Turf for a 1 and 3 year old? Q

[jack871]

Hi Community -

I’ve come to you in dire times (miscarriage etc) and always received wonderful, sane advice. Here I am again. This one’s a little out there but very mom neurotic mom relevant … I have a 1 and 3 year old.

We recently spend a lot of money turning our backyard into a kid friendly area. Pulled out what was one a retirees beautiful dream yard for something more practical … IE a large open space of astroturf. It felt like a good idea at the time. Flat, doesn’t need mowing, weatherproof, not as much mud, soft landings for falls, and great for my little boys to run around on. We still have a lush natural grass front yard where I enjoy spending solo time.

However, now I’m going down worm holes on plastics, how waterproof clothing has forever chemicals, etc etc and find myself spinning wondering if the hours my toddlers spend naked laying on the warm turf every day is hurting them? I know it’s easy to drive yourself nuts thinking everything kills you these days so I try to stay macro and just focus on what we ingest/put on our skin but we spend A LOT of time out there.

SO, anyone else find themselves in a similar wormhole and come out with any useful findings? Trying to not be too crazy here. Thank you for not judging!

It’s from this company and is the pet safe one. It’s not the industrial one they use for soccer fields with the plastic bits on top. They sprinkled sand on top.

https://www.syntheticturfnorthwest.com/

 

[michae1]

@jack871 We opted for a clover lawn instead! They make some pretty durable native lawn mixes for dogs and babies!

 

[aggeliki96]

@michae1 I used to have a clover lawn and I loved it but for young kids I'm going to say that I don't know if I'd recommend it. We had SO MANY BEES! Which of course are great, I love bees, but my son did not. My dog also was not a fan.

 

[michae1]

@aggeliki96 They make micro clover mixes that gave minimal flowers! More foot traffic durable too!

 

[mamartinezzx]

@jack871 I guess it probably depends on how you would treat your lawn. Would you be using a lot of pesticides and fertilizer on it? I don't think turf would be too high up on my list of worries but I also wouldn't replace my lawn with it (and I don't use any chemicals on my lawn). Could you maybe play in the front lawn?

 

[richardson217]

@jack871 Any choice you make as a parent is going to have risks, and you have to decide what risks are worth it to you. Yes, forever plastics are scary, but we live in a modern world in which everyone is exposed to forever plastics. Are they scarier (to you!) than high-maintenance natural lawn (grass, clover, thyme, whatever) with possible exposure to mud, pesticides, fertilizer, and really, really cool bugs that the kids will want to bring in the house and show you?

If I were in your shoes, I'd keep the artificial turf. I have to mow several times a month and it sucks.