Indoctrination.
It is ‘mega huge half yearly toy sale’ time here at the moment. We don’t get toy catalogues delivered to us (too far out in the sticks for anyone to bother) but a very kind friend bought them over for us to have a look at.
I had a quick scout through looking to see if there was anything remotely interesting that I could grab for the Twindaoe’s birthday or for Christmas (hoping to be organised in advance this year… ha ha!). Then the Baldy Boy had a look, re-living his childhood, lamenting the fact that he NEVER got any of the cool toys he really badly wanted when he was a kid, the big sook. Then they were turned over to the girls for a bit of a viewing.
Almost every night this week the library books have taken a back seat as the girls pour over the toy catalogues before bed. There is much ooohing and aahhing and ‘look T has that pony’ or ‘E has that princess doll’ and quite a bit ‘oh we’d LOVE that!’. I have been looking over their shoulders now and then, seeing what they are coveting and deciding whether I would consider allowing it to enter my house or not.
They are eyeing of a game where an elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk – and while I think it would make a nice big mess for us to fight over I don’t think it is totally revolting and so if we can lay our hands on a box (we’ve tried one shop, will check out two others – obviously we needed to go at midnight the day the sale started if we really wanted it) we’ll get it. They also eyed off ‘kerplunk’ which I thought was a pretty good choice, so that has gone on the list too. I’ve added one thing to the list that I think we’d all get a lot of enjoyment out of – totem tennis, and also thought about ways I could full fill some of their other toy desires without compromising my toy snob standards.
I’ve tried to lead them away from some choices that I just can’t stomach, and after reading some interesting posts over at The Butterfly Effect about letting “your child know your values and why you don’t think what the ads are portraying is a smart choice for her or your family” I’ve also been trying to explain to them why I am not fond of a lot of the toys in these catalogues.
Obviously my deep and meaningful conversations have been sinking in because they both accosted me the other night and shoved the ‘Dora the Explorer We Did It Dancing Doll‘ under my nose and pleaded in stereo how much they wanted this particular toy….
‘Please mum…. please…. It’s made from material…. it’s not plastic crap.. it isn’t’
ROFL!
I was getting right into the deep and meaningful toy conversation too, then the “plastic crap” brought me right undone! LOL
Oh the dreaded toy catalogues…my munchkins have been eyeing them off all week. Had to laugh at the “not plastic crap” comment.
Ummmm sorry to burst your bubble about the elephant but….Just have to say, we have a neglected butterfly blowing elephant game, behind the couch I think… if you are looking for a toy where the novelty lasts more than five minutes, well then avoid this one would be my advice. My kids really wanted it, but after the first day have hardly touched it :( Oh and it chews through the batteries at a frightening rate.
Everything else has gone through its phases in our house, but the family type games, the totem tennis, the board games, outdoor play equipment have never lost their appeal.
We don’t bother terribly with the mid year toy sale now. Target always has another one about 3 months before christmas and the specials are usually better.
We have Elefun – and yes – it does blow butterflies in the general upward direction, but only for about 45 seconds! My girls are pretty rough and tumble, M especially – and it seems to be a solid enough game – but honestly –
i wouldn’t recommend it. Kerplunk is great fun. M1 us quite able to set it up and play with her and M2.
We don’t get the toy catalogues either – so I have no idea what is on sale – mostly alot of plastic crap I guess!!
Bwahahahahaha! I think that story was cute. I hate plastic crap too and I hate Dora the Explorer. What is it with that chick? She is everywhere.
Did you see the gigantic scary Dora doll at Big W? That thing is huge, man. It’s bigger than my children. How on earth could anyone play with it?
I have to 2nd (or 3rd or whatever) the warnings against Ele-fun. It’s five minutes of annoying set-up for 20 seconds of game. Tres frustration.
I have been indoctrinating my girls against crappy toys too… yesterday B almost cried with panic and upset when someone gave her friend a Bratz doll at the birthday party. “But mummy someone gave her a Brat! And Talitha touched it!” Perhaps I should shut up about the Bratz for a bit…
I actually like the Elefun game. Sam can set it up himself and it keeps him and Liv occupied for a bit. It’s not noisy at all. You just find butterflies around for a few days afterwards lol. Kerplunk is a good one, but one to play when Muski is not around because of the marbles.