Parents: Do not let your kids bring toys to the playground

"The park is already a social battlefield, so let's avoid more complications, shall we?"

2 min read

May 16, 2024 - 9:21AM

Mother says that toys need to stay at home

Parenting

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Before I had kids, I used to imagine playgrounds as an ethereal garden where children would frolic and laugh while their parents stood in awe of them.

Three children later, the reality is it's more like a scene from Mad Max!

It's hard for parents...a playground is a shared space, and toddlers are all about "me" and "mine." Sharing slides, swings, and space means your relaxing park time is more like a mediation session - often with people you don't know.

Throw in a toy from home that they insist on bringing, and you've got a real fight on your hands!

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Parents, please, leave the toys at home

I don't know about other families, but when we are finally ready in the mornings, my boys turn into Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible.

Their mission, which they choose to accept every time we leave the house, is to swipe a toy, hide it and only bring it out just as we get to the park. Then it's time for me to self-destruct as I see it appear from their pockets.

I came across Claire Edwards' viral video stating that if your kid brings toys from home, they better play with them the entire time or prepare for other kids to play with them.

“Ban home toys from the playground, or play with it the whole time you're there, or let my kid play with it,” she says.

I wholeheartedly agree. It's not because my boys don't share. My boys are surprisingly generous when random kids in the park want their toys.

I'd be smug about it, but they are so fiercely competitive at home that it's not worth gloating.

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"I have playground PTSD"

But I have found over the years other kids don't want to share their toys, and that's the issue for me. So it's much, much better if no one brings toys - including my own sons.

I've seen it happen all too many times. A lonely truck is left in the corner of the playground, waiting to be picked up and played with, and we know that kids are like magnets to toys that aren't their own. They pick it up, and the instant it sparks joy. Out of nowhere, the owner comes flying across the playground, demanding to have their toy back.

Even though they abandoned it the minute they spotted a free swing.

Now, we have a power struggle between the kids - one who is the rightful (yet dismissive) owner and my child. All he wants to do is take a spin around and dump it again.

Cut to eye contact between us parents before we have to intervene.

Kids, keep the toys at home! Source: supplied

Why is something more tempting when we say 'no'?

And it doesn't end there.

It's over and over again until it's easier to leave the park.

And that's precisely what Claire experienced; she captioned the video, "Thirty minutes of redirecting my toddler from your kid’s stroller, baby doll, and Barbie Jeep? Awesome!!!"

We all get it. We all feel the same way: so let's draw a line in the sand for our sanity.

See you at the playground, toy-free!