Letters to the Editor
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Leeandra
That's because you didn't see this stroller:
http://www.philandteds.com/nz/sportdouble_07_1.htm
Best baby purchase we ever made, and it was only $300 for the stroller and extra seat. (We bought the previous year's model)
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toys for tots
I grew up in the Eighties, and was very glad nobody bought Teddy Ruxpin for me. Dito "My Buddy" doll that looked exactly like Chucky from the horror movies. I liked stuffed animals that had a music box, but talking ones were scary. Wasn't the pedophile Panda on "South Park"?
The odd thing was, even though we had a lot of toys that were popular at the time, my sister and I loved to dress up and pretend we lived in the "olden days," like Laura Ingalls Wilder or the Depression-era (the one that's portrayed in "Annie"). We were always saying how cool it must be to live in a dugout or on the prairie. Or at sea, or on a ranch....
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WELL IT FITS PERFECTLY FOR...
all the snobs that think they are the first ones in the world to have a baby. I mean, how did women manage before all this corporate greed took over to tell us what we needed, how to look, what to wear, how to raise our children, how to dress, bathe, and feed them and everything else.
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Strollers as the new SUV
God I hate those things. They usually take up 2/3rds of a sidewalk and have large knobby tires that wouldn’t look out of place on my mountain bike. I mean, really, are you planning on taking your baby off-roading? Of course not – you’re hipster parents. You’re using these things to take your kids to the local bakery; the organic fruit and vegetable mart; the fair-trade coffee shop. Places where these super-sized behemoths were not designed for.
Not that you mind. After all, you’re entitled to as much space as you can buy. And don’t get me started on those double-wide strollers…
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The Simple Toys
Yeahup, I read through everyone's opinions and want to throw in mine which agress with some of the posters. Simple toys are the best.
We have a 1 year old boy. Just turned one. My husband and I have never had to buy a toy yet, the baby keeps getting useless toys from every which way. Toys we havent opened and plan to donate to charity in another 8 months.
I agree, the best toys are the old fashioned toys we grew up with 30 years ago. That's how I'm raising him. Our 1 year old's favorite toys:
-Wooden spoon and mixing bowl. A lot of noise
-Those cardboard cupholders from Starbucks
-bubble wrap (when we are watching him)
-wooden blocks
-a baby zylophone
-those plastic stacking rings that cost $1 for the set
-a pinky bounce ball that cost me $.50
-good ol' classical music to soothe him
-he plays with cloth diapers. Waves them like a flag, plays peek-a-boo
Toys he owns and never plays with:
-the $50 talking teddy bear that sings 3 different songs
-Talking elmo. Thank god.
-The set of baby Einstein videos. Never opened them.
Anyway, thats how us 30's-somethings grew up and we lived to tell about it, even after sliding down the hill, laying ona skateboard and hiding in the neighbor's backyard with nary a cell phone to reach us!
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Good stuff from Real Parents
I agree with most of what I read. Our kids are preparing to give us grandkids, I hope, so I will add some things I have not seen.
We bought a roll of butcher paper and our kids used it for years - whenever they needed it - for drawing and for homework. We provided materials for drawing or whatever and left them alone.
When possible, we would expose our children to art and encourage them to read.
I am convinced that children mostly raise themselves. We parents are there to keep them safe from what they are not ready for and to encourage them when they are ready.
gary
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Back off the Whoozit!
I'm with the author on Baby Einstein and $800 strollers and Gymboree, but I must defend my son's favorite baby toy, the Whoozit. He loved it from the moment he saw it, and would often seek it out over other playthings. Thank God it was washable, because it got dragged everywhere, chewed on, used as a pillow and a seat cushion. It is also the only baby toy my husband insisted we save, and is still in my (now 7 yr-old) son's room.
Did it stimulate his brain more than other toys? I have no idea, but it made him laugh and smile and squeal with glee, and I have to give kudos to whoever thought it up. It is a terrific toy and one we have given numerous times as baby gifts with great success.
Ok, I feel better now.
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Electro Robot
I have no problem with consumers having a wide variety of choices, but I also reserve the right to consider many of those choices incredibly ignorant, wasteful and indeed in some cases counterproductive.
Counterproductive particularly when the parent(s) spend hours they could have spent with their child away from their child working to provide unnecessary (in my opinion) frills.
I enjoy having a wide variety of consumer products to choose from but find that, beyond a certain point, there are simply too many choices to allow me to adequately investigate and make a wise decision as a consumer.
There is an old tale about the donkey who starves to death between two equally sized piles of hay because he cannot make up his mind which one to eat first. Sometimes going into a megastore I feel a bit like that donkey, the sheer multiplicity of just slightly dissimilar products can be bewildering.
One final point, not everyone who reads Salon has a great deal of disposable income. I know I fall into that category and I have no doubt whatsoever that I'm far from alone.
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No problems with Whoozits at this end
What's the problem with a Whoozit? We had one of those. I think it's a great toy--a little bizarre looking, but the bottom line is that it doesn't DO anything and doesn't have to.
Okay, can I share with you all something that I've always found mildly disturbing? When our 3-year-old was a bit younger, I found a surprising degree of overlap between good baby/toddler toys and cat toys. I mean, plastic balls with a little jingle bell inside them, bits of aluminum foil, feathers on the end of a stick...if it works for one, chances are it'll work for the other. If your son is done with the Whoozit, try giving it to the cat.