Noise!
Lights!
Plastic!
Chemicals!

I take it for granted some times how lucky my girls are. They are outside everyday, surrounded by mountains, barefoot and eating fruits from the trees. They are constantly building dens, creating slate villages and running wild around the land we look after. Their imaginations know no limits and they have idea what it is like to be contained, physically or mentally. But yet some things always find a way in. Like plastic, it is so difficult to get away from plastic toys.

My youngest daughter has taken quite a shine to plastic babies. I have never bought her one, but the minute she saw one at the exchange boat next to where I live, she wanted it. She took it into her arms and look at that doll in such a loving way, how could I refuse her? She is such a strong character too and can get quite upset if me or my daughters take something away from her.

But now, now that doll has turned into five, yes five mostly plastic babies, all second hand and all that she got for free. There is a second hand market near me that is on the first and third Sunday of the month. It is quiet the social event and my girls love to go, as a lot of their friends go too. But lately any time I have gone, we have come back with another baby. Because every time my 18 month sees one, she runs over takes it in her arms and gives it that loving look again, which seems to really work a treat on the person who is selling it, as they always insist that she can keep it for free. I am planning on passing some of them on. But it did get me thinking, about what we are willingly surrounding our children with and I ended up having a conversation with @vegan.niinja about it too.

Children are bombarded with so many products /toys that are quite literally assaulting their senses. So many plastic toys, that light up, make high pitched sounds and are made of toxic ingredients. All babies, young children put their toys in their mouths, it is how they first begin to explore the world, by tasting it and What a world they have been born into. A world where plastic is so often the first thing they taste. The majority of toys today are made in china and they are known to contain quiet a lot of chemicals, from Fire Retardants, PVC and BPA. Even those that have stopped using BPA have replaced it with BPS, which is equally toxic.

Here are some of the fire retardants in some plastic toys:

Polybrominated diethyl ethers (PBDEs). These were found in all hard plastic, foam and stuffed toys, and a third of soft rubber toys. The types of PBDEs found were:
Deca (the type of PBDE currently manufactured in highest quantity) is a form of PBDE banned in 2 states and Canada; and
Penta & Octa are no longer manufactured in the U.S. due to health concerns, and have been banned in 11 U.S. states, Canada and Europe.
Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs). The U.S. stopped manufacturing PBBs in 1976 after several thousand people in Michigan were poisoned by the chemical.
Brominated-ethanes (DBDPE & BTBPE). These are new flame retardant chemicals in use despite the absence of health and safety information.
Although Penta and Octa PBDEs are banned for most uses in Europe and Canada, and no longer made in the U.S. because of health and safety concerns, a loophole in federal regulations allows finished goods containing these chemicals to be imported. The only way to be sure your children are safe at this time is to avoid plastic toys, and all toys made in China.
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/toxic-chemicals-in-toys

The reality is that toy manufacturers do not have to list the products they use to make their toys. So it really is very hard to know what is in them, unless you do your research.The alternative is to buy natural toys instead, yes I know that they are more expensive. But here's the thing, babies don't need toys, they just want to interact with the world around them, so yeah if you put plastic in front of them they want to explore it. But if you don't, if you just let them move around their home, or let them be outside, then they get to interact with the real world. Yet so many fall into this trap of buy buy buy, like the amount of stuff you get your child, reflects how much you care? Really, cos how I see it, is that these products are being given so that they, don't need to interact with their own kids. How about just sitting in front of them and letting them explore you. How about taking them outside and introducing them to the natural world. How about letting them form bonds with the things that matter.

Do people get obsessed with material things, because that was the one constant thing in their life? When they wanted comfort or company as children,it was these toys that they turned too. In the absence of human contact, that was he next best thing. What are we telling our children, if we shove them in front of screens so that we don't have to 'deal' with them. What are we telling them about this world that they are growing up in. A world where we have no time for them, a world where they have little contact with the natural world. Because lets face it there is nothing natural about plastic toys, about screens, about devices that invade and attack their natural instinct to think for themselves. Devices that pull them away from their natural self and into a fake world, full of false ideas and advocating the idea of conformity and control. There is no time to listen to yourself when you are constantly bombarded by external noise.

What are we willingly surrounding our children with?

Yet it could all be so simple, our children do not need all of these toys. The more they get, the less they get to be creative. If we continue to just place things in front of them, then why do they need to create. Children love to explore, they love to create, to build, to invent, they are all scientists and artists. They are literally bursting with ideas and are so incredibly smart and yet these amazing qualities are constantly getting stomped on.

Let kids make their own toys, let them figure out what they want, let them become who they want to be. Just let them BE.

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