Big Kids and Baby Toys

[marniewon]

, well at least mine do anyways. babies for me is 1 yo. And they nap 2-3 hours in morning, and 2-3 hours in afternoon, eat, and play outside generally. So there isn't too much in between for just sitting around playing with toys.

Man, if I had babies like you, I wouldn't be limiting myself to 18mo+!!! I've never had a baby here that slept like that!

[MsMe]

my babies also take 2-3 hour naps twice a day. and the one that I have now leaves at 3:30.

[dEHmom]

usually they do for me. Sometimes not. But we deal with it. Some days they sleep longer, and sometimes less.

Like I said though, babies to me is 1yo-2 yo.once they get around 2 yo they usually cut out a nap and take one longer one.

[nannyde]

, well at least mine do anyways. babies for me is 1 yo. And they nap 2-3 hours in morning, and 2-3 hours in afternoon, eat, and play outside generally. So there isn't too much in between for just sitting around playing with toys.

I don't think the parents of my one year olds would appreciate me doing a six hour napping total in a nine hour day.

[dEHmom]

it's not a full 6 hours, and my parents ask me to do that. as I stated it is a 2 to 3 hour nap usually. So usually 4 hours max a day, but some days babies might sleep 3 hours am and 2 hours pm, or 3 and 3 depending if it's a much longer day (and dont' forget nanny, a lot of us do more than 9 hour days.

I have usually 1 to 2 infants a day, and so I have the freedom to keep schedules similar to what parents do at home.

My parents prefer this because otherwise babies are too tired when they get home, they fuss through supper time, and then go to bed too early. So mom/dad doesn't get to spend time with them.


my 18 mth old usually only does about a 3 hour am nap but some days she does a 1 hour am nap, and 3 hr afternoon nap.

[GG~DAYCARE]

:confused:

They sleep most of the day?

I need to find myself some normal babies. ::

ME TOO!!!!!! ::

[Blackcat31]

I must have odd babies too because mine are 12 months, 13 months and 15 months and none of them take longer than a 90 minute nap. I cannot remember the last time I had a kid here young enough to nap twice a day.....However, I must say, I WISH!!!

DEHMom...count your blessings, sounds like you have some easy babies.

[MarinaVanessa]

dEHmom: Any hands that I can keep off of the baby toys means they are that much cleaner. Baby put everything in their mouth so the less fingers that touch them the better!!

Ditto here. Baby toys are for babies only. Im not one to pick at little things but I often see the 2+ kids picking their noses, feet, ears, and yes ... Other bodily orfifaces ... And I don't always get to themo on time before they go and touch something. I only have 1 bin of baby toys and 6 bins of toys for the older ones. If a 2+ DCK picks his nose and wipes it on a 2+ toy I cN take the child and wash his hands and remove the toy and clean it later and they still have tons of toys to play with. They don't even notice. But if they grab on the baby toys that's one less toy for the babies.

[Lianne]

OK, the part about them touching the toys and baby putting it in their mouths I get, and I was thinking that was your reasoning.

But I still don't see the big issue unless the bigger kids are taking the toys from the littles and the littles have nothing else to play with, kwim? And the babies sleep most of the day anyway, so it's not like they cant be wiped down in between etc.

I get that for those of you with the large groups and different age groups it is probably a different situation, because well, you have areas dedicated to them, so there is no reason.
But for me, my group is 1 yr-4 yr (and sometimes afterschool SA), so they get to share all the toys, one bin at a time sort of thing. I don't have the room to say you play there, and you play there.

I've recently separated my kids/toys. The big kids (mature/older 2 and up) play in my master bedroom-turned-playroom. They have access to a ton of age appropriate toys, things with smaller pieces, etc. The living room is set up for babies and younger toddlers now yet the big kids constantly want to play with the baby toys. The first week of the new set up I allowed the big kids to play with the baby toys and in that week we lost pieces to toys and several items were broken in addition to creating a bigger mess than the babies typically do, manipulating the toys away from the babies and the noise, yikes! The older kids, despite my supervision, just play rougher, louder and more extravagantly with toys. Baby toys, apparently, aren't able to handle that kind of wear and tear. In the 4 weeks since I banned big kids from playing with the baby toys, no pieces have been lost nor have any toys been broken. So, unless you are a baby, you do not play with baby toys at my house. The older kids, for the most part, want to play with them because they aren't allowed to have them. The baby toys don't really hold their attention or entertain the big kids which is why their so (unintentionally) destructive with them.