BOTs II

a friend emailed some comments about my BOT rant. she very kindly disagreed with my outright banishment of all BOTs. and so, i thought i would post my response. reason being that i didn't really *think* too hard about what i wrote. i was just spewing out my *feelings* on the toys. really, i was just posting to share the link to the nice wooden toys. then i got all huffy (as i usually do) about the BOTs and renounced the whole lot. so, here is my response:

about the BOTs, i agree that some of them have their place. but i personally will not spend any money on any of them. if they are given to us by well meaning loved ones, i weigh out the pros and cons and decide whether it's worth keeping. and whatever i do keep, when the batts die, i do not replace them. we did get one of those Fisher Price rock and roll pianos for lauryn for her 1st b-day and it's still going strong. serves as a quick 5 minute respite for ryan sometimes but he's not too interested most of the time. things like containers and lids, bottles and their caps, building blocks, stackers - those seem to hold his attention more. [but in all fairness, he seems to be much more of a 'techy' baby than lauryn was]

i guess my problem with BOTs - aside from my personal bother - is that i think most parents get them as babysitters. an alternative to actually being with their child(ren). so maybe i'm judging the toys and the parents too harshly (?)

i'm not interested in teaching my toddler/pre-schooler phonics or things like that. i'm not interested in having a battery operated bear "read' stories to my kids. i'd rather show up the best i can and let's talk about stuff. (wow, look at that tree! is that an ant? how many stones did you find?) - okay sorry this is turning into a blog entry!! (LOL)

you get my drift though. they aren't all evil, but they are kind of like the candy/junk food of toys - sure i'll have a few but i'll keep it to a minimum! few and far between...

end quote (slightly modified).

my take away message (unsolicited advice, that is) then is pretty clear, i guess: get good toys as much as you can and allow a BOT or two to make an appearance sometimes.

silence | clarity | peace