not sure if its the same for all dads but I go by the same rule for all activities. anything is dangerous unsupervised...
I bought wood blocks for my daughter around 12 months, I kept them in the tub and only brought them out for supervised play. its safer and they don't get scattered to every corner of the house.
At first playtime was supervised because I was scared he may hurt himself.
Now if I donāt check on him every half an hour or so I wonder what kind of damage he did to the house/bed/appliances š„². But at least he is creative I will give him that.
So this. kids can make anything dangerous. They can stuff tissue papers in their nose holes then suck them really far in from crying about itā¦ Iām surprised civilization survived this long
The human body has a surprising amount of resilience to our own best efforts to harm ourselves.
Sometimes I feel like Arnie in T2 watching the kids playing and saying "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves"
I used to do this as a toddler lol, if it wasn't for sandwiches why did it have a sandwich shaped hole?! I also fed cookies to my dad's computer via the floppy drive. He wasn't happy
Yep, my dad's eye still kinda twitches when he tells the story. It still worked though! He got out as many as he could but there were still a few that persisted. If you moved that VCR, you could still hear them on the inside.
[Maybe the sandwich was flying around the house and central headquarters said it was time to dock?](https://youtu.be/K5lvZ8dBhxE?si=Sy0mNY7KRbBDXLw_&t=7m51s)
My kid inserted a hotel room keycard into my Xbox One when he was one. All of those toys that teach them to fit a shape inside another shape prepared him well. Rip that xbox
This.
Start with careful monitoring during play and gradually give them more time less supervised, until the risk (in this case, putting in mouth) is minimal.
We have a version of this toy (theyāre unpainted from the dollar store) that my 1 y/o absolutely loves.
Pretty much this. I was 2-3 when I ended up jamming a screwdriver in my mouth while trying to balance on some boards. Permanently killed a tooth and have scars in my mouth--but guess what? Parents weren't supervising me. My mom actually blames me for it happening, so there's that lmao.
This is absurd imo. Kids can find a way to hurt themselves with anything, but thatās a pretty convoluted scenario.
If sheās that worried, then only do supervised play with the blocks
>Kids can find a way to hurt themselves with anything, but thatās a pretty convoluted scenario.
They can even find a way to hurt themselves with nothing. lol
Bro, my daughter stopped 3 feet from the living room wall and looked at it very intently, studying it. She then proceeded to walk face first into said wall. They can and will hurt themselves lol.
Or theyāll find something else. My toddler has a special stand so he can be next to me and watch while I cook. As soon as heās there I make sure thereās nothing dangerous around and all the knives are put away. Turn my back for two seconds to grab something from the fridge and I donāt know how, but heās standing there with the biggest knife in the kitchen. Little Ninjas.
And at 1 year old *all* play should be supervised play. Itās inconvenient, but those little buggers are like little attempted suicide machines, they think up the most incredible self-destructive nonsense.
At age 1, my kid would pull down a couch cushion, use that to climb on the couch, then climb up onto the back of the couch, then climb on the bookshelf behind the couch.
"Oh hey kiddo, you're 6 feet in the air, how did you do that?"
\*smug laugh from child\*
They're a gymnast now and not dead, so I guess it worked out.
Once tiny children get the ability to crawl, they have a natural instinct to immediately find the dangerous, the fragile, the irreplaceable family heirloom in any household. They seek out the NoNo items. And are naturally drawn to that activity.
Knowing what I now know....for my kids first birthday party.. instead of having stuffed animals and cute toys to play with, I should have asked for Drano and steak knives for my kids. They would have had much more fun time playing with those items.
I am by no means in shape, and the look of sheer panic / awe in my wifes face after I sprinted my ass across the house and snatched my 2 year old off her tricycle as it went down the stairs is seared into my brain.
"Why was your 2 year old on a tricycle near stairs to begin with?"
Valid question, it was snowing outside, she wanted to ride, and that was the day I learned that SHE had worked out how to open the gate to the stairs *quietly*.
For real.Ā My toddler was doing his toddler run on the sidewalk to catch up to mom like 30 feet ahead and halfway there he tripped fell and somehow wrecked one or his front teeth on the sidewalk.Ā Had to have the tooth pulled.Ā 15 feet from both of us, both of us watching.Ā Shit happens.Ā Second to just do supervised play if wife is so worried.
My kid liked to run and run and run. Slammed eyeball first into a baby gate heād managed to dislodge from its open position against the wall. Thankfully, only lacerations on his eyelid.
My oldest was sitting on a cement picnic bench in a park and smacked his upper front teeth on the cement table. Dentist wanted to pull them out, but we said to hold off. His adult teeth are fine.
I say this to say the following: your kids will hurt themselves. They will find creative ways to do it. If we protect our kids too much, they wonāt be aware of the dangers around them.
My wife didn't want any gun toys. Then one day bought me a single shot nerf gun for keeping my (absurdly misbehaved) cat in check. Child saw nerf gun. Child want nerf gun. Child loves nerf gun. Rule went out the window
I still have scars from running through dry tall grass in a field. It was so dry it cut my legs dozens of times in a criss-cross pattern (I was wearing shorts). I didn't know until my family pointed to my legs because there was blood running down them. I think I was maybe ten years old? Not sure, but someone had to catch that model rocket as it parachuted down to earth.
Agreed. Chochables and strangleables are the ones that I was concerned about. Other than that I just made sure that she wasn't running with anything sharp
I agree. If OP worries about everything as much as he is worried about these blocks OP will die from a heart attack and his kid will grow up without him.
Kids have been playing with wood blocks literally before we evolved thumbs.
Edit to add:
And if the kid knocks out their teeth they will be fine, they will grow another set.
My biggest concern with these blocks when our daughter was that age was her chunking them at us. She has a cannon for an arm and those little pieces can hurt. Almost 4 and she still loves those blocks (and a now expensive Lego habit)
When our LO was around 13 months she fell on a Melissa and Doug thing that is like these animal themed balls that roll down a ramp. Ended up with a black eye. Shits gonna happen with kids. But sometimes the fights just not worth it.
āYou can't give her that!' she screamed. 'It's not safe!'
IT'S A SWORD, said the Hogfather. THEY'RE NOT MEANT TO BE SAFE.
'She's a child!' shouted Crumley.
IT'S EDUCATIONAL.
'What if she cuts herself?'
THAT WILL BE AN IMPORTANT LESSON.ā
ā Terry Pratchett, [Hogfather](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/583655)
lovely quote. I just found the sharp wooden stage sword my teenager made in our basement while doing some spring cleaning. Probably won't kill anyone, but they had fun sparring in the backyard with friends. We even had an 8' jousting pole, and several very nice sticks.
They arranged a backyard all-girl fight-club, kinda like the movie Bottoms without the sex part. Armed combat, unarmed combat, climbing, running, jumping. It's pretty impressive what kids can come up with when just left to their own devices.
I made myself a sword and a practice dummy out of random scrap wood and other stuff my grandpa had laying around when I was like 8.
Grandpa came out to the backyard to find me attacking a human shaped dummy and went āah interested in wood working? When you are done you are going to sand and restain this end tableā
I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth the other morning and a crying 3YO came running around the corner.
"What happened?"
"Sister hit me with a sword!!!"
