Tuesday, 21 August 2012
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Tell Me Tuesday: What is one toy that you refuse to buy for your child?
Flashing lights, battery-drainers, annoying music, easily broken pieces - we all know these toys. They are the toys that we avoid in the store, we know that once they come into our home we are doomed from the moment we put it into the hands of our precious child. Our child can take a cute looking toy and turn it into the world's most annoying piece of plastic.
So what toy do you absolutely refuse to buy for your child?
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Comments (34)
Effing SQUINKIES.
Overpriced pieces of choke hazard.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - What on Earth is a Squinkie? Should I worry that my child might want one now that he has started school?
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I can't think of anything. My son likes PBS and the Animal Planet so the toys he picks are based on his interest.
@Erika_Steele@xanga - These are Squinkies, and I just picked a random pack to show you, they are rubber and tiny (less than an inch tall). Every kid I know has them, including mine because lovely friends of ours gave them to my kids (damn them) : http://www.amazon.com/Blip-Squinkies-Marvel-Bubble-Pack/dp/B004WHM816/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345558520&sr=8-3&keywords=squinkies
I probably picked the coolest pack to show...
haha
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - LOL. I Googled it before you responded and I was thinking those look like something my kid would like. Kids like weird things like Cabbage Patch dolls and Garbage Pail Kids....so I figure if my mom did it, I'll have to buy my child strange things too.
My daughter's bike just came with Squinkies and i'm like, "What the hell?!?!" Then my 1 year old started putting them in her mouth, so the trash they went. To answer the questions posted above, i would say one of those Power Wheels...like a Barbie Jeep or anything motorized. I want my children running, playing and biking outside not pushing a pedal in a car
@Erika_Steele@xanga - I still love Cabbage Patch Dolls! They smell so good! ♥
I'm not a mother -yet, but I do have friends with kids and I do my fair share of babysitting and just being around kids in general. What I see is that kids (at least the ones I know) don't even play with toys anymore. I see 8 year olds with iPods and laptops and 11 year olds with iPhones and Playstations. I know when I was a kid I wasn't allowed to own a video game system until I was 12 or 13, sure I could play games at my friends houses but my mom was a single working mom and no way was she going to waste all that money on a system and 1 or 2 games when you could get like 10 Barbies and a full wardrobe of Barbie clothes for that price. So yeah, if I was a mom, I would try to stay away from most electronic toys, even fake cell phones and laptops put the idea in their head that cell phones and laptops are normal for kids, it is not. I would also stay away from buying my daughter any kitchen or "mommy" related toys and for boys, no guns. Kids don't need to be growing up that fast.
@kkrriiissyy@xanga - I almost bought another one a few years ago. I should have.
@Erika_Steele@xanga - They still have them for sale. My best friend gave me one for Valentine's Day this past year. :)
Last year, my best friend's kids went ape crazy over these dumb looking hamsters on wheels called Zhu Zhu pets. They looked ridiculous and the commercial cracked them up to be more than they really were and I knew that when I looked at the package. After xmas, the most action they got was when people would accidentaly step on them in the middle of the floor.
Barbie was a toy shoved down my throat by my mom who was utterly obsessed with them. Just looking at that aisle reminds me of pepto bismol pink.
Lastly, Heely's. Who's brilliant idea was it to revamp the idea of sketcher's skate shoes? I loved those skate shoes years ago, but Heely's decides to jack the idea, take some wheels away, then design them for uncoordinated preteens and kids. I saw them and was shocked that they became the new fad.
My kids are now teens, but one thing I never bought them was a toy gun. I don't think its funny to watch a child pretend to go kill someone.
I've never given my nephew something like a toy gun either.
I'm not a mother, yet. I can't see myself buying any baby dolls for future children though. I have an acute fear of dolls. I'll deal with it if they buy their own with Christmas money or if someone gets them dolls, but I won't be getting them any.
By the way, I'm not talking about barbie dolls or anything like that. It's the dolls that can either blink or that almost look cherub-ish babies, the dolls with the big, soul-less eyes. Yeah, they freak me out. I won't be buying them, personally. I have a few dolls that look like real babies. I don't have a problem with those. They're cute, and I adore Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.
um no webkins...just saying...
