Tips + Tricks
5 Toys Kids Love But Parents Hate
We’ve all been in that space, your child is opening gifts for Christmas or their birthday and you’re holding your breath hoping it’s not a really annoying or messy toy. Then it happens, a relative inevitably gets your child a toy that makes you cringe. Here’s the latest list of our top 5 toys that kids love but parents hate.
Play-Doh
I attempted Play-Doh when my son was a little over two years old. I thought we were past the stage of putting things into our mouths but we were not. So with that, it was STRIKE ONE for Play-Doh. I attempted again after my son’s third birthday. Of course, he loved it and we didn’t have the problem of putting Play-Doh into the mouth, however, it was still very messy. Not only do little pieces of Play-Doh get everywhere, but he also was mixing the colors, but my OCD also kicked in. NOOOOOO, don’t mix the Play-Doh but it was too late. We now had a brown grayish concoction and so Play-Doh gets STRIKE TWO. However, I’m learning to appreciate the good things about Play-Doh. The fact that it promotes creativity and lets him create is important. My fellow writer Alisha, outlined the benefits of Play-Doh in her blog post a couple of years ago and thus began to open my eyes to the positive side of it.
Kinetic Rock
While I personally haven’t experienced this toy, I’ve had several moms tell me it’s their arch-nemesis. For those wondering “What’s Kinetic Rock?” It’s a natural rock type substance that magically sticks together. Kids can build and mold it into different shapes similar to a Play-Doh. If you look at the reviews, it definitely paints a vivid picture.
“If You Enjoy Cleaning, This Toy Is For You”
“Buy this toy for your mortal enemy’s kid”
“Do not for the love of all socks-get this item”
So ultimately, parents are having an issue with this toy for the same reason they dislike Play-Doh, it’s messy. But it also has the same positive points as well including fostering imaginative play and promotes sensory play.
Sidewalk Chalk
I think you’ll probably notice a pattern here when it comes to the reasons parents dislike certain toys…messiness is not our friend. While sidewalk chalk is great to get the kids excited to go outdoors, it also means sometimes the outdoors comes inside. Sidewalk chalk gets all over kids, their hands, shoes, clothes and inevitably ends up being tracked inside the house. However, if you have a little Picasso on your hands you may have some lovely art to showcase outside your home and be the talk of the neighborhood!
Noisy Toys
Have you found that phantom toy that rattles inside the toy box? Or that toy that randomly starts singing a song in the middle of the night and wakes up your child or you? These are toys that kids love but parents hate. Sometimes it’s the sound puzzle that’s missing the snake piece. So when the sun goes down it activates the sound setting and you hear a hissing. Let’s just say that it took me a while to figure this one out, so I may have thought there was a slithering serpent in my house for a while and drove my husband crazy before getting to the bottom of it.
Then, there’s the musical toys…..the ones that foster your child’s singing or musicality or maybe lack thereof. My husband has said it best when my son got his first set of drums from my brother in law. “Bro, just wait…..revenge is going to be sweet.” He was, of course, referring to the loud banging we would be hearing at 5 AM in the morning to wake us up. While we promote singing and music, sometimes our children don’t understand that there is a time and place.
Legos
Legos are the toy that keeps on giving. These little devils are a pain in the….foot. I’m not sure how many times I’ve stepped on these little guys. I may have a permanent imprint on the bottom of my foot now. I’m also constantly finding the little pieces everywhere, it feels like they are reproducing at great lengths to take over the world.