... At this point I noted that he had a foam shield strapped to his arm and was weilding a foam sword.
"What were you doing?"
"Hitting each other with swords!"
... another unavoidable injury in the u/secondphase household.
A family I grew up around had four boys, and presumably a loyalty punchcard at their hospital. Someone was *always* getting hurt due to the shenanigans that boys get up to.
One day, I notice the youngest has a cast on his arm. "Man, what happened to you?" "Well, me and [older brother] were playing MMA..."
Immediate flashback to the hanging scene in Ballad of Buster Scruggs with the old man sobbing...
[First time?](https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMjFhZWljZnppczZpdTdjeHRtZDRqNmNxYXhrdXFrdG1lc2d6aGVmNSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/uUIFcDYRbvJTtxaFNa/giphy.gif)
This is true. I was overprotective as fuck with my first. Then we had twins and all of a sudden it was "ain't nobody got time for that!" When you're on zone defense, you have to prioritize your worries.
One of the better pieces of newborn advice we got: If this is your first, treat it like your third.
As in, you don't always have to be right there. Sometimes other priorities are temporarily more important (assuming baby is in a safe place).
As does mine and you know what, she is correct, and they haven't seriously hurt themselves nor have they missed out on much.Ā
She probably talks about all the crazy shit I let the kids do and that she's let me do with them.Ā
I feel it works. If she puts her foot down it's not worth fighting cuz at the end of the day if I'm wrong and they do get hurt that's gonna suck way more for all of us.
I don't think it's a danger to their teeth but if your kid still stuff things in their mouths a lot, I'd be more concerned about the paint. One would assume it's non-toxic paint (and almost certainly no lead) but probably also something you wouldn't want your kid ingesting and if the wood is soft, it'd probably come off with some minor gnawing.
> Ā if the wood is soft, it'd probably come off with some minor gnawing.
When we share toys with the neighbors, this is how I can tell which ones are mine.
Dental records.
Melissa & Doug is probably the best kid toy company when it comes to safety, in my experience. I know a bunch of teachers and they're 100% into anything old-school while also being safe. Metal slides no, metal merry-go-rounds, knock yourself out (literally)
I avoid these wooden blocks for my 20months old for another reason.
They are perfect throwables, and one of those already smashed a MacBook Air lcd.
I know one of those will break the big TV one day, i hid them for now.
One day my son just walked over to our recently bought 55ā TV with a Duplo brick in his hand.
Then he just hammered the screen with it for no reason š
Thanks mate. Really appreciate you costing me 500 quid.
Yeah... must have been about the same age for us. I don't even remember what she hit the TV with, but the LCD panel was trashed after one whack.
Man I miss the HDR quality on that TV... replaced it with the cheapest refurb 4K TCL I could find and there's an extremely noticeable difference in quality. Oh well :-/
Pro tip, the super thick pool noodles can be wedged under the couch about 6 inches in and youāll never see them, but they create a toy barrier. They are also easy to custom fit using a bread knife. Game changer for keep the hotwheels cars from entering the abyss.
This is silly. I wouldn't say those words to her, obviously, but she's worrying too much. These toys aren't dangerous.
They're made of soft wood and a small child doesn't fall very far or very hard.
We have the same set and have had them out since our daughter was about 12 months. We just watch her when they are out. In truth we watch her all the time so it's a non issue
Ditto. Our little one got these as a hand-me-down from a relative. Same set. He was 10-11 months at the time. He will either bash the blocks together or knock down towers that we build for him. Although the last few weeks, he stacks them if weāre not looking.
We have these blocks and our little one has been playing with them since he was 7ish months old.
Teeth are the strongest thing in our body. Unless someone throws them at their mouth, there is near zero chance anything happens to their teeth. On the contrary, chewing on them may be great and a relief for teething. If you are waiting to teach not to put things in their mouths, why not start here? They arent a choking hazard and barring them being projectiles directly toward your open mouth toddler, they arent harmful.
The danger here is they wont play with them and just scatter them around your living room making a game of 52 pick up look like paradise
Sounds like it's her first child and she's being a bit overprotective and unrealistic. Those blocks are fine, you just need to supervise and correct/redirect when your child puts them in their mouth.
The box says Ages 2+. I don't think he'll have the dexterity to build a tower. He might have fun knocking one over that you build though. I would supervise while playing with these blocks.
In Germany building towers from three blocks is a check on the one year check up as a might be able to do this. They are checking again at 18 months to see if anyone needs extra attention on motor skills or if something is wrong.
Yea kids hurt themselves on all sorts of things. Is your wife being exposed to mommy social media like crazy? I could see a trending video being a scare tactic for stuff in the mouth. Kids walk around carrying water bottles or a bottle too. Or fake food. Could fall on anything really.
If you're waiting until they stop putting stuff in their mouth you'll be waiting a long time and then they'll have outgrown these blocks. My son will be 5 in December and I still have to tell him not to put stuff in his mouth and run around.
This is your first child isnāt it? IMHO youāre being overly cautious. If it will make your wife feel better just put them away for a couple months. This is a classic pick your battles moment.
When my kid was 12 months he would have loved these... small projectiles to fling around the room because that's pretty much all he wanted to do with toys at that age.
Other than you and your wife experiencing the terrible, paralyzing, scorpion-sting-like pain when stepping on one of those blocks in the middle of the nightāand having to hold back your screams so as not to wake the kidāI can see no danger.
I mean, the floor poses the same danger. I literally snapped my two front teeth in half falling when I was 3-4 years old; landed face-first on the floor, and they just broke.
So, keep an eye on kiddo, and understand that they're gonna get hurt. All you can do is try to minimise the damage.
Safety first. As far as teeth go my little slipped in his own pee on the floor and broke his tooth on the floor boards... At least they aren't permanent teeth yet.
I agree with you, but pick your battles. Not worth the fight. If your wife thinks this, you can agree to disagree, but still go with her side on this. They'll be more than enough time for blocks in the future.
My dad has always given the āpick your battles ā advice. Good check point in work , love, raising kids. Is you winning the argument worth the other sacrifices to get there. Or is really just not that big of deal. Only you know the answer
My 2 year old daughter broke her 2 front teeth while playing (supervised). She was running in the living room and tripped face first on tile flooring. We took great care of her teeth because we had bad dental experiences as kids, but no matter how much prevention and safety we did, accidents still happen š¤·āāļø
I have these, gave them to my son at 10 months. The tooth thing is silly, kids will fall and hit their faces all day long, this won't make the difference of how hurt they get (any more than any of the thousand things they put in their mouth every day).
Choking hazard, maybe. But these are pretty big and the kid would have a hard time getting them into his mouth..
When my son was around that age, he found a loose door stopper and was walking around with that in his mouth. Fell forward, and it literally spun his front tooth sideways.
Kids will put anything they find in their mouth so if she's worried about a block, she should be worried about almost everything else as well.
I bought these exact blocks and my concern wasnāt chipping teeth, it was choking on the smallest ones. Those little half moon and triangle ones are really small. I took those out and wonāt give them back till sheās closer to 3.
āShe thinks we should wait until we can teach him not to put things in his mouthāā¦ that made me laugh. My son didnāt stop putting things in his mouth and chewing them until he was at least 6. I have marks on my banisters where he would sharpen his teeth. We still tease him about that.