I don't mind the battery operated toys like some parents do. I guess I'm just immune to the annoyance of repetitive noises, songs, and silly sounds lol. There are plenty of toys I refuse to buy and ask others not to purchase for our kids, though. I hate the Monster High dolls. I find them grotesque and creepy, and luckily for us, our daughter hates them as well. I also don't let my daughter have Bratz dolls. Sorry to everyone who may like them, but in my opinion, they're just the sluttier version of Barbie. For our boys, we have chosen not to let them have toy guns, especially the ones that resemble the real thing. We allow them to have water guns, and here's why: They don't shoot each other and say they're killing them, they screech with delight at creating a wet spot on someone else's shirt lol. We have also chosen not to allow our kids to have electronic devices until they are at least 12. My daughter and oldest son both have learning laptops that were gifts from their grandparents, and we've allowed them to play with those, but cell phones, ipods, etc are out of the question.
@rachmorgan01 - We also don't allow Bratz or Monster High...I actually think they are inappropriate. But to each their own...
My kids do share a Nintendo DS though. There are some games that are educationally enriching, the Smart Girls series is great, and my 6 yr old also plays games that help her "take care" of animals (which teaches her about the animals but also expands her reading skills without her noticing).
I don't know how you can avoid technology, even with good intentions. It is the world they live in, for better or worse. That can't be changed.
I don't have any kids. I do have neices and nephews, and so I basically tell my sister ahead of time how much I can afford, and she sits down with the kid having the birthday and they pick somthing out and send me links to three toys they want. i pick one and have it shipped to them since the leave across the country.
This allows the kid to have a toy he/she wants and it allows the parents to have a say. Most of the time I buy webkinz animals.
I'm an evil granny and I buy whatever I think will make the most noise. When the parents take it away they are the bad guys and grand ma is the hero. Seriously my son bought his boys a trampoline, full size, and it would scare me to death when they were on it. It required constant supervision and even then they would get on together and I just "knew" they were going to hit heads and bust the other one's open. However they make single size trampolines for adult exercise. Put in a safe place over carpet or grass and they would jump until nap time, yes, even after they started to school. I'm with the mom that says let them use their own energy instead of batteries. Help them to exercise and stay off little games they can sit for hours and play....those are for "trip" entertaining in the car.
@l8rmossimo13@xanga - I have a pair of those shoes and I love them. I wear them around my school and it makes the walk much easier. When my grandfather was dying I would wear them to the hospital and they worked really well there.
I don't have any kids yet, but my best friend has two (4 and 3). When her son goes to kindergarten next year, he is expected to use an iPad for his classes. Once they reach 5th grade, they all are expected to carry around laptops for their classes. That's just crazy! I'm a good "auntie" though and make sure to buy them toys that require them to be active but not make any annoying noises :)
I don't know. I have a grandchild, and his parents are in charge of weighty decisions. My boy loved tonka trucks, and both kids reveled in their sandbox, with varying toys. They had the most fun with a huge t.v. box, that we cut windows out of, and they colored with crayons. I guess if it were up to me, and it's not, I'd stay away from t.v. games and shows. There's a ton of evidence out there that shows intelligence not being improved by electronic games. But my grandson has them, since it ain't up to gramma.
@MeghanLarissa@xanga - I agree with you on the gun front. I have my 8 and 12 year old cousin staying with my parents for the week and I've been staying with them for the summer, and they are jumping around killing imaginary zombies. But I scolded the one for pointing the gun at me and "shooting me" in addition to doing it to the dog, who gets really angry when they point the guns at him. Even if the guns wouldn't make any noise, I don't like the idea. Not unless they are shaped like something crazy like those super soakers or a space age laser gun.
@immoral_sensei@xanga - I'm not saying wheel shoes arent cool. They're awesome. Sketchers had the shoes whereas if you pressed the button on the side, wheels popped out and you could skate with them. Those were old style. Now they have Heely's that have less wheels, same idea, just not as stable. I feel if you're going to have a toy copy another, then make it better...
@l8rmossimo13@xanga - I like Heelies over the Sketchers, they less harsh on your feet and are actually more stable as far as the mechanics go. With the sketchers the lock would always break while skating so the unexpected lack of wheel cased me a lot of scrapes. Though the one way I would Improve both would be to make them high tops.