Toys

I wonder if my children will remember their toys the way I remember mine.

When I was young, I fell in love with a princess doll. I l admired it and wanted it so much. It was a princess doll with a beautiful fluffy turquoise gown. I can’t remember whether I ever got that doll but I remember wanting it real bad. Haha.

I remember I had a doll house with little doll furniture. I loved that. I can’t remember whether it came with real working lights. It certainly isn’t as sofisticated as the toy houses we have these days but I loved it all the same.

Those were my favourites. In those days we didn’t have many toys. I also had other toys, which were really my dad’s favourites, like the roullette set. He used to play that one with me so often. Haha. I think he was practising for his occassional Genting trip. lol.

I also had a tricycle and a little car. You had to sit in it and push it along with your feet to make it move but the point is, it was big enough to sit in so it resembled a real car in that sense. That is what makes it exciting. I would not have remembered the car if not for the little old black and white photo of me posing beside it.

I am the last, the baby of the family. So I was more fortunate to have that many toys. My husband always has this remark for the kids.

“You have so many toys. Do you know how many toys your daddy had as a kid”

And the kids would chorus together ”One or Two daddy!”  We do this when reminding the kids to cherish their toys.

I wonder if my kids will remember their toys the way I do. Toys and play are really an important part of growing up and learning. We learn from play. Sometimes we do role play and act out our frustration and anger.

My daughter is very different from me. She is an intellectual who prefers intellectual toys. She does not care for dolls and dollhouses. “What can they do mum?” she asks. “Why, you can change its clothes and comb its hair”  I replied and she gives me a funny look.

She prefers books and crafts and other things you can make and do. I thnk her favourite toy is a drawing block. She loves to collect stationary. She won’t use them. She loves them so much, she will keep them to admire. She prefers to read and draw, write, sing or make up her own stories and uses words to express her feelings. The other day she asks me “Have you ever seen a mother who won’t forgive the whole day?” Oh dearie me…. She likes to make up “Have you ever seen” remarks. She and her brother would ask each other “Have  you ever seen a dinosaur walking in the room”? or something like that and they would laugh at their own ridiculous comments. The more ridiculous the better. Then she asks me “Have you ever seen a mother who would not laugh at my jokes?” Gulp.Yup. She is one litte kid who is very good with her words.

As for the boy, well, he likes cars, cars and more cars. Especially little cars that he can line up along with little people. He often talks or sings to himself as he plays. Sometimes it is really amusing to eavesdrop on him and he would look a little embarrassed and smile sheepishly if I repeat what he said. It is his way of sorting out things in his little world.

Ahh toys… Whenever the man buys a train set or remote control car to play with the kids, I am reminded of my roulette set and the toys my man never had as a kid. Quite often when we are at the toy store, it is as much a pleasure for us to shop perhaps even more so than the pleasure of the kid receiving the toy. Quite often we buy things that we like and never had. There is also the pleasure of imagining the pleasure and thrill that each kid would get when receiving a toy. Too bad, I have no chance to play with the barbie dolls that I never had as a kid with my girl since she scorns them.

Do you remember your toys? What is your kid’s favourite toy? Do you buy too many toys?