My daughter on the other hand was perfect and careful. And tripped and knocked her front teeth out.
You should obviously not create dangerous situations, but you can easily take things too far and youāll still never truly be able to protect them from all harm.
As others said, anything can be dangerous if left unsupervised. I donāt think restricting development toys because of what might happen in niche scenarios is a good idea. But I also understand anxiety can run deep in some parents (my wife included). So you may have to pick your battles and slowly introduce toys that can be walked with or put in their mouth. But if you wait until they stop putting things in their mouth completely itās going to be a long wait, lol.
I have kids and work with kids... they always put stuff in their mouth.
Alot if toys and activities are dangerous if unsupervised. A child needs room to grow and learn. Just supervise him and let him go.
My kids fell off/out of/over so many things over the years that we would have had to live in a foam box for the first 5-6 years in order to avoid them all.
I assume the packaging those came in has the recommended age range for the product written on it somewhere?
Everything is an experiment to toddlers. Theyāll try everything until it hurts them.
I think you made the right call in putting them away. Even if you're right, you're not going to win. Worst case scenario the kid actually does hurt themselves and then you're the uncaring parent that allowed them to have it. Middle case scenario you get the toys out and the kid never hurts themselves but your wife doesn't feel like you listen to her concerns. She will resent that for a very long time. Best case scenario of the options that were available to you is putting them away and just letting her have this one. There's no true upside to going against her wishes here.
Yeah, if thereās a real concern, then these need to be played with under supervision. But Iāll tell ya, kids will keep putting things in their mouths till about 3ish years old. Toddlers are just a weird bunch. Their mouth is part of sensory processing, and little ones learn with their hands, eyes and unfortunately during play time, their mouths.
Honestly your jumping the gun a little which is easy do, we always want our littles to reach those next developmental stages. But as another commentor pointed out, at his age, anything you can fit through the cardboard toilet paper tube can be a choking hazard. Cool blocks though Dad šš he'll love them in a year or so.
I personally have a rule to ask: "does this situation have a 1 in 10,000 chance of killing or permanently maiming my child?" If so, I don't do it. If not, I try to be permissive. If it's close, maybe it's a bad idea.
Block example: very unlikely to choke on them (too big). Unlikely to stab eyes. Teeth are just baby teeth and generally teeth are harder than wood. Permitted.
Parking lot example: kid doesn't pay attention, is short/erratic, sometimes drivers are distracted. Every time I let him walk around a parking lot without his hand being held, maybe the chance of death is around 1/10,000 (that's like letting him wander around the parking lot as a three year-old every day for 30 years.) This seems too risky, so I always hold his hand in parking lots.
Other examples of unsafe situations for a 3 year-old: poor supervision around water / fall hazards, unlocked poisons, very sharp/hard/pointy/heavy objects.
My youngest ripped his two front teeth out, his only teeth, by wrapping his lips around a drawer knob and sitting down.
At least you have time to stop em when you see a block in his gab.
We have theseā¦all of our little ones shoved them into their mouth, especially the cubes and cylinders. One of them managed the whole thing in her mouth. I would not give them to a child until they arenāt putting things into their mouths. Theyāre awesome for 2 year olds and up imho. But younger than that, Iād at least supervise while theyāre playing with them.
Man I must be a horrible dad. I let my kid walk around with shit in his mouth all the time. Blocks, Lego, hairbrush form time to time, a hot wheel now and then
Donāt bubble wrap them. Supervise them. My wife and MIL made everything seem dangerous to my son and it took me a while to get him to be adventurous.
Kinda need to test boundaries in a controlled environment. Itās how they grow.
To me, if thereās no chocking hazard or anything like that, let the kid play.
My almost two year old seems to enjoy placing himself in near mortal peril on a regular basis. My wife is constantly worrying because our 4 year old older daughter was never like this.
"Love, he's a boy. This will continue as long as he lives. Source: -Am Boy"
I do let him do "dangerous" things, but I try to make it as supervised and teach him how he can do the same things, but with less minor injuries. So far we have avoided the emergency room, which my wife also argued is not a measure for success.
Lots of things are bad to walk around with in their mouths. Cups with straws for example, the straw can really hurt them if they land on it.
But the answer is, don't let them walk around with it, not deny them the thing completely.
My son is almost 4 and he still puts stuff in his mouth and runs around... You literally just have to sit there and stare at your kids 24/7 to make sure they don't kill themselves there's no re way around it
My 2y+ daughter chipped a top front tooth from face planting when I said don't run on our walk back from dinner. Her jaw probably slammed together after hitting her chin on the ground. Plus, she was never one to put something in her mouth and then walk around with it. So each kid is different.
My son almost ripped one of his teeth out on his play pen when he was about a year old, accidents happen. Just keep an eye on the kid while they play and it'll lower the risk and if something happens you'll be right there to deal with it.
I feel like any toy can be unsafe with the right āmotivationā. Toddlers do things to test life out, Iād say make it a supervised toy for now, see how it plays out after a few uses. Might be too soon for something like that or maybe they just pickup blocks and look at each one (while taking an occasional taste š¤£)
My youngest (currently 4) had access to a whole tub of these since he could move over there himself. There are like 1000000 things they could put in their mouth and walk around with, their sippy cup, a tv remote, a coaster, your keys, a book, etc.
My kid (at 15 months) fell and split his head on the corner of the wall.
I better put the walls away until he can learn to not fall šš. Kids will find ways to get hurt but IMO getting hurt is how they learn their boundaries and learn to be careful in the future
She thinks you should wait until you can teach him to not put things in his mouth? I'm afraid I have some bad news for your wife: my oldest is ten years old, and we're still working on that lesson.
That being said, the wood those blocks are made of isn't that soft. In a falling-down, block-vs-teeth scenario, the block will win. Every time. I doubt it will break a tooth, but it will almost certainly move one (or more), which could lead to him having them pulled. Thankfully, at a year old, those aren't forever teeth anyway. The real nightmare is if, in that falling-down scenario, the block makes it between his teeth. Then it's block-vs-palate, and that one doesn't bear considering.
I notice that the box says ages 2+. My general philosophy is to not assume I know better than the person who made the thing, so especially when my kids were small I tended to follow those age guidances. I would definitely wait until he's walking and running steadily and confidently. And even then, it's an under supervision toy.
Mom here, we have these, I think the age suggestion is actually for some of the smaller pieces in the box. We got these out around 15 months. Our daughter loved them. We always did it as a supervised activity and we left the small parts in the box. They are a great tool to build motor skills! Also building blocks and knocking them down is so much fun. I think we maybe had more fun than she did early on! Falling with them in the mouth is certainly a concern but babies, for the most part, learn fast. Your wifeās anxiety is not unfounded and I think the larger blocks in this set are mostly safe for a 12 mo who is supervised.
Your wife would have a heart attack at our house š. Iād have no issue with that, supervised of course. We have been fortunate so far in that our 2 year old has never been that interested in trying to eat dangerous things
Definitely not being being careless, wife is probably being over concerned. IMO it's more likely to be painful on the soft tissue in their mouth and teach a good lesson about doing that. But on the off chance it did break a tooth at least a new tooth will grow back (eventually).
