There are parents who say that every month they spend impressive amounts of money on their children’s toys, even though they already have a house full of toys and have no place to store them. Other parents do not even make the calculation but feel that they have exaggerated a little, also helped by grandparents or other relatives and friends who “do not come to see the child with empty pockets”.
Should I spend less on toys?
As a mother, I can tell you that there is no need to spend a lot of money and time in choosing lots of toys because the abundance of toys reduces the quality of the game for young children and fewer toys will come with benefits for children in the long term. Through the game, children learn to interpret the world around them, increasing their cognitive, emotional, social, and physical skills and their subsequent health and well-being. In addition, gaming-based learning prepares children to learn with an open heart and to be successful.
Some parents cannot stop buying toys and that is for various reasons.
There are parents who actually buy toys for their inner child, and you can recognize them by the way they spend money on games and toys recommended for an older child, which will fit their child only a few years later. An example is: the baby barely sits on his bottom between cushions and his father buys a remote-controlled helicopter or even a miniature machine that imitates a real car that the baby will be able to use in at least two years
Other parents buy toys because they did not have as children because they saw toys in the hands of other children and their parents did not have money or did not consider children’s wishes a priority. It is enough for the kid to say he wants something he saw another child playing with, and these parents are already on their way to the first store so that their toddler won’t weep and suffer. There are parents who believe that toys develop the child’s brain, so they buy them ever more interesting toys with various activities, toys that sing, talk, move, interact with the child, toys that imitate sounds or domestic objects around the baby, and so on.
Does it make sense to spend a lot of money on toys?
Does it make any sense to spend money on toys of which your child will get bored of quickly and which will drag you into a vicious circle of “I want” or “what did you buy for me today?” or “what have you brought me today?” or “why don’t you buy it for me?” Studies show that the child’s intelligence develops when the child starts to invent games with that toy. In this respect, the most expensive toys are not the most useful to develop the child’s intelligence.
Toys that have lights, make sounds, do a variety of things are the ones of which your child may get bored even before the battery of the toy is over. When the toy shows the child everything it can do, soon it will be replaced by another that makes things more interesting or, at least, similar things. But if the toy is not replaced quickly, he will start imagining other games with the same toy. The simpler a toy is, the sooner the baby will get bored of it, and then will start imagining more and more games. From this moment on, creative thinking is developing. So, do we have to let the baby get bored of a toy? Yes.
Rotate the available toys
How do you do that? Choose a few toys that will be within your child’s reach: Construction toys, toys for fine motricity, a doll, a car, a sleep toy, and a few more. You should put the rest of them somewhere in a box, in a cabinet, where the child will not see them. After a period, of a week or more, if you see that the toys are still of no interest to the child, replace them with others and recall the used toys. You can buy a large transparent box to put the toys of the week. The child will be delighted to have new toys available and you will be happy to have a joyful and happy child without spending money on toys every week.
Expensive or cheap toys?
We feel that an expensive toy is more beautiful, but we look at it with adult eyes. A child might be much more interested in the empty box he took out his gift from than in the toy you bought. Youțve probably noticed that if you give a baby, who can already sit, a colorful and beautiful toy and a household object that is white, black, or silver, the child often chooses the household object.
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A plastic bottle partially filled with various liquids, oil with water, and a little kitchen dye, or solids, beans, rice can fascinate the baby for days. A saucepan and a few objects of different materials, hard plastic, soft plastic, wood, stainless, can hold the child busy for a long time, as long as you can resist the noise because the child’s interest lasts more than you think. Toys that imitate the objects used by parents will be highly appreciated and, later, you can buy them simple toys with which they can play role games, for example, a wooden-cut cake with a wooden knife, a wedge with which they can pick up smaller things, a magnifying glass with which they can see leaves, and so on.
A mountain of toys for every holiday? Definitely not!
The grandparents, aunts, godfathers, friends, all bring toys to every anniversary? Probably so, and here you are with a house full of new toys, which are more colorful and noisier. What will happen to them? More often you stumble on them around the house than your child plays with them. What can you do? Make a list of the toys you want them to buy for your child and ask your loved ones to buy them on the grounds that the child wants them or in the idea of having no doubles of toys.
If the relationship is very good, you can ask your loved ones to put money together to buy something more special or even buy a toy, and the rest of the money to be transferred into a child capital accumulation insurance. The child will certainly forget the toys with which he played or their number, but the money will be of great use to him as he grows.
Rules and limits at the toy store
If you set a limit and keep on it, no matter how much the child insists on breaking it, it will then be easier to shop. I tell you from my own experience, you will enter the toy store with your child and go out with nothing, sometimes, and a happy child. Children are curious, often “I want” means “I’m curious about this toy”. If the child can see it close and imagine how to play with it, he will sometimes give up the toy because his need and pleasure have been accomplished.
How to set a limit for the child?
Before you go to the shop, talk to your baby and let him know what you will buy and what is the limit you will set.
The limit may be a toy at a shop visit, a toy per week or month, a toy for every donated toy or a toy whose price is under a certain amount, etc.
The limit varies from family to family and it is good to be so, as we do not have the same income and the same personal values. Here, as well, we must consider how we are as a family, what priorities we have and not compare with other parents, families, by the child’s insistence or leave ourselves influenced by fashion; yes, there is fashion even at a young age, from clothes to toys, optional private classes and more.
Show your kid that you also want a lot of things too, and don’t always buy them. The explanations should become more detailed as your child grows and understands more about financial education.
Low age limits will help your child understand and not suffer, be frustrated, or feel that the world is unjust when they get a refusal from you because you don’t want or cannot buy something. It will be equally easier to pass over refusals that will come from the surrounding people, to find an explanation, and to see everything from a more positive perspective.
The excitement of a new toy does not last, but the joy of experience can take a lifetime. Time is the best gift of all, the best gift we can offer to those who mean the most to us.