cheerios at grandma's house. Which my mother would never buy. But I found out years later that my cousins got coco crispies...one step more treaty than their parents allowed, but not something my parents would ever let us eat.

We're lucky: we're still in the "If I can't see it now, it doesn't exist" stage. That makes culling easier. As do the loads of hand me downs, which means we get to pick and choose.

[Adaline'sMama]

Since your son is just 5 months old, Id imagine that a lot of the toys arent really for his age group. If it were me, I would get rid of the ones I found the most offensive, and save the ones that I think could be educational in the future. For example, I got rid of the singing toolbox, because I knew we were going to buy DD wooden tools that look real. I kept the electronic piano. For me, its all about moderation.

[Hymanroth]

Hi! Here's my update. So funny that I also had the noisy tool bench :) and now I feel better bc I remember too that there's a wood version I saw! 

The wood toys I got, mostly from smiling tree toys on Etsy (no affiliation) are all huge hits. Theyre mostly montessori toys. He lives them so much. Especially the one that looks like a cage with a bell inside ;) he never showed interest in all his toys and even was startled by the noise and flashing lights.