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The toy jail: healer of sibling rivalry
Filed under: Babies, Preschoolers, Health & Safety: Babies, Toys
I'm not proud. But I admit: I use the
play pen largely to negotiate toy battles.Everett (you know) has all the best toys. No matter what he's playing with that day, it's the only thing 11-month-old Truman wants and he's desperate to get it, at all costs. Naturally, this causes angst. And at not-quite-four years old, Everett's still struggling with the concept of sharing. He will share, when forced or in a particularly friendly mood, but it's not yet a given.
A good 50% of the time when Truman heads for Everett's carefully-designed trainscape or his favorite airplane puzzle, I go for the easy way out: I stick Truman in his pack-n-play with a bunch of (baby-approved) toys. I eliminate sibling rivalry and choking hazards in one fell swoop.
I like to call it "toy jail." Lazy or practical? Feel free to judge, but I prefer a house with a minimum of high-pitched screeching, "Truman's playing with MY TOYS!"
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-16-2006 @ 8:04PM
Cathy said...We use the rule of archeology over here. Everything on the floor is baby friendly. Play table is for things that aren't choking hazards but still not for babies. Kitchen table is no-baby, limited preschooler.
Reply
4-16-2006 @ 8:48PM
Angelica said...Yep...I remember the good 'ole baby jail. I think that lasted about two or three months or me, while my youngest was between nine and ten months old. Nowadays they just go at it like any brother and sister would.
Reply
4-16-2006 @ 9:55PM
ann adams said...We always had a playpen and none of the kids minded.
It becomes a jail only when a kid spends the entire day there.
Reply
4-17-2006 @ 11:46AM
Amy said...I used a play yard for all 3 of mine. It was a safe place to put the baby down so someone didn't step on her! My grandmother bought me one for my first child, the only time I used it was when we visited friends who didn't have baby friendly houses. I kept special toys for the play yard as well. As I had more kids, I remember a few times putting the toddler in the play yard with Legos so the baby could crawl on the floor. The only bad part was making sure all the Legos were out of the play yard before putting the baby back in!
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4-17-2006 @ 7:48PM
Mamacita said...Good for you. Every child deserves his very, very own toys that NOBODY ELSE EVER touches. Sharing is good, but a child needs his own things, too. I think I would have liked my sister better if I had not been forced to share every. single. thing. with her. I had nothing of my very, very own till I moved out on my own. My life was so devoid of privacy and safe possessions that I used to fantasize about running away and living in a tree just so I could have SOMETHING that my sister couldn't destroy. My parent's were not fair. My own kids? They each had their own things that were inviolable, and a chest full of shared stuff. The penalty for touching a personal possession not belonging to you? Too horrible to tell, here. :) I called it 'stealing' and I dealt harshly with it. Of course, if you left it unattended on the FLOOR and one of the BABIES got it, it was your own fault. But the two older ones? Hands off, period. Even if it was lying unattended on a tabletop, it wasn't yours, so don't touch it.
Do you supposed sharing a bedroom with two sisters and having nothing of my own, even underwear, has marked me somehow?
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