Which muktza toys to put away for under-3?

amother

Slategray

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 7:02 am

My natural instinct is to put away everything with electrical components. I've never put away rattles. Definitely-under-gil-hachinuch toddler has a new xylophone- should I put that away for Shabbos?

greenfire

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 7:23 am

I've always put away anything muktza ... not only is it chinuch - but it is kavod for shabbos

then I made sure to have special puzzels & books & games jewish themed just for shabbos

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 7:34 am

I put away all of them.

If a child too young to understand gets into the crayons, for example, I would not make a huge issue out of it but try to hide them better next time.

pesek zman

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 7:37 am

amother wrote:

My natural instinct is to put away everything with electrical components. I've never put away rattles. Definitely-under-gil-hachinuch toddler has a new xylophone- should I put that away for Shabbos?

Rattles are muktza?

Chayalle

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 7:57 am

Not everyone holds that you have to prevent a child under age 3 from playing with muktza toys. If this is an issue for your child ask your LOR.

miami85

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 8:16 am

We were told that young children have no concept of Shabbos and therefore no inyan of muktza for them. A 3-year old, maybe, especially if they've been in school. However, that still may be too young. Many 3 year-olds still do melachos d'oraisa (coloring, digging, turning on lights if not reminded not to), muktza is d'rabanan. However, if there's a musical toy that would drive you nuts all Shabbos--feel free to put that away l'kovod shabbos. Another reason to put a toy away is if the child would be upset if you can't help them with it, best to avoid the conflict in the first place.

tryinghard

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 9:32 am

miami85 wrote:

When DD was maybe 4, I asked our Rav about this - I was convinced that she really "got" Shabbos, and I should be preventing her from acting otherwise. Our Rav said until 5 or 6, they really can't understand - IOW, they get that you say "we don't do this on Shabbos", but they never really know when Mommy is going to decide it's Shabbos, and they don't really connect with the moment and understand it's not ok. After that conversation, I backed off with my kids - we tell them once "that's not a Shabbos toy" (ok, sometimes it's once per toy Very Happy

) and then leave it alone. The proof to me came several years later when my 4 year old DS, who is extrememly intelligent and I would think totally "got" it started running to flick the lights on and off when he got angry on Shabbos - not to mention he turns on his light when he wants to play, with no further thought about it.

Long-winded way of saying, even if a 3 year old learns about Shabbos, they may intellectually understand without it emotionally clicking.

OP, any toy that will drive you nuts when you hear it over and over should be put away. But that stands for during the week too! LOL

lfab

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 11:06 am

I try to turn off the muktzah toys before shabbos (at least the ones that have an off switch). If a young child gets a hold of it so be it. I only put away the one or 2 that I know my child would play with all day and drive me nuts with the noise since I can't take it away or turn it off. B"H now we have more space, but when we were living in an apartment we barely had space for the toys as it was. Certainly there was nowhere to put the toys away for shabbos. Once they're about 3 I start reminding them that we don't play with toy x on shabbos, but if they continue I don't make a big deal about it.

Ruchel

Fri, Aug 12 2016, 4:28 am

Those disturbing the shabbes

amother

Slategray

Fri, Aug 12 2016, 4:35 am

No off-switch on a xylophone, and no way the child has much association with Shabbos beyond dh being home and eating at the dining room table (which is used for work doing the week) rather than in the kitchen. The xylophone is much less of a disturbance to the Shabbos atmosphere than other things she'd like to get into, and doesn't require major cleanup, so for now we've decided it's staying and she can pull it out or not as she prefers.

Thank you all for your responses!