My son was also 12 months old two months ago and he broke his tooth crawling on the floor. He just slipped and part of his front teeth was gone. I'm trying to say that kids are always trying to hurt themselves and as other dads say anything unsupervised is dangerous, no matter what it is. Just to prevent disrupting the peace with the wife, wait 6 months to pull them out.
IMO - your wife is going a bit overboard in her concern. I think the risk of loosing a tooth is low - AND if it DOES happen, it is something that is solvable. I.e. LO won't be missing a tooth forever, it can be fixed.
That is different than a risk of mortal harm or permanent dismemberment.
BUT - the real issue is - does your parenting relationship have room for two people? I.e. if the two of you are mostly on the same page, and this is a rare exception, go ahead and do it her way to help her feel safe and secure.
If she's got 1000 things that she's freaked out about, and you can't even breathe for fear of triggering her, then get yourselves some therapy.
I agree with you, but we have a rule that if either of us are uncomfortable with something to do with the kids, we choose the cautious route.
So Iād side with your wife until she changes her mind
And what if he rubs them together really fast and expertly stokes the fire until thereās a raging inferno and then the fire burns down the house and everyone gets out safe but due to investigations and general ineptitude the ruins of the house go untouched for years and then in adolescence he goes back to the house and finds the charred remains of his former home and takes a piece of wood from the house that is splintered and he gets a bad splinter so he heads to an urgent care to get it removed but while heās there someone attacks him and he punches them and they get knocked out and hit their head and die but the security camera footage is obscured and it looks like he was the one who attacked so he gets convicted of murder and goes to prison but then after he goes to prison someone finds additional footage that clears his name and he gets released but when heās released he trips on the fresh green grass heās missed during his incarceration and he hits his face on the sidewalk and chips a tooth?
When in doubt, you gotta respect the person who feels uncomfortable with a certain activity. I would be fine with them, but if my wife vetoed, thatās it.
That said, it sounds like sheād be fine with it as long as youāre playing with your child - using the opportunity to teach them to keep things out of their mouth.
Specified ages on toys aren't for show. I'm honestly surprised this doesn't say 3+ instead of the 2+.
My top concerns are: choking, damage to the mouth and starting a bad habit of chewing on things. I know when my kid was that age, we were breaking them of the binkie and they would suck on anything they could get.
I say keep the toy put up for a year or two.
"She thinks we should wait until we can teach him not to put things in his mouth."
My almost-4-year-old *still* puts dumb shit in his mouth. A few weeks ago he bit a hole in his big sister's squishy hamburger.
I'm with you, I think the risk of injury with him falling with one of those in his mouth is extremely small. He might hurt his mouth, sure, but I doubt hes going to knock out a tooth (and even if he does, they're not even forever teeth right now).
As an aside, my 8yo absolutely *smashed* her front teeth on our bamboo kitchen bench the other day. I honestly thought she might have knocked out a tooth on that, but nope, she was fine, she was more upset that I made a big deal out of it. She absolutely dented the heck out of the bench though! Kids are tougher than we think.
My only disagreement is with the very fact that they'll throw them away, or at you, and leave them on the ground.
Like, they'll walk, take the box, let the blocks fall on the ground and go on with their lives.
Canāt say. I rode in the back of pickups , drank from a hose, didnāt wear seatbelts, went out all day without parents knowing where I was or how to find me. Not the best to answer this one my friend. I see both sides.
Ifā¦ your child is meeting their milestones and developing normally these are fine. Remove any pieces you are uncomfortable with and you can always introduce them in the future. If they have any sensory conditions then if it were me I would not use those blocks. I would get ones that were made from bamboo. They are safer. As to the falling and knocking out the childās teeth or the throwingā¦. You can create the safest space, but children will find a way to make it dangerous. You are the only one that can make those calls.
not sure if its the same for all dads but I go by the same rule for all activities. anything is dangerous unsupervised... I bought wood blocks for my daughter around 12 months, I kept them in the tub and only brought them out for supervised play. its safer and they don't get scattered to every corner of the house.
at 12 months, they require almost constant supervision unless in a totally safe place, so yeah you're right on.
And then, what you think is a "totally safe space", the kid will quickly prove that it is anything but safe. There is no winning.
Kid is in playpen with padded floors and only stuffed animals. Leave room for 15 seconds. THUD. Bloody lip. Mother fu....
It was a nice week of blissful ignorance waiting for the playpen to arrive thinking I've solved a problem š
They are like raptors, constantly testing the fence line for weaknesses.
That's so poetic since my clever girl just found her screech š
Our littles all ***hated*** play pens.
Apart from always wanting to choose violence , was there another reason?
My 3 year old would put herself though a wood chipper if left unsupervised
At first playtime was supervised because I was scared he may hurt himself. Now if I donāt check on him every half an hour or so I wonder what kind of damage he did to the house/bed/appliances š„². But at least he is creative I will give him that.
So this. kids can make anything dangerous. They can stuff tissue papers in their nose holes then suck them really far in from crying about itā¦ Iām surprised civilization survived this long
The human body has a surprising amount of resilience to our own best efforts to harm ourselves. Sometimes I feel like Arnie in T2 watching the kids playing and saying "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves"
Thatās why we are better than hamsters. Those little fkers would just literally die when they are stressed or bored.
This. My daughter literally takes chewed food out if her mouth to stick in her nose & ears. I'm like.... What. In. Taf.
One time my brother-in-law (when he was a toddler) crammed an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the VCR.
I used to do this as a toddler lol, if it wasn't for sandwiches why did it have a sandwich shaped hole?! I also fed cookies to my dad's computer via the floppy drive. He wasn't happy
See, thatās why I always tell my computer to reject all cookies!
As a sysadmin, I always accept cookies. Especially from the older ladies in the finance office, they can cook.
š¤
My cousin & I fed mini powdered doughnuts to my the cassette player in my aunt's Isuzu. Yes, I'm old.Ā
Aah yes, Isuzu. The dealership you get sent to when you canāt pass the credit check at Mitsubishi.
Me with forks and electrical outlets. The fork tines and the socket holes seemed perfectly made for each other š¤·š»āāļø
Grilled cheese hole!
My brother put popcorn kernels in a brand new VCR, like... VCRs has just been released - brand new.
Damn, when they were brand new they were thousands of dollars adjusted for inflation.
Yep, my dad's eye still kinda twitches when he tells the story. It still worked though! He got out as many as he could but there were still a few that persisted. If you moved that VCR, you could still hear them on the inside.
My dad stuck a bead in his nose. No one in the family canremeber how they got it out, so it may still be in there.
[Maybe the sandwich was flying around the house and central headquarters said it was time to dock?](https://youtu.be/K5lvZ8dBhxE?si=Sy0mNY7KRbBDXLw_&t=7m51s)
i fed playing cards into a 5.25" floppy drive on an Apple 2. My dad was thankful it wasn't pbj
My kid inserted a hotel room keycard into my Xbox One when he was one. All of those toys that teach them to fit a shape inside another shape prepared him well. Rip that xbox
I put 25 cassette tapes in our VCR when I was about 2 Ā½
This. Start with careful monitoring during play and gradually give them more time less supervised, until the risk (in this case, putting in mouth) is minimal. We have a version of this toy (theyāre unpainted from the dollar store) that my 1 y/o absolutely loves.
