How Long Do They Last?
We’ve all seen children play with the box a toy came in … longer than they did the toy.
We mailed a stuffed animal to England last year, and the box was a little too big. In order to keep the box from caving in during shipment, we stuffed an empty egg carton in with the toy. The mom wrote us to say that the animal was exactly what she had wanted, but her baby was having a ball with the egg carton!
I’m wondering, which toys have your children played with that kept them interested the longest? Are there certain toys that cost too much for the enjoyment they gave your child?
Hey there,
Because of young age I don´t have kids yet, but that makes me able to remember what I liked to play with very well. Lego bricks and similar stuff which you could build things with always did it for me. 🙂
In my day, Ralph, it was Lincoln Logs! Loved those things and could make houses by the hour. Some of my interest in drafting house plans may have started then and there, you never know.
My son is 4 and is addicted to computer/Nintendo games. All other toys lie by the way side!
Our grandson is heavily into sports, so he does get plenty of exercise. But he spends an awful lot of his free time glued to his games.
It’s all tied into a very competitive personality, I suppose, but since I’M so addicted to the computer, I hate to see him spending so much time glued to one.
Given that I don’t have kids of my own I can only comment on my own personal experience.
There were 3 things that I played the most with, one surviving the other 2. You’ll be surprised at which one lasted longest and I think it’s only due to the fact that I wasn’t allowed to take it out of the house.
1. Raggedy Ann doll which I loved and coveted till I was the ripe old age of 5. I lost that doll while on the road with my parents. My father was a truck driver at the time and thought it a good idea to take us on the road. I just HAD to take Raggedy with me! Alas, she was lost somewhere in Virginia or West Virginia, everyone’s memory is unclear exactly as to where.
2. A giant box that I colored a giant 5 on the side and it was my race car. I had that box for eons it seemed like. I was a huge Speed Racer fan and when my parents would argue I would jump in the Mach 5 (god I can’t believe I just remembered that) and race off to far away places so I didn’t have to listen to them fighting. Given enough time the box finally fell apart and was replaced with paper dolls and Barbies (mom worked at a 5 and dime and would bring home Barbie clothes for me each week…I think it was a guilt thing for the impending divorce)
3. Wooden blocks. Every weekend I went to my grandparents house and since I was an only child and watching TV at the grandparents (for a 6/7 year old) is boring …. think Lawrence Welk….I would go into the spare bedroom and play with the pile of wooden blocks that my grammy had for me. Building castles and nice new homes that had both parents and siblings was quite the distraction for a 7 year old. Those lasted the longest because over time I ended up spending every weekend there up to my teen years. At which point, I would continue to visit my grammy outside of the house but by and large avoided the house itself because my drunken grandfather would be there.
Amazing how as we age, the things we require for our mental health pretty much stay the same. For me it was the consistant attention that I got from my Grammy. While since then my tastes in toys has gotten more sophisticated (computers, digital cameras, Ipods) the things we relied on the most as children never really changes all that much. I’d give all my electronics and toys for just an hour long conversation with my Grammy just one more time.
Thanks for letting me remember.
Shannon, thanks for sharing that little part of yourself so honestly, and I hope the memories were more happy than sad.
I don’t have any children, but I do have the four legged variety so I’ll tell you about them.
I’ve bought soft cushions, cat hammocks, fur-lined baskets, you name it.. and yet they STILL prefer an old cardboard box to sleep and play in. The one box is still very much a favourite, even though it only has 2 sides and half a bottom remaining. 🙂
BA~~29
I can’t count how many dogs we’ve had who absolutely refused to use the nice dog house we have for them.
Furkids are really just like children … they like what they like, whether it makes sense to us or not.