My five year old son is like a bull in a China shop and destroys most of his toys. We've tried to fix this behavior to no avail.
I am looking to buy him a remote control monster truck that is very strong and hard to damage. Any recommendations?
Also any other toys that are recommended?
Thanks.
electronics are not tough, remotes are weak
I think you're looking for something that can be pushed, like a tonka truck
Tonka Toys - Unbreakable
If you can find anyone giving them away.
Not sure if you can buy them new any more
Lego
5 year old might take to eating them.
Just buy him a ball……..
Medicine ball, won't get punctured…..
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Traxxas Slash. Parts are readily available for when he does break it and they're pretty easy to work on. Don't bother cheaping out, you'll end up regretting it.
We've tried to fix this behavior to no avail.
Try no toys then. Just kidding. what have you tried?
I am looking to buy him a remote control monster truck that is very strong and hard to damage. Any recommendations?
Anything remote will break, get him a metal tonka truck, those ones from the 80s had been bomb proof!
Where can you buy these?
Hot wheels rhinomite has been thrown/driven off and down the stairs more times than I care to count… still ok.
The ikea cabinet and tiles though… not so ok.
Chuck the boy some boxing gloves.
Tonka Toys are tough
A bicycle. Them he can burn some of that energy off.
We've tried to fix this behavior to no avail.
Maybe stop buying toys would fix this behaviour…
What will he do then?
Children dont needs toys. If you feel obliged, buy 1 solid one.
They need high levels of play and social interaction underpinned by learning, guidance and reinforcement of social expectations.
In fact, too many toys creates all sorts of issues. Plenty of research on it. Even spills into spaces (theres a whole thing on sparse classrooms to increase learning but I digress).
Tldr - less is best.
They need high levels of play and social interaction underpinned by learning, guidance and reinforcement of social expectations.
Any suggestions?
@BluebirdV: People have to play with their kids. Or look for playgroups.
Play is things like, helping to cook and counting the spoonfuls or the numbers on the side. It's going shopping and learning about why something is a better buy than something else (and not getting a toy or lolly, get a free piece of fruit).
Or it could be playing in a sandpit or outside with sticks, inside building a pillow fort etc.
The learning doesnt have to be planned or deliberate. It's just teaching them how to live, getting them involved and being hands on. Play isn't playing - it's about driving imagination and critical thinking skills. The fact that sometimes we do that with toys is a convenience.
Social expectations stuff is like today, parents had kids at an auction house (why?) But hey, they were 'look with your eyes, not with your hands', 'this isnt yours so be respectful' etc. Kids get a fun outing looking at weird crp and a social lesson.
Stretch Armstrong
Just declared your age.
Not in this case. I saw someone trying to sell a "vintage" one on Marketplace and looked it up!
Pet rock.
Any toy built before the year 2000. All my toys from the 90s are still going strong. Anything after that will last about 5 mins before something falls of and break rendering the toy useless
We've tried to fix this behavior to no avail.
Does he try and play with the toy and just breaks them because he’s uncoordinated or does he actively just break toys as that’s fun for him? Hard to suggest without knowing how they break.
He does it for fun and wants it fixed after. He's had constant reinforcement that this behavior is wrong but we can't seem to change his behavior. Maybe he watched too many YouTube videos of things breaking.
No toy is ever going to be good enough. He's going to keep breaking them and he just needs to understand it's not acceptable
"My five year old son"
"Maybe he watched too many YouTube videos of things breaking."
FFS
.
If he wants to do breaking and is happy to try to fix things himself with your help, then maybe actual tools and supervised play would be better?
Tell him to earn whatever money is required to buy his own toys, then he's free to break them…
There are not many jobs for 5y old…
He can do stuff around the house e.g. clean up his room for $0.10/hour. That will teach him the value of money and the toys he breaks.
There are not many jobs for 5y old…
Someones gotta clean the chimney 🤷🏽♂️
Santa, is that you?
Buy cheap toys at the $2 shop then it doesn't matter if he breaks them.
Need to think old school. Classic lego, Tonka, Schleich, wooden toys (search Steiner or Waldorf), Thomas Tank Engine wooden sets.
Also, stop replacing them. Talk about ownership, cost, maintenance and consequences for destruction. In other words, he breaks it, he bought it. Limit new purchases past this point to birthdays and/or Xmas.
those loud annoying clickers
buy a bag full
Tap dance shoes.
Our four year old is the same. He just breaks everything - it’s not that he’s necessarily rough with it, he just tries to pull everything apart!
The things that have lasted
- duplo train set. It’s indestructible, we now have two different ones.
- magnatiles get a good work out
- we were given a ride on/remote control minicar, its big enough for him to ride around in but also be used as a remote control car. We had a monster jam remote control car and he took the wheels off it and I can’t find them all now!
- sandpit and sandpit toys - toys usually cheap and easily replaced. Battery operated vacuum is required though because the sandpit will slowly be brought into your house, but he’ll play in there for a good hour.
- a pile of rocks and planks and a couple of tonka trucks. Load up the trucks, move the rocks. Drive them on the planks. Unload them, start again.
- scooters/bikes/pedal cars
- tubs of dinosaurs/animals etc
- Tupperware shape-o has also lasted since infancy but might be too old for that now!
- hot wheels/matchbox cars
As frustrating as it is, I don’t think the destructiveness is a trait they have intentionally. Your kid might need to be doing more “heavy work” tasks and kept moving. My kid isn’t into reading, or writing. He won’t draw anything if you put him in front of a piece of paper. School is going to be interesting 😬.
Dont buy him a rc
Buying more toys ain’t going fix his behaviour, sounds like discipline is in order. Keep buying toys is just rewarding his behaviour and will never learn. It’s not fking rocket science.
Just give him some wooden toys, most are very robust! Train, car, type of toy! We make them in our woodwork club and give them away to local children’s charities every Xmas.
whats your budget?