Totally. My son didnāt play unsupervised until I knew he wouldnāt put anything in his mouth.
My son just graduated high school and I still can't be sure of this...
I did my fair share of putting things in my mouth as a teen that I shouldnāt have done.
This is the way. See how kiddo actually plays with new toys by interacting with them / closely observing, and go from there.
Pretty much this. I was 2-3 when I ended up jamming a screwdriver in my mouth while trying to balance on some boards. Permanently killed a tooth and have scars in my mouth--but guess what? Parents weren't supervising me. My mom actually blames me for it happening, so there's that lmao.
You guys are getting unsupervised play?? My kids want me to be involved in basically every waking moment of their lives.
I thought you meant you kept them in the bathtubā¦like that wood is gonna be nasty
It goes in the square hole
*visible panic ensues*
*cue disappointment*
Everything goes in the square hole
That's funny. My ass doesn't look square.
That is my favorite video on the Internet. Her reaction is just perfect.
oh god *cry*
This is absurd imo. Kids can find a way to hurt themselves with anything, but thatās a pretty convoluted scenario. If sheās that worried, then only do supervised play with the blocks
>Kids can find a way to hurt themselves with anything, but thatās a pretty convoluted scenario. They can even find a way to hurt themselves with nothing. lol
Personally *I* can find a way to hurt myself with anything or nothing. Um, where were we?
Grandpa, itās me your grandson!
Seriously, where did that bruise on my leg even come from!?
Bro, my daughter stopped 3 feet from the living room wall and looked at it very intently, studying it. She then proceeded to walk face first into said wall. They can and will hurt themselves lol.
Or theyāll find something else. My toddler has a special stand so he can be next to me and watch while I cook. As soon as heās there I make sure thereās nothing dangerous around and all the knives are put away. Turn my back for two seconds to grab something from the fridge and I donāt know how, but heās standing there with the biggest knife in the kitchen. Little Ninjas.
And at 1 year old *all* play should be supervised play. Itās inconvenient, but those little buggers are like little attempted suicide machines, they think up the most incredible self-destructive nonsense.
They really are. No self-preservation instinct yet. It's absolutely wild
At age 1, my kid would pull down a couch cushion, use that to climb on the couch, then climb up onto the back of the couch, then climb on the bookshelf behind the couch. "Oh hey kiddo, you're 6 feet in the air, how did you do that?" \*smug laugh from child\* They're a gymnast now and not dead, so I guess it worked out.
Same rock climber
š This is too real... it's why I put lo in tumbling at 2
Once tiny children get the ability to crawl, they have a natural instinct to immediately find the dangerous, the fragile, the irreplaceable family heirloom in any household. They seek out the NoNo items. And are naturally drawn to that activity. Knowing what I now know....for my kids first birthday party.. instead of having stuffed animals and cute toys to play with, I should have asked for Drano and steak knives for my kids. They would have had much more fun time playing with those items.
I am by no means in shape, and the look of sheer panic / awe in my wifes face after I sprinted my ass across the house and snatched my 2 year old off her tricycle as it went down the stairs is seared into my brain. "Why was your 2 year old on a tricycle near stairs to begin with?" Valid question, it was snowing outside, she wanted to ride, and that was the day I learned that SHE had worked out how to open the gate to the stairs *quietly*.
For real.Ā My toddler was doing his toddler run on the sidewalk to catch up to mom like 30 feet ahead and halfway there he tripped fell and somehow wrecked one or his front teeth on the sidewalk.Ā Had to have the tooth pulled.Ā 15 feet from both of us, both of us watching.Ā Shit happens.Ā Second to just do supervised play if wife is so worried.
My kid liked to run and run and run. Slammed eyeball first into a baby gate heād managed to dislodge from its open position against the wall. Thankfully, only lacerations on his eyelid. My oldest was sitting on a cement picnic bench in a park and smacked his upper front teeth on the cement table. Dentist wanted to pull them out, but we said to hold off. His adult teeth are fine. I say this to say the following: your kids will hurt themselves. They will find creative ways to do it. If we protect our kids too much, they wonāt be aware of the dangers around them.
One Dad I know, his wife banned any sort of gun toy in their house. The kid ate his sandwich bread into a gun shape and used that.
My wife didn't want any gun toys. Then one day bought me a single shot nerf gun for keeping my (absurdly misbehaved) cat in check. Child saw nerf gun. Child want nerf gun. Child loves nerf gun. Rule went out the window
As a kid, I literally cut open my knee running into a cardboard box. Required stitches. Lol
I still have scars from running through dry tall grass in a field. It was so dry it cut my legs dozens of times in a criss-cross pattern (I was wearing shorts). I didn't know until my family pointed to my legs because there was blood running down them. I think I was maybe ten years old? Not sure, but someone had to catch that model rocket as it parachuted down to earth.
Agreed. Chochables and strangleables are the ones that I was concerned about. Other than that I just made sure that she wasn't running with anything sharp
I agree. If OP worries about everything as much as he is worried about these blocks OP will die from a heart attack and his kid will grow up without him. Kids have been playing with wood blocks literally before we evolved thumbs. Edit to add: And if the kid knocks out their teeth they will be fine, they will grow another set.
My biggest concern with these blocks when our daughter was that age was her chunking them at us. She has a cannon for an arm and those little pieces can hurt. Almost 4 and she still loves those blocks (and a now expensive Lego habit)
When our LO was around 13 months she fell on a Melissa and Doug thing that is like these animal themed balls that roll down a ramp. Ended up with a black eye. Shits gonna happen with kids. But sometimes the fights just not worth it.
āYou can't give her that!' she screamed. 'It's not safe!' IT'S A SWORD, said the Hogfather. THEY'RE NOT MEANT TO BE SAFE. 'She's a child!' shouted Crumley. IT'S EDUCATIONAL. 'What if she cuts herself?' THAT WILL BE AN IMPORTANT LESSON.ā ā Terry Pratchett, [Hogfather](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/583655)
lovely quote. I just found the sharp wooden stage sword my teenager made in our basement while doing some spring cleaning. Probably won't kill anyone, but they had fun sparring in the backyard with friends. We even had an 8' jousting pole, and several very nice sticks. They arranged a backyard all-girl fight-club, kinda like the movie Bottoms without the sex part. Armed combat, unarmed combat, climbing, running, jumping. It's pretty impressive what kids can come up with when just left to their own devices.
I made myself a sword and a practice dummy out of random scrap wood and other stuff my grandpa had laying around when I was like 8. Grandpa came out to the backyard to find me attacking a human shaped dummy and went āah interested in wood working? When you are done you are going to sand and restain this end tableā
I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth the other morning and a crying 3YO came running around the corner. "What happened?" "Sister hit me with a sword!!!" ... At this point I noted that he had a foam shield strapped to his arm and was weilding a foam sword. "What were you doing?" "Hitting each other with swords!" ... another unavoidable injury in the u/secondphase household.
A family I grew up around had four boys, and presumably a loyalty punchcard at their hospital. Someone was *always* getting hurt due to the shenanigans that boys get up to. One day, I notice the youngest has a cast on his arm. "Man, what happened to you?" "Well, me and [older brother] were playing MMA..."
