If You Want Your Caregiver to Hate you and Your Child, part 2
…or, you could send him with one of THESE!!!!
You’d think the whistles would be worse, but given their general ineptitude with the whistles – they tended to wrap their lips right over the hole, thus muting themselves – and their unparalleled skill at hammering, this was much, much louder. And, no, it wasn’t in the slightest musical.
With a few guidelines (no more than two kids at a time, and only one finger on each hand per kid) it was tolerable, but really. What are they thinking?
Tip to all you nice mommies and daddies out there: ASK before sending noisy toys to daycare!
Sheesh.
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It's Not All Mary Poppins 
How about a harmonica? My sweet in-laws gave our oldest a harmonica when he was 2. In/out/in/out/in/out — Oy! The harmonica got “lost” for a little while after the first week.
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, I am sorry, you have probably heard this all day.
I had a freind who gave her son a piano that Quacked. how is that for an annoying toy?
quack quack quack
quack quack quack
quack quack all the way.
recognize the tune?
Oh man! These people are crazy! Or cruel…
I’d take one of these over most electronic toys any day! At least it takes some effort to make noise. Probably easier with just one kid around though since when he gets bored with it, the noise stops.
Our daycare center has asked that people NOT send any toys to the center as it just causes discord (and probably noise too). I haven’t heard anyone grumbling about it except my kid on the way to daycare. It’s sort of hard to explain to him because I’m always tempted to say “you don’t want to have to SHARE it, do you?” but think that wouldn’t work very well with our overall childrearing philosophy.
anne v beat me to it. i was going to suggest a “no home toys” rule. Most nurseries have one as it’s just too complicated working out what is whose, where it is, stopping the fights etc. and it often becomes a game of beat the Jones’ as the parents prove their love for thier chiild by sending them with ever bigger, better (louder) more expensive toys!
Obviously some flexibility is needed for children who have a “special” toy, or when they are just starting, but in general why should you be responsible for other peoples stuff (other than their kids)?
We send “stickers to share” to daycare sometimes…. but I never thought to send a noisy toy…. what a great idea!
Other things I have sent to daycare which may or may not be equally as annoying as whistles: stickers, half-used bottles of sunscreen, bubbles, egg cartons, lentils, potatoes, formula (those big canisters they send you), formula coupons (she doles them out to other parents who use those brands), plant starts (strawberries & Jacob’s ladder so far), half a bag of horse pellets, various random art supplies, bread, flowers…. and many other random things that, in context, make perfect sense…. I think.
well, why would you send a toy to daycare (besides a lovey, I mean) unless you WANTED it to get lost or broken? Not that your daycare provider is irresponsible, but it’s not really her job to take care of your stuff, and let’s face it, the more kids, the more chaos, and the more likely it becomes that something could go wrong, no matter how lovely your teacher and the kids are. Of course, perhaps they were sick of it at home? (back to my comment on the whistles…)
Typhoid Marty strikes again?
Who are these people, and why do they hate you so much?
duly noted.
(those are just crazy!)
Liz: Oy, indeed. In addition to the noise, my experience with wind instruments and toddlers is that they produce a LOT of drool. I’m envisioning a harmonica with strands of saliva dripping from the non-mouth side… Lovely.
Peter: Yupper. There’s a story in my family about an uncle, then four, receiving a drum from a doting granny. His mother (my gran) “lost” the thing in the garden shed – where it was discovered by the uncle, now 5, the next spring! The next time, it was “lost” more effectively…
Bill: Every time I read your comment, I burst out laughing. THAT is one annoying toy! Who would do that to themselves? (Wait. I know the answer: your friend, and my client!)
Kristen: Mostly oblivious, I think. Though I suspect that MOM would know better. It was dad doing the drop-offs.
AnneV: In fact, when my own children were young, this is the toy piano I chose for them. I’m picky about sounds and music, and this one has the most accurate notes. (I HATE toy pianos that aren’t in tune. What are we teaching the kids? Sheesh.)
Anyway, after checking out my options, I picked the Little Tykes one, and loved it. If anyone were to ask me, this would be the one I’d recommend! But as you say, something you don’t mind listening to for half an hour is not necessarily something you’d want to listen to all day long.
Oh, and we have a REAL piano that they’re allowed (with certain guidelines) to play. It’s electronic, though, and has A) Volume control, and B) headphones!!
MrsA: One of the advantages of small-group care is more flexibility in certain rules. Less than home, perhaps, but more than large-group care.
I do allow them to bring toys from home. My rules for this are: ONE toy per child; that the child has to be willing to share; that the parents have to accept that it might get lost!
(For the ineffectual parents who can’t make “no” stick, they are to tell me if it’s valuable and can’t be lost, and I take it from the child immediately and put it away till the end of the day.)
I let the toys come, because I think it’s a good exercise for my children, many of whom are only children, to have the opportunity to share. Yes, it does mean that I have to do some intervening to help the sharing along, sometimes. I don’t find that huge fights break out over the toys, because I make it very clear at the outset that they’re expected to share. They’re given a choice when they walk through the door: “When you bring a toy to Mary’s house, you have to be able to share it. Do you think you can share this?” (They’re allowed to answer no!) “If you can’t, we’ll just put it up here, then.”
They generally opt to share it, if the other choice is not having it at all.
(The sharing rule does not apply to “lovies”.)
Homestead: I think all those things sound perfectly delightful. It also reads like a list of things that grown-ups are sharing with other grown-ups. Well, except for the stickers and bubbles. Maybe not, though: I think I like bubbles as much as the kids! I think you’d be fun to have in my daycare; my garden could sure use some of your kind of sharing!
Kittenpie: See my lengthy comment to Mrs A regarding the ins and outs of bringing toys to daycare. The only time it has been a nuisance thus far has been when the toy is lost and the parents make an issue of it. I’m quite clear up front: if it’s a toy you can’t risk losing, don’t bring it!
Of course, prior to this family, no one has thought to send these kinds of toys! I may have to make a new rule…
(Lovies aren’t at risk for getting lost, because they’re rarely set down!)
MsS: You’re so smart!
AverageMom: Thanks. You just made me snort tea out my nose. Ouch. But funny!!
mo-wo: I can’t imagine you being so foolish or gratuitously cruel…
Oh, the horror the horror!