It's the littlest things that stymie me...

OK-I need the benefit of your experience here, gang.

I have the two older boys, with their lego bricks, the HotWheels, their teensy DS cartridges, their action figures that have removable weapons/armor/whatever, etc, etc. All those teeny tiny toys. And I have the twins. At 4 months they aren't on the move yet, but will be soon enough. How do you handle the choking hazard with your older kids toys, once your LOs are mobile? I hate to banish all the boys toys just to their room. I *like* the fact that they want to play downstairs where we are. And, if the babies are ever going to learn to crawl, or walk they can't always be confined to a playpen. But, I live in terror of one of the babies choking on a lego brick that got missed, or one of Doc Oc's arms that got taken off and left in the couch cushions, or somesuch. Other than making the boys keep all their toys in their room, I can't think how to handle it, and it's getting toward babyproofing time. I'm afraid that just getting them to pick up isn't enough, as you all know how invariable a lego gets left behind, and babies have such a gift for FINDING what they aren't supposed to HAVE!
(I've taught them the "anything that can fit in a tp tube, can be choked on by a baby" rule, but that's too much responsibility to put on an 8yo and 9yo.and they have a very small ratio of toys that are safe for the babies to be around.)

Help! It's a little thing, and I feel so stupid that I've not figured it out!

 

Well, my girls were only allowed to play with those special "little things" like polly pockets, little legos, etc, at the kitchen table. That was the rule. And if they had other larger but still chokable things down, they just had to make sure the babies weren't near them. It actually was fine, they became very aware of picking up and being in charge of their toys. 8 and 9 is definitely not too young to be responsible to follow rules for the safety of the babies. And the next thing...I worked hard at teaching the boys things don't go in their mouths. Not entirely possible to do, but it certainly doesn't hurt to try it. My boys weren't huge oral babies, not much went in their mouths, so I was pretty lucky!

 

Here's what we've done with our 4.5 year olds toys (much easier, though, than 8 & 9 year old toys):

1. We've really made an effort to sit down and explain to him how dangerous small toys are for the babies, how they will put anything in their mouth, etc. He's the kind of kid that takes that serious and actually has become the "small" item police at our house. If a coin hits the floor, he's on it! :lol:

2. We have quite a few shelves in the playroom - and we bought some bins and put ALL of the toys that are small in those bins and up high. That means he has to ask for those toys - which means we know that those toys are down, which means we also know to be on extra alert that small toys could end up on the floor.

3. We've also had him play with some of his stuff that is particularly small and scary (Playmobile stuff, for example) on the dining room table. He can spread out all over it, the babies can't reach it and destroy his set-up, and most likely nothing will end up in a couch cushion, tossed in the baby toy bins, etc. It works really well.

HTH!

Good luck - choking is such a fear of mine, I was terrified about them getting ahold of his toys, too.

 

Honestly, its a pain in the ars, but I keep those "little" things in one room. They are old enough to know now that These specific toys can be played with only here....explain it to them. The girls are babies. And babies eat toys. If baby eats your toy, its your job to retrieve said toy. You left toy out. by bye toy. You know, lamens terms. OR these toys are only allowed out at naptime.

Mark their bins. This bin is safe for babies. This bin Not. no not bin around babies. if you bring not bin around babies, your fired. Toy go bye bye.

My 4 years olds get that. its not easy to so in the start of it, but if you stick to it, they will get it. Plus, Im sure they love babies, and would not want to see harm come to one of them. You have smart kids, despite the bad knock knock jokes.

 

True. I'm probably not giving them enough credit. (They are flakes though. ) And, yes, the knock knock jokes are so, soooooo bad.

 

QUOTE(Neumsy @ Apr 17 2009, 09:43 AM) [snapback]1277249[/snapback]
True. I'm probably not giving them enough credit. (They are flakes though. ) And, yes, the knock knock jokes are so, soooooo bad.



So bad they are funny. Like a hairless dog that is so ugly its cute.

 

I made them keep their toys their rooms and only bring them out if they were playing with them at the table, and then immediately put them away when they were done.

 

We sat down with our 5 year old, too & explained the choking hazards. He LOVES his Legos We have a two-story, so for the most part his toys & Legos stay upstairs. He'll bring them down when he's built something. But, he is learning that his brother & sister LOVE his colorful & different toys, so he's pretty good about keeping them away from the babies. And the whole "these are mine & not the babies" is working to our advantage right now, but we'll see as they get older!!

 

I'm reckoning that it's gonna have to be the kitchen table, or I'm gonna have to deal with them being upstairs. I just feel so *mean* telling them they can't have their stuff downstairs. I'm usually the hardas* type, but for some reason that makes me feel like I'm being really unfair. Gah. I overthink things.