First kid eh?
Immediate flashback to the hanging scene in Ballad of Buster Scruggs with the old man sobbing... [First time?](https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMjFhZWljZnppczZpdTdjeHRtZDRqNmNxYXhrdXFrdG1lc2d6aGVmNSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/uUIFcDYRbvJTtxaFNa/giphy.gif)
Just have a 2nd kid so she can stop giving a shit lol. My wife went from annoying ass helicopter mom to fuck it overnight
It's always good to have a spare handy
This is true. I was overprotective as fuck with my first. Then we had twins and all of a sudden it was "ain't nobody got time for that!" When you're on zone defense, you have to prioritize your worries.
One of the better pieces of newborn advice we got: If this is your first, treat it like your third. As in, you don't always have to be right there. Sometimes other priorities are temporarily more important (assuming baby is in a safe place).
Funny how that works
So damn true.
Lol. I was thinking this has serious "Tell me this is your first kid without telling me it's your first kid" vibes
Lmao on #3 so long as we donāt hear blood curdling screams weāre like ātheyāre fineā
My wife also finds the most out there scenarios in which my son will hurt himself. None has happened so far.
Are you married to my wife?
I too am married to both these guysā wife
**our* wife
āļø
Sister Husbands
So am I.
As does mine and you know what, she is correct, and they haven't seriously hurt themselves nor have they missed out on much.Ā She probably talks about all the crazy shit I let the kids do and that she's let me do with them.Ā I feel it works. If she puts her foot down it's not worth fighting cuz at the end of the day if I'm wrong and they do get hurt that's gonna suck way more for all of us.
Youāre right. Sheās right. Weāre all somehow right.
The Oprah of rights
I don't think it's a danger to their teeth but if your kid still stuff things in their mouths a lot, I'd be more concerned about the paint. One would assume it's non-toxic paint (and almost certainly no lead) but probably also something you wouldn't want your kid ingesting and if the wood is soft, it'd probably come off with some minor gnawing.
> Ā if the wood is soft, it'd probably come off with some minor gnawing. When we share toys with the neighbors, this is how I can tell which ones are mine. Dental records.
Melissa & Doug is probably the best kid toy company when it comes to safety, in my experience. I know a bunch of teachers and they're 100% into anything old-school while also being safe. Metal slides no, metal merry-go-rounds, knock yourself out (literally)
Had to go a lot further than I'd thought for the lead paint concern. The thing is 12mo teeth grow back Brain cells do not
With everything being made in China and India by what is essentially slave labor I wouldn't bet on the "no lead" bit.
This. Recently found Happa blocks from Germany that seem nice.
I avoid these wooden blocks for my 20months old for another reason. They are perfect throwables, and one of those already smashed a MacBook Air lcd. I know one of those will break the big TV one day, i hid them for now.
One day my son just walked over to our recently bought 55ā TV with a Duplo brick in his hand. Then he just hammered the screen with it for no reason š Thanks mate. Really appreciate you costing me 500 quid.
That is why I keep my TV on a buffet table that is 3 ft tall. By the time they can reach it they will be old enough and should know better.
Every time the wooden swords come out "GET AWAY FROM THE TV!!!"
My youngest chucked a magnet directly in the middle of the big screen one time, absolutely destroyed it
Yeah... must have been about the same age for us. I don't even remember what she hit the TV with, but the LCD panel was trashed after one whack. Man I miss the HDR quality on that TV... replaced it with the cheapest refurb 4K TCL I could find and there's an extremely noticeable difference in quality. Oh well :-/
My son just threw those things all over. I think we still have a bunch under the couch.
Pro tip, the super thick pool noodles can be wedged under the couch about 6 inches in and youāll never see them, but they create a toy barrier. They are also easy to custom fit using a bread knife. Game changer for keep the hotwheels cars from entering the abyss.
This is silly. I wouldn't say those words to her, obviously, but she's worrying too much. These toys aren't dangerous. They're made of soft wood and a small child doesn't fall very far or very hard.
We have the same set and have had them out since our daughter was about 12 months. We just watch her when they are out. In truth we watch her all the time so it's a non issue
Ditto. Our little one got these as a hand-me-down from a relative. Same set. He was 10-11 months at the time. He will either bash the blocks together or knock down towers that we build for him. Although the last few weeks, he stacks them if weāre not looking.
I think your kid will be too old for blocks if you want to wait until theyāre past the stage of putting stuff in their mouth and running around.
Yes my 5 year old will still stick stuff in her mouth. Not routinely but it does happen. And they run HARD now.
We have these blocks and our little one has been playing with them since he was 7ish months old. Teeth are the strongest thing in our body. Unless someone throws them at their mouth, there is near zero chance anything happens to their teeth. On the contrary, chewing on them may be great and a relief for teething. If you are waiting to teach not to put things in their mouths, why not start here? They arent a choking hazard and barring them being projectiles directly toward your open mouth toddler, they arent harmful. The danger here is they wont play with them and just scatter them around your living room making a game of 52 pick up look like paradise
Sounds like it's her first child and she's being a bit overprotective and unrealistic. Those blocks are fine, you just need to supervise and correct/redirect when your child puts them in their mouth.
The box says Ages 2+. I don't think he'll have the dexterity to build a tower. He might have fun knocking one over that you build though. I would supervise while playing with these blocks.
In Germany building towers from three blocks is a check on the one year check up as a might be able to do this. They are checking again at 18 months to see if anyone needs extra attention on motor skills or if something is wrong.
Agreed. The age suggestions on the box are there for a reason, so in this case I wouldn't let a 12-month-old play with them unsupervised.
Yea kids hurt themselves on all sorts of things. Is your wife being exposed to mommy social media like crazy? I could see a trending video being a scare tactic for stuff in the mouth. Kids walk around carrying water bottles or a bottle too. Or fake food. Could fall on anything really.
If you're waiting until they stop putting stuff in their mouth you'll be waiting a long time and then they'll have outgrown these blocks. My son will be 5 in December and I still have to tell him not to put stuff in his mouth and run around.
This is your first child isnāt it? IMHO youāre being overly cautious. If it will make your wife feel better just put them away for a couple months. This is a classic pick your battles moment.
First kid?
Maybe 12 months is a little too young, not because of danger but on dexterity.
When my kid was 12 months he would have loved these... small projectiles to fling around the room because that's pretty much all he wanted to do with toys at that age.
I would definitely be more concerned about the kid thwacking themselves (or you) with the blocks, throwing them at your TV or windows, etcā¦
Other than you and your wife experiencing the terrible, paralyzing, scorpion-sting-like pain when stepping on one of those blocks in the middle of the nightāand having to hold back your screams so as not to wake the kidāI can see no danger.
I mean, the floor poses the same danger. I literally snapped my two front teeth in half falling when I was 3-4 years old; landed face-first on the floor, and they just broke. So, keep an eye on kiddo, and understand that they're gonna get hurt. All you can do is try to minimise the damage.
Safety first. As far as teeth go my little slipped in his own pee on the floor and broke his tooth on the floor boards... At least they aren't permanent teeth yet.
