Kids & dishes

[frooglepoodle]

I have a toddler who is currently very enthusiastic (though not effective) about learning to feed himself with a fork and spoon. We've been feeding him on his high chair tray and he's still too young to be taught to help with the dishes, but neither of those things will last forever. What have more experienced parents done about unbreakable dishes? I don't want to spend a fortune on Williams-Sonoma melamine dishes that I find appealing, but these are likely to be our daily use dishes for the better part of the next decade so I don't want anything too cheap or covered in cartoon characters.

[Goldielocks]

I bought a kids plate and bowl for the toddler (melamine or other sturdy plastic).  Lasted through 2 kids and will go to grandkids.   Just 1 cup and 1 plate.  Like this one  (was a gift, actually)..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351904636680?rmvSB=true

Not everyone need melamine!

Eventually, i was tired of replacing our family everyday stoneware dishes due to dishwasher breakage and accidents from kids age 5-16 years loading on their own.   I eventually bought corelle (tempered glass) dishes in all white.

You can get these at walmart, lower cost home stores, and I think ikea even has / had  a version.   
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10319390/
Although not melamine, the durablity is much greater than stoneware, especially once kids are not throwing the plates on the floor.  oh, and $2.50 for a bowl.


I never knew williams sonoma did sell this sort of thing...  but -- what the heck are you doing looking at williams sonoma, anyway? Isn't that like going to a mercedes dealership and "trying out" new vehicles?   :-) 

[frooglepoodle]

I bought a kids plate and bowl for the toddler (melamine or other sturdy plastic).  Lasted through 2 kids and will go to grandkids.   Just 1 cup and 1 plate.  Like this one  (was a gift, actually)..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351904636680?rmvSB=true

Not everyone need melamine!

Eventually, i was tired of replacing our family everyday stoneware dishes due to dishwasher breakage and accidents from kids age 5-16 years loading on their own.   I eventually bought corelle (tempered glass) dishes in all white.

You can get these at walmart, lower cost home stores, and I think ikea even has / had  a version.   
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10319390/
Although not melamine, the durablity is much greater than stoneware, especially once kids are not throwing the plates on the floor.  oh, and $2.50 for a bowl.


I never knew williams sonoma did sell this sort of thing...  but -- what the heck are you doing looking at williams sonoma, anyway? Isn't that like going to a mercedes dealership and "trying out" new vehicles?   :-)

Busted! I got frustrated trying to find what I had in mind and fell down a Google rabbit hole trying to figure out if what I had in mind is even available. :-)

Thank you SO much for the suggestion of Corelle type dishes and the link to the Peter Rabbit set! I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of plates and bowls that weren't microwave safe, so that's even better than what I was thinking of.

[Kitsune]

Or porcelaine! We have  the Glukstein Home Catering set from The Bay (Canada-only, but excellent rec if you can access them). In 5 years, and multiple children using them, we've broken one small plate (dropped on tile floor) and haven't chipped a single one.

I don't know why porcelaine is one of those "fancy" dish materials people use for their "fancy, non-everyday" uses... It's super resistant to chipping and breaking.

[tthree]

The kiddos just use our everyday breakable dishes here.  They have yet to break a dish.  I just flipped one of the dishes over and apparently they are "fine china".  Whatever....to me they are what was white and on sale for 70% off at the Bay.

[Kitsune]

The kiddos just use our everyday breakable dishes here.  They have yet to break a dish.  I just flipped one of the dishes over and apparently they are "fine china".  Whatever....to me they are what was white and on sale for 70% off at the Bay.

Yep. Fine china is a harder material than stoneware, and therefore more resistant. Go you. :)

Which, of course, is why you put it in cupboards and take it out for 'special' and then use chippable stoneware for everyday dishes, right? Because that (somehow) makes sense?? *sigh*
 

[SomedayStache]

We have a few plastic dishes and bowls that the youngest child uses.  Once they are ~2.5 they start using our regular dishes.

We had a nice set of stonewear.  It was solid, pretty, and heavy.  Since we want to raise responsible and helpful children even the 2.5 year-old has the chore of taking their dirty dish to the kitchen counter at the end of the meal.  Turns out that heavy & solid stonewear can do significant damage when dropped onto a child's bare toe.  (I still say we should have taken her in to get stiches, but my husband convinced me not to.) 

We switched to Corelle and I love all the extra space I have in my cabinets now because Corelle stacks so nicely.  Plus dropped dishes don't result in lots of blood and we haven't lost a single Corelle dish yet.

[KCM5]

Our kid uses breakable dishes except when she was 1-3 we pretty much only used plastic glasses or really heavy mugs. The dishes never really seemed to be a problem and I don't think she's broken any. We have wood floors with a rug in our dining room, so no hard tile. I think the kids dishes thing is overthinking it. Give them a plate, they'll be fine.

[acroy]

The little kiddos use cheap, smallish, plastic plates & bowls. i don't even know where we got them from. We have a few plates , maybe 6" diameter with a nice steep 1/2" or so lip. Helps a lot to keep food on the plate and off the table/tray/floor :)

[frooglepoodle]

Thank you for all the input! I thought our everyday dishes were stoneware, but they turn out to be porcelain. They've always chipped easily and one broke recently (DH, not the kiddo). I think I'll stick with these until we break too many and then replace with Corelle or a more durable on-sale China!

[MEJG]

The other option is metal, like you can find on Life Without plastic. We ended up with grandparents buying a set for each child before we needed them, but would have gone with a metal plate, bowl and cup if someone hadn't done the buying for us.

[MBot]

Yes, Ikea has Corelle-type tempered glass: Plates and bowls for $1 a piece. Lightweight and durable. We LOVE these.

Dollar store has 3/$1 melamine plates and plastic cups. I bought 3 of each for now. 

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Thank you for all the input! I thought our everyday dishes were stoneware, but they turn out to be porcelain. They've always chipped easily and one broke recently (DH, not the kiddo). I think I'll stick with these until we break too many and then replace with Corelle or a more durable on-sale China!

Yeah, I just let my kids use the Pfaltzgraf dishes we got for our wedding 15 years ago. Some were sold with chips, cheap at the outlet; some used to be my mom's; some were new. None of them are new anymore! Plus now we're divorced anyway.

Sometimes the kids break one.* I have plenty. If I start to run low and the kids are still breaking shit, I'll just get whatever they have at Goodwill as a supplement.

*If this was even a little bit intentional, I charge the kid a dollar.

[tonysemail]

a set of plastic ones from ikea has served us well.
it's great to have spares for birthday parties.