VietNamNet Bridge – It's the age-old question: What toy do you buy for the child who has everything? Thankfully for hard-pushed parents, the new age answer is simple and affordable: None, you rent one instead.

The concept of offering high quality used-toys is fairly new to Ha Noi, but it's already proved a big hit with parents. Despite the small scale of businesses currently offering the service, families are eager for their children to play with smarter toys which offer better development skills.

Tran Mai Trinh, a resident of Tay Ho's Lac Long Quan District, said her businessman husband would frequently travel abroad for work trips and always bring back high quality toys from US, Canada or Europe for their beloved daughter.

The number of toys collected by the couple now totals over 100 items and they are carefully kept clean and intact.

As their daughter grew up, the old toys, which still work, were no longer used. Trinh and her husband felt it was a waste to throw away these smart toys, so they came up with the idea of offering them for families to rent.

Children get bored easily, Trinh said, so toys must be frequently changed and the cost of this can be terribly high.

She added that if families cannot afford expensive toys and buy poor quality items instead, the cheap toys may have a negative impact on their child's health and development.

"If children play with smart toys like Lego and puzzles, they will have quicker instincts and a greater urge to explore," Trinh said, "I want to share my daughter's toys with other children so that they can enjoy the same benefits."

Nguyen Bich Van's family on Tay Ho District's An Duong Vuong Street is another household offering the service.

According to Van, unlike luckier friends, her son was born with poor health and slow development problems.

She found that smart toys helped him develop both physically and intellectually, thus Van's family spent nearly VND5 million (nearly US$240) a month on quality toys made overseas. Her four-year-old son now has over 200 different toys, including those that aid development of observation, imagination and memory.

Van said the toys for rent service can help parents avoid the high costs of buying toys with a short shelf-life for their quickly developing children.

If a family borrowed a standing-practice seat, for example, they would have to pay about VND600,000 (nearly $29) to use for 3-4 months instead of VND3 million ($143) if they bought the item outright, she said.

Van added that when a toy is no longer needed, it can be returned to her "toy library" so that a younger child can use it.

Offering a wallet-friendly solution to the expense of raising children, the toy-rent business is unsurprisingly attracting a lot of attention.

Trinh said her first customers were neighbours, friends and acquaintances, but after a short while, her customers numbered over a hundred.

Meanhwile, Van said that other parents impressed by the idea are now donating their children's unwanted toys to give her library more diversity.

Van said she started toys for rent not to make money, but to share her son's toys with other children from families who could not afford to buy smart toys.

Nguyen Khanh Dung, a resident of Thanh Xuan District's Tran Duy Hung Road, said the toy library is also a place for parents to come and pick suitable toys for their children while sharing their parenting experiences and swapping advice.

According to Vu Thu Ha, an independent consultation expert, toys are essential for children's cognitive development.

She said smart toys, in particular, help children not only relax and entertain themselves, but also develop creativity and logic, offering a welcome alternative to the violence-stimulating toys and sub-standard products that are so prevalent these days.

Choosing to rent smart toys for children is also a growing trend among parents in other countries.

Ha said a major problem is that many parents cannot afford to buy high quality toys, so the toy-renting business should be encouraged and expanded.

It's also important for parents to research and choose toys wisely that suit their children's needs, while taking time to play and guide them to maximise the learning experience, Ha added.

VietNamNet/VNS