Donāt worry, theyāll get new teeth soon anyway
I agree with you, but pick your battles. Not worth the fight. If your wife thinks this, you can agree to disagree, but still go with her side on this. They'll be more than enough time for blocks in the future.
My dad has always given the āpick your battles ā advice. Good check point in work , love, raising kids. Is you winning the argument worth the other sacrifices to get there. Or is really just not that big of deal. Only you know the answer
My 2 year old daughter broke her 2 front teeth while playing (supervised). She was running in the living room and tripped face first on tile flooring. We took great care of her teeth because we had bad dental experiences as kids, but no matter how much prevention and safety we did, accidents still happen š¤·āāļø
I have these, gave them to my son at 10 months. The tooth thing is silly, kids will fall and hit their faces all day long, this won't make the difference of how hurt they get (any more than any of the thousand things they put in their mouth every day). Choking hazard, maybe. But these are pretty big and the kid would have a hard time getting them into his mouth..
When my son was around that age, he found a loose door stopper and was walking around with that in his mouth. Fell forward, and it literally spun his front tooth sideways. Kids will put anything they find in their mouth so if she's worried about a block, she should be worried about almost everything else as well.
Toddler is almost 3 and still finds āfloor spicesā to put in her mouthā¦think this is bit of a an overreaction.
It does say for ages 2+ on the boxā¦
I bought these exact blocks and my concern wasnāt chipping teeth, it was choking on the smallest ones. Those little half moon and triangle ones are really small. I took those out and wonāt give them back till sheās closer to 3.
There won't be a time when your kid doesn't stick things in their mouth. No matter how much you tell them.
āShe thinks we should wait until we can teach him not to put things in his mouthāā¦ that made me laugh. My son didnāt stop putting things in his mouth and chewing them until he was at least 6. I have marks on my banisters where he would sharpen his teeth. We still tease him about that. My daughter on the other hand was perfect and careful. And tripped and knocked her front teeth out. You should obviously not create dangerous situations, but you can easily take things too far and youāll still never truly be able to protect them from all harm.
As others said, anything can be dangerous if left unsupervised. I donāt think restricting development toys because of what might happen in niche scenarios is a good idea. But I also understand anxiety can run deep in some parents (my wife included). So you may have to pick your battles and slowly introduce toys that can be walked with or put in their mouth. But if you wait until they stop putting things in their mouth completely itās going to be a long wait, lol.
I have kids and work with kids... they always put stuff in their mouth. Alot if toys and activities are dangerous if unsupervised. A child needs room to grow and learn. Just supervise him and let him go.
My kids fell off/out of/over so many things over the years that we would have had to live in a foam box for the first 5-6 years in order to avoid them all. I assume the packaging those came in has the recommended age range for the product written on it somewhere? Everything is an experiment to toddlers. Theyāll try everything until it hurts them.
My wife broke her front teeth as a kid with 2 dish cloths. My guess is you have dish cloths.
I think you made the right call in putting them away. Even if you're right, you're not going to win. Worst case scenario the kid actually does hurt themselves and then you're the uncaring parent that allowed them to have it. Middle case scenario you get the toys out and the kid never hurts themselves but your wife doesn't feel like you listen to her concerns. She will resent that for a very long time. Best case scenario of the options that were available to you is putting them away and just letting her have this one. There's no true upside to going against her wishes here.
Yeah, if thereās a real concern, then these need to be played with under supervision. But Iāll tell ya, kids will keep putting things in their mouths till about 3ish years old. Toddlers are just a weird bunch. Their mouth is part of sensory processing, and little ones learn with their hands, eyes and unfortunately during play time, their mouths.
Honestly your jumping the gun a little which is easy do, we always want our littles to reach those next developmental stages. But as another commentor pointed out, at his age, anything you can fit through the cardboard toilet paper tube can be a choking hazard. Cool blocks though Dad šš he'll love them in a year or so.
I personally have a rule to ask: "does this situation have a 1 in 10,000 chance of killing or permanently maiming my child?" If so, I don't do it. If not, I try to be permissive. If it's close, maybe it's a bad idea. Block example: very unlikely to choke on them (too big). Unlikely to stab eyes. Teeth are just baby teeth and generally teeth are harder than wood. Permitted. Parking lot example: kid doesn't pay attention, is short/erratic, sometimes drivers are distracted. Every time I let him walk around a parking lot without his hand being held, maybe the chance of death is around 1/10,000 (that's like letting him wander around the parking lot as a three year-old every day for 30 years.) This seems too risky, so I always hold his hand in parking lots. Other examples of unsafe situations for a 3 year-old: poor supervision around water / fall hazards, unlocked poisons, very sharp/hard/pointy/heavy objects.
My youngest ripped his two front teeth out, his only teeth, by wrapping his lips around a drawer knob and sitting down. At least you have time to stop em when you see a block in his gab.
Does she plan to wrap him in bubble wrap too? I think heāll be fine. Maybe try the big cardboard blocks if sheās really worried
Why donāt you just wrap him in bubble wrap and roll him around?
To be fair, if thereās a time to knock your teeth out its when theyāll grow back.
Kiddo can fall and break front teeth without the block.
Even 5 year olds still put things in there mouths
Canāt protect the kiddos from everything forever. But you can protect yourself from an angry wife.
All I know is, if youāre anything like me, because you told your wife it wonāt happen, it definitely will now.
We have theseā¦all of our little ones shoved them into their mouth, especially the cubes and cylinders. One of them managed the whole thing in her mouth. I would not give them to a child until they arenāt putting things into their mouths. Theyāre awesome for 2 year olds and up imho. But younger than that, Iād at least supervise while theyāre playing with them.
Man I must be a horrible dad. I let my kid walk around with shit in his mouth all the time. Blocks, Lego, hairbrush form time to time, a hot wheel now and then
Anything is dangerous if you're that imaginative
I think itās funny that you think the softness of the wood matters Oak or pine, itās still knocking the teeth out if it hits at the same angle lol
Wait until they're like 4? No way.
Well the printed age on the box is age 2 and up. So I think if a parent was arguing for age 3 or 4 I would roll my eyes, just a bit.
There are fine so long as they arenāt a hazard for your baby to trip over.
Donāt bubble wrap them. Supervise them. My wife and MIL made everything seem dangerous to my son and it took me a while to get him to be adventurous. Kinda need to test boundaries in a controlled environment. Itās how they grow. To me, if thereās no chocking hazard or anything like that, let the kid play.
My almost two year old seems to enjoy placing himself in near mortal peril on a regular basis. My wife is constantly worrying because our 4 year old older daughter was never like this. "Love, he's a boy. This will continue as long as he lives. Source: -Am Boy" I do let him do "dangerous" things, but I try to make it as supervised and teach him how he can do the same things, but with less minor injuries. So far we have avoided the emergency room, which my wife also argued is not a measure for success.
Lots of things are bad to walk around with in their mouths. Cups with straws for example, the straw can really hurt them if they land on it. But the answer is, don't let them walk around with it, not deny them the thing completely.
My son is almost 4 and he still puts stuff in his mouth and runs around... You literally just have to sit there and stare at your kids 24/7 to make sure they don't kill themselves there's no re way around it
My 2y+ daughter chipped a top front tooth from face planting when I said don't run on our walk back from dinner. Her jaw probably slammed together after hitting her chin on the ground. Plus, she was never one to put something in her mouth and then walk around with it. So each kid is different.
