The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
parents, kids, and people who used to be kids
Jeff Wrangler:
Was the yellow Power Ranger a girl? I notice her top seems different from the other two. What did they do, anyway?
And at age 48 there is still an awful lot of kid in me. I still have--carefully preserved--my favorite childhood toys. I collect model trains (and play with--er, run--them), I collect toy soldiers (not fancy metal ones, the plastic ones of my childhood--but I don't play with them), I like to put on funny clothes and a sword and go to Renaissance faires and medieval reenactments.
Growing older chronologically is mandatory. Growing up is optional. ;D
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on October 05, 2006, 11:44:09 am ---There's one good thing about all this peer pressure about stuff marketed to kids. At least the kids want to buy stuff that's actually available. Whether I'll be saying that when he gets to the age of Katherine's kids is another matter entirely...
--- End quote ---
Well, my kids want stuff that's actually available, all right. Affording it is another question. Almost nothing they want costs less than three digits. My son's birthday was last week, and all he wanted was money, because he knew I wouldn't spend enough to buy any of the concrete things he wants. I did get him a few little things, though, with mixed results.
Side note to Colorado residents, particularly those interested in geology: One thing I gave him that he claims to actually like is a copy of James Michener's "Centennial," a fictionalized history of Colorado from 3.6 billion years ago to present. I read it a looooonnnnggg time ago, but I remember it as being pretty compelling. My son claims he'll read it, but we'll see -- he's technically capable of the reading, but then it is 1,038 pages long. For $8, I figured it's worth the gamble.
After all, 1,038 pages is only one page longer than "Gone With the Wind," a book I'd read more than once by the time I was his age. But my son is a boy, and far more energetic than I ever was.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on October 05, 2006, 11:44:09 am ---(And with all the toys, Jeff, I hope you at least get to be an uncle or an honorary uncle for some kid. I know mine would really love to sit and watch a model train go around and around. He's even gotten pretty good about just watching, and not trying to touch things that are delicate. Though he likes to follow them and watch them go through tunnels. If you ever do take a trip West, you should really come out here... I live in a great town for a model train enthusiast. :D )
--- End quote ---
Nope, nobody's uncle here. No brothers or sisters, so no nieces or nephews. I kinda sorta usedta be a kinda honorary uncle to my best high school buddy's two boys, who are now almost full grown (one got his driver's license this year--eeew). That amounted to getting then each a toy at Christmas and a book on their birthdays. Probably just as well it didn't involve more, since kids scare the dickens out of me! ;D
ednbarby:
Just wanted to chime in late on the Wizard of Oz thing - no way will I let Will see that until he's *at least* 8 years old. I had nightmares for literally years about those damned monkeys, and the Wicked Witch of the West, especially in that scene where the nasty old hag on the bike turns into her while Dorothy's house is flying around, about made me pee myself the first time I saw it at four or five (and I was long since potty trained by that point). And I may *never* let him watch Bambi. Or The Yearling. Or :shudder: Old Yeller. Good God, I still feel a chill when I think of any of those.
Here are the two issues I'm dealing with right now:
1.) He very rarely will stay in his room all night. Almost invariably, he ends up climbing in with us/me and waking our asses up. He said it was too dark, so we put in a night light. He said it was still too dark, so we left his door open with the hall light on. Then it was too light. We found a compromise by toning the hall light down a little and only partially opening his door. Then he said he didn't like his bed - it was uncomfortable. We got him a new bed (he was due anyway - he'd been in a toddler bed he was outgrowing) that he picked out and loved, complete with new Spider-Man sheets, he stayed in there for two nights straight and we thought we'd finally found the answer, but now he's "scared" again. Will we ever get to fully enjoy our own bedroom in peace again as long as he's living in the same house with us?
2.) Everything is an argument. You say to him, "You can have pizza or fish sticks tonight for dinner. Which would you like?" He says, "I want a cheeseburger!" This just happened yesterday. He'd been whining off and on all day about nothing. Finally, Ed was at the end of his tether and he said, "Do you want to stop whining, or do you want to be punished?" He goes, "I don't want to stop whining AND I don't want to be punished." GAH!!! THERE IS NO OPTION C!!! How can we get this across to him? Or are we giving him choices too often to begin with?
Jeff Wrangler:
I know this is no help to Barb or anybody, but I can't help but remember that I got over needing to sleep with a night light because I was even more afraid of fire than I was of the dark.
My mother bought new curtains for my room, long ones, that hung down over the electrical outlet where the night light was plugged in. I was afraid the night light would set the curtains on fire. End of sleeping with a night light.
Hadn't thought of that memory in years. ...
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