No Toys For This Tot

It’s the holiday shopping season.  Toy catalogs arrive in the mail by the dozens, but I just toss them in the trash.  My 7-year-old daughter doesn’t play with toys anymore.  I don’t know why.  In the past year, she hardly glanced at a board game.  Occasionally I’d see some Barbie dolls strewn around the house but I’m pretty sure they were just feeling unloved and trying to escape.  I’m happy that my daughter has found creative, homemade ways to entertain herself.  I just wish I’d known last year that all I really needed was:

1.  A king-sized bed sheet and chip clips -- Or in my daughter’s world, the building materials one needs to construct a decent fort.

2. A big box -- The bigger the better. Preferably the kind you can climb into and use as a clubhouse. Which is another name for…. a fort.

3.  A huge dry erase board and markers -- It’s mostly used to play school.  We don’t want to GO to school.  We just want to PLAY school.

4. Kitchen utensils and ingredients -- This is what we call potions or concoctions. The other week I bought my daughter some seasonal Pumpkin Spice mix and she practically did cartwheels of joy.  We have an entire kitchen cabinet solely dedicated to concoctions.  There may be a few bottles of wine in there too, but those are Mommy’s.

So this holiday season, I’m going to wise up. Under the tree, there will be no Barbie toys that take 2 adults and industrial strength pliers to remove from the box.  There will be no stuffed animals (i.e., dust collectors).  There will be no cute dresses or other clothing.  Apparently, the days when my daughter will wear what I’ve chosen for her have come and gone. 

So, what will be under the tree this year? Maybe something small. After all, it’s the little things that often make us truly happy. I’m talking about iTunes gift cards.  But I’ll put them in a REALLY big box.