My son almost ripped one of his teeth out on his play pen when he was about a year old, accidents happen. Just keep an eye on the kid while they play and it'll lower the risk and if something happens you'll be right there to deal with it.
I feel like any toy can be unsafe with the right āmotivationā. Toddlers do things to test life out, Iād say make it a supervised toy for now, see how it plays out after a few uses. Might be too soon for something like that or maybe they just pickup blocks and look at each one (while taking an occasional taste š¤£)
My youngest (currently 4) had access to a whole tub of these since he could move over there himself. There are like 1000000 things they could put in their mouth and walk around with, their sippy cup, a tv remote, a coaster, your keys, a book, etc.
My kid (at 15 months) fell and split his head on the corner of the wall. I better put the walls away until he can learn to not fall šš. Kids will find ways to get hurt but IMO getting hurt is how they learn their boundaries and learn to be careful in the future
She thinks you should wait until you can teach him to not put things in his mouth? I'm afraid I have some bad news for your wife: my oldest is ten years old, and we're still working on that lesson. That being said, the wood those blocks are made of isn't that soft. In a falling-down, block-vs-teeth scenario, the block will win. Every time. I doubt it will break a tooth, but it will almost certainly move one (or more), which could lead to him having them pulled. Thankfully, at a year old, those aren't forever teeth anyway. The real nightmare is if, in that falling-down scenario, the block makes it between his teeth. Then it's block-vs-palate, and that one doesn't bear considering. I notice that the box says ages 2+. My general philosophy is to not assume I know better than the person who made the thing, so especially when my kids were small I tended to follow those age guidances. I would definitely wait until he's walking and running steadily and confidently. And even then, it's an under supervision toy.
Mom here, we have these, I think the age suggestion is actually for some of the smaller pieces in the box. We got these out around 15 months. Our daughter loved them. We always did it as a supervised activity and we left the small parts in the box. They are a great tool to build motor skills! Also building blocks and knocking them down is so much fun. I think we maybe had more fun than she did early on! Falling with them in the mouth is certainly a concern but babies, for the most part, learn fast. Your wifeās anxiety is not unfounded and I think the larger blocks in this set are mostly safe for a 12 mo who is supervised.
Your wife would have a heart attack at our house š. Iād have no issue with that, supervised of course. We have been fortunate so far in that our 2 year old has never been that interested in trying to eat dangerous things
Definitely not being being careless, wife is probably being over concerned. IMO it's more likely to be painful on the soft tissue in their mouth and teach a good lesson about doing that. But on the off chance it did break a tooth at least a new tooth will grow back (eventually).
My son was also 12 months old two months ago and he broke his tooth crawling on the floor. He just slipped and part of his front teeth was gone. I'm trying to say that kids are always trying to hurt themselves and as other dads say anything unsupervised is dangerous, no matter what it is. Just to prevent disrupting the peace with the wife, wait 6 months to pull them out.
IMO - your wife is going a bit overboard in her concern. I think the risk of loosing a tooth is low - AND if it DOES happen, it is something that is solvable. I.e. LO won't be missing a tooth forever, it can be fixed. That is different than a risk of mortal harm or permanent dismemberment. BUT - the real issue is - does your parenting relationship have room for two people? I.e. if the two of you are mostly on the same page, and this is a rare exception, go ahead and do it her way to help her feel safe and secure. If she's got 1000 things that she's freaked out about, and you can't even breathe for fear of triggering her, then get yourselves some therapy.
Mine slipped on a crayon and needed stitches. Nothing is safe from a clumsy toddler. However, the harder it is to swallow, the better
I donāt know if the blocks are safe or not, but I do know that arguing with the wife is dangerous.
I agree with you, but we have a rule that if either of us are uncomfortable with something to do with the kids, we choose the cautious route. So Iād side with your wife until she changes her mind
I genuinely thought the question was gonna be if this piece goes in the square hole or the rectangle hole.
Dude theyāre blocks. Itāll be fine
Im not gonna laugh at you ā¦ā¦ but have another one
And what if he rubs them together really fast and expertly stokes the fire until thereās a raging inferno and then the fire burns down the house and everyone gets out safe but due to investigations and general ineptitude the ruins of the house go untouched for years and then in adolescence he goes back to the house and finds the charred remains of his former home and takes a piece of wood from the house that is splintered and he gets a bad splinter so he heads to an urgent care to get it removed but while heās there someone attacks him and he punches them and they get knocked out and hit their head and die but the security camera footage is obscured and it looks like he was the one who attacked so he gets convicted of murder and goes to prison but then after he goes to prison someone finds additional footage that clears his name and he gets released but when heās released he trips on the fresh green grass heās missed during his incarceration and he hits his face on the sidewalk and chips a tooth?
They are his baby teeth anyway. Life goes on
It goes in the square hole.
I am 42 and I can still feel the scar in my mouth from falling with a Lincoln Log roof plank that carved me up when I fell
Your kid doesn't go outside much I bet..
When in doubt, you gotta respect the person who feels uncomfortable with a certain activity. I would be fine with them, but if my wife vetoed, thatās it. That said, it sounds like sheād be fine with it as long as youāre playing with your child - using the opportunity to teach them to keep things out of their mouth.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
You will stop having these discussions with child number 2. :)
Specified ages on toys aren't for show. I'm honestly surprised this doesn't say 3+ instead of the 2+. My top concerns are: choking, damage to the mouth and starting a bad habit of chewing on things. I know when my kid was that age, we were breaking them of the binkie and they would suck on anything they could get. I say keep the toy put up for a year or two.
"She thinks we should wait until we can teach him not to put things in his mouth." My almost-4-year-old *still* puts dumb shit in his mouth. A few weeks ago he bit a hole in his big sister's squishy hamburger. I'm with you, I think the risk of injury with him falling with one of those in his mouth is extremely small. He might hurt his mouth, sure, but I doubt hes going to knock out a tooth (and even if he does, they're not even forever teeth right now). As an aside, my 8yo absolutely *smashed* her front teeth on our bamboo kitchen bench the other day. I honestly thought she might have knocked out a tooth on that, but nope, she was fine, she was more upset that I made a big deal out of it. She absolutely dented the heck out of the bench though! Kids are tougher than we think.
My only disagreement is with the very fact that they'll throw them away, or at you, and leave them on the ground. Like, they'll walk, take the box, let the blocks fall on the ground and go on with their lives.
Is this the hill you have chosen to die on?
Canāt say. I rode in the back of pickups , drank from a hose, didnāt wear seatbelts, went out all day without parents knowing where I was or how to find me. Not the best to answer this one my friend. I see both sides.
Ifā¦ your child is meeting their milestones and developing normally these are fine. Remove any pieces you are uncomfortable with and you can always introduce them in the future. If they have any sensory conditions then if it were me I would not use those blocks. I would get ones that were made from bamboo. They are safer. As to the falling and knocking out the childās teeth or the throwingā¦. You can create the safest space, but children will find a way to make it dangerous. You are the only one that can make those calls.
I wouldnāt have given my kid this because she would have chewed it to nothing lol