Dear Friends and Family,
We have three toy rules in the house...
Well. It came down to this. She likes playing with dolls at school. While we enjoy Lego and other toys at home it seemed silly to deny her any dolls at home just because they're dolls. Back to the first two rules. Yes, it can sing if you put in batteries, which surprisingly we did not. And, yes, it's licensed, but she doesn't know the brand because it's not a US brand. I had to let Dora and Elmo into the house to a degree - they're on her diapers. And, her friends at school taught her Mickey Mouse.
She was giddy when I gave her the doll. She wrapped her in a blanket and played with her all night. She gave her a pretend bath and she took her upstairs to read books. Hopefully, she doesn't play with the doll to the exclusion of all of her other toys. We'll have some plush friends with hurt feelings if she does.
This will stymie any guilt at vetoing any dolls she does get for Christmas. I hate to be that parent, but I almost wish I could put out a list of idea generators for the grandparents. I hate that they spend money on stuff that I then prefer for P not to have. My parents fare better than Mr. mouse's since my sister keeps them in check. I'm staring around the living room to see if I can figure out what they got her, but I'm drawing a blank. Mr. mouse's folks got P a purple dollhouse. Time for that puppy to go back down into the basement, I think. Done.
Oh, and if you're wondering what our deprived child got for non-battery operated, non-licensed, non-gender-specific birthday... well, she got several puzzles, several board games, a large yellow ball, a duck puppet, a zoo set and lots of books. It is possible, it just takes a little more imagination.
Cheers!
mouse
We have three toy rules in the house...
- no battery operated toys
- no licensed characters
- nothing gender specific
Well. It came down to this. She likes playing with dolls at school. While we enjoy Lego and other toys at home it seemed silly to deny her any dolls at home just because they're dolls. Back to the first two rules. Yes, it can sing if you put in batteries, which surprisingly we did not. And, yes, it's licensed, but she doesn't know the brand because it's not a US brand. I had to let Dora and Elmo into the house to a degree - they're on her diapers. And, her friends at school taught her Mickey Mouse.
She was giddy when I gave her the doll. She wrapped her in a blanket and played with her all night. She gave her a pretend bath and she took her upstairs to read books. Hopefully, she doesn't play with the doll to the exclusion of all of her other toys. We'll have some plush friends with hurt feelings if she does.
This will stymie any guilt at vetoing any dolls she does get for Christmas. I hate to be that parent, but I almost wish I could put out a list of idea generators for the grandparents. I hate that they spend money on stuff that I then prefer for P not to have. My parents fare better than Mr. mouse's since my sister keeps them in check. I'm staring around the living room to see if I can figure out what they got her, but I'm drawing a blank. Mr. mouse's folks got P a purple dollhouse. Time for that puppy to go back down into the basement, I think. Done.
Oh, and if you're wondering what our deprived child got for non-battery operated, non-licensed, non-gender-specific birthday... well, she got several puzzles, several board games, a large yellow ball, a duck puppet, a zoo set and lots of books. It is possible, it just takes a little more imagination.
Cheers!
mouse
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1 comment:
I still have problems with gifts my kids get and they are 12 and 10. What I normally do to try and persuade others to get them what I would prefer is to gush over something...."Oh Jeffrey loves those Legos star wars toys so much. It's amazing how many hours he will play with them- it's all he talks about." That usually works and I don't have to come across as the toy nazi, though we do still get those useless items that I pretty much just bag up and drop off at Goodwill. Good luck.
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