Friday, March 04, 2005

Warning to Future Parents

I am doing a little Spring cleaning this morning and I am feeling very frustrated. Here is my source of frustration: toys with many small pieces and parts. My boys have Legos of every shape, size and color, Magnetix, KidKinex, Lincoln Logs, puzzles, and a bunch of games that the pieces have escaped from (thank you Hi Ho Cheery-O).

So here is my advice: don't do it! Don't buy your children anything with small pieces. They really just like the boxes anyway. And while we are on the subject, I hate Playdoh too. I know it is good for their creative little minds, but it just ends up in the carpet.

Oh, you say this won't happen in your house? Check back with me when your kids are about 6 or 7. Before that everyone has been cautious about choking hazards and that kind of thing. Now they can have all those toys and games with teeny, tiny, almost invisible, don't-dare-vacuum pieces.

Ok, I am mostly kidding. But not completely. Don't say I didn't warn you! :)

5 comments:

K said...

Holy Cow, do we live in the same house? I can't tell you how many times I have stepped on some random toy piece in the boys' rooms. They come with EVERYTHING and end up EVERYWHERE. I have a super-vaccum that sucks them up though, and the kids have been warned. When I fire that baby up, they go running to save all their little do-dad's (not that they remember what the do-dad's go to or what they are for...)

Grace and Peace,
Kim

Susie said...

And Barbie things! Don't forget Barbie shoes, purses, vehicles, cups, saucers, etc. I have the legos and Bionicals too. But even baby toys have hazards too. Have you ever gotten up to wander through the house in the dark only to step on a Tickle-Me Elmo, Ernie, or Cookie Monster? They VIBRATE! You're quite sure you may have gotten a minor electrical shock when you hear, "Heh-heh-heh heh-heh-heh oh-boy-oh-boy!" Or you step on Leap-Frog's Alphabet pal that gleefully hollers, "RED!" And when you forget about him after awhile, he will cheerfully remind you, "Thanks for playing with Leap Frog! Buh-bye!"

We're insane for buying this stuff, aren't we?

Cheers!

elizabeth said...

Yes, 5 years ago, I would walk into my friends houses who had kids and think to myself, "My house will never look like that!"

These words have come back to haunt me! My boys birthdays are both within 5 weeks of Christmas so we have a massive intake of toys all at once.

The one thing that has helped with Legos, blocks, etc. has been to get large plastic storage containers to put them in.

SG said...

Now, now I have seen your house, well the last house anyway, and you always manage to keep it together. I am a bad Mom. I have begun to throw away anything not put it it's proper box. BUt we do have a little junk bin that I will thro misc. parts in if the parts look essential....but really do we need all these toys? I think we are going to donate an awful lot of stuff really soon. Tried to call you yesterdday but my "does not work anywhere for more than 5 minutes" cell phone kept saying my call has failed! Try again later. When is your Spring break???

MDM said...

We attended a birthday party this Sat. with a pinata. I was expecting to see a bunch of candy, but out came bunches of little toys. Happy meal toys, misc. Little People things, hair thingys, and so much more. The mom collects this stuff throughout the year and always does this. Very fun except now all those little toys are in my house....Really though, each time a new toy comes to our house I go staight to Target and get a Rubbermaid box to fit it and all of its family members in. We TRY to keep them together.