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Batteries not required
Jun. 17th, 2009 09:33 pmI know a lot of parents set rules for what their kids are and are not allowed to play with. My mother in law had a thing against guns. I can't recall any rules my parents might have had. As far as I can recall, we had everything. Though some things got taken away after a while (for example, the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine made a mysterious disappearance when it was discovered just how very messy it was).
I'm toying with a rule for our house... nothing electronic or requiring a battery. Nothing drives me quite as nuts as hearing the same electronic tune over and over like a cell phone that won't stop ringing. I'm not necessarily against repetitive tunes (my mother used to have a musical mobile that wound up and worked like a music box and I thought that was fantastic, and it obviously played only one thing) nor am I against noise in general (banging pots and pans is okay by me). What bothers me about it is the reliance on technology to entertain, and the waste of energy this represents. I don't think children, especially very young ones, need batteries to be entertained. I'd like to try to be environmentally responsible, and battery-powered toys just don't fit with my ideals there. It's certainly something that will be revisited when the kid gets old enough to want a Nintendo DS, but as an infant/toddler, it's something I'd like to avoid.
I'm also not real nuts about plastic, but I don't think I'll be quite as strict on that one. So far everything I've purchased has been made of wood, metal or cloth or a combination of those things. I've got some used stuff that's plastic that I will probably keep, and I don't think we'll be refusing gifts that aren't natural materials, but I have a preference anyway.
Other than the little beagle stuffed animal, and the used toys I got off craigslist and my mother, we haven't really got any toys for the baby yet, so today I went out in the world to see what I could find. Shopping for toys is (as expected) a tonne of fun!!! Babyearth had a fantastic selection of wooden toys that I was just drooling over. Many were for children of an older age range, and I can't wait to start buying building blocks, tea sets and little pots and pans and rolling pins and the like (Ikea has an amazing selection of this stuff). Though there wasn't as much selection for the very youngest kids, I did manage to find a few items that were suitable for our not-even-here-yet little one. Between Ikea and Babyearth I secured an abacus, a bead roller coaster, a band in a box, and a wooden rattle/teether thingy. The teether is probably the only thing that will be useful at this point, and even then it might take a few months. The other items will just be colourful room decor for now. I'm not sure about the age ranges for stuff or when babies get interested in something other than sleeping and eating. I also picked up a couple of those little fabric books with different textures and stuff on the pages. Rhonda said those are a big hit at the pediatrician's office where she works.
For the future, I'm desperately wanting The Coliseum in wooden blocks! but that's for a few years down the road anyway. And I think we just might have to get the beagle to watch over the nursery. I'm also waiting for babyearth to get a restock on this neat little wooden roller toy. And apparently I'm told I need to get some kind of tummy-time play mat or baby gym with hanging things and also stuff at ground level to encourage time on both back and tummy. There's lots of variety and selection in this area though, so I figured I'd let Jason come along on the shopping trip for that. I could get inspired and make one myself, but with everything else that still needs doing around the house (curtains and stuff) I'm not sure I'd find the time. Probably easier just to find one we like and buy it.
Honestly, I get way more excited about the play possibility of classic toys that inspire creativity and imagination-play than electronic doo-dads. And I seem to remember I felt the same way as a kid. I just hope my child shares that opinion.
I'm toying with a rule for our house... nothing electronic or requiring a battery. Nothing drives me quite as nuts as hearing the same electronic tune over and over like a cell phone that won't stop ringing. I'm not necessarily against repetitive tunes (my mother used to have a musical mobile that wound up and worked like a music box and I thought that was fantastic, and it obviously played only one thing) nor am I against noise in general (banging pots and pans is okay by me). What bothers me about it is the reliance on technology to entertain, and the waste of energy this represents. I don't think children, especially very young ones, need batteries to be entertained. I'd like to try to be environmentally responsible, and battery-powered toys just don't fit with my ideals there. It's certainly something that will be revisited when the kid gets old enough to want a Nintendo DS, but as an infant/toddler, it's something I'd like to avoid.
I'm also not real nuts about plastic, but I don't think I'll be quite as strict on that one. So far everything I've purchased has been made of wood, metal or cloth or a combination of those things. I've got some used stuff that's plastic that I will probably keep, and I don't think we'll be refusing gifts that aren't natural materials, but I have a preference anyway.
Other than the little beagle stuffed animal, and the used toys I got off craigslist and my mother, we haven't really got any toys for the baby yet, so today I went out in the world to see what I could find. Shopping for toys is (as expected) a tonne of fun!!! Babyearth had a fantastic selection of wooden toys that I was just drooling over. Many were for children of an older age range, and I can't wait to start buying building blocks, tea sets and little pots and pans and rolling pins and the like (Ikea has an amazing selection of this stuff). Though there wasn't as much selection for the very youngest kids, I did manage to find a few items that were suitable for our not-even-here-yet little one. Between Ikea and Babyearth I secured an abacus, a bead roller coaster, a band in a box, and a wooden rattle/teether thingy. The teether is probably the only thing that will be useful at this point, and even then it might take a few months. The other items will just be colourful room decor for now. I'm not sure about the age ranges for stuff or when babies get interested in something other than sleeping and eating. I also picked up a couple of those little fabric books with different textures and stuff on the pages. Rhonda said those are a big hit at the pediatrician's office where she works.
For the future, I'm desperately wanting The Coliseum in wooden blocks! but that's for a few years down the road anyway. And I think we just might have to get the beagle to watch over the nursery. I'm also waiting for babyearth to get a restock on this neat little wooden roller toy. And apparently I'm told I need to get some kind of tummy-time play mat or baby gym with hanging things and also stuff at ground level to encourage time on both back and tummy. There's lots of variety and selection in this area though, so I figured I'd let Jason come along on the shopping trip for that. I could get inspired and make one myself, but with everything else that still needs doing around the house (curtains and stuff) I'm not sure I'd find the time. Probably easier just to find one we like and buy it.
Honestly, I get way more excited about the play possibility of classic toys that inspire creativity and imagination-play than electronic doo-dads. And I seem to remember I felt the same way as a kid. I just hope my child shares that opinion.
