No time to be jolly at the mall
This is supposed to be the sea
son to be jolly.
Christmas is just around the
corner; all the decorations are up; the
weather is right. This is supposed to
be that most favorable time of the
year.
Yeah, right.
Whoever wrote those happy, joy
ous and annoying Christmas songs
didn’t have to fight the crowds at the
malls and toy stores to buy gifts for
children.
If they had, their songs may have
had a different tone, 1 ike, “Ho, ho, ho,
what do you mean no more Big Bird
dolls?”
Christmas shopping has taken a
new turn in my family since we have
hadchildren.lt was easy BC—before
children.
All I had to do was get gifts for my
wife, parents, brother and sister. No
problem.
A bookstore gift certificate for Dad.
A sporting goods item for my brother.
CDs, cassettes or albums for my sis
ter. Those things that only a mother
could like for my mom, and special
gifts for my wife.
For myself, I really don’t like get
ting gifts. I don’t even like to shop in
the first place. And the k indsof things
I want are too expensive to expect
anyone but myself to spend money
on.
Still, things have changed over the
last two years.
Now, instead of looking at clothes,
household things and adult toys like
VCRs and Camcorders, we look at toy
trucks, dolls and the latest in electron
ic educational toys.
And don’t even begin to look at all
of the Sesame Street, Disney and
Barney paraphernalia out there. It’s
mind-boggling.
Except to a 2-year-old.
When my daughter goes with us to
the toy department, we always realize
too late that we should have kept her
>n Ihft^pe.depa.tUAcnU ;,
i
And don’t even begin to look at
all of the Sesame Street, Disney
and Barney paraphernalia out
there. It’s mind-boggling. Ex
cept to a 2-year-old.
Yep, big mistake.
She has to play with everything. It
may just be for less than one minute,
but Alley manages to try every toy
within reach on the shelves.
Thank God she’s only a little more
than 3 feet tall.
She has to push the trucks, shoot
the guns, hug the dolls and cry when
it’s time to go. Unless we bribe her.
She’s got us figured out.
The worst thing about shopping for
toys is just how many toys there arc.
You name it, they’ve made it for
children under the age of 5.
Then you have to decide ifit’satoy
appropriate for your child. And each
child is different.
A recent edition of USA TODAY
had several lists of toys for children
ranked by the many different groups
out there.
Toys were ranked by age group.
The rankings were as different as the
current rankings for college football.
One group had a Talking Barney
— $35 — ranked No. 1 for 2- to 4
year-olds. Another had an Air Pogo
— $89.95 — ranked first.
If given a choice between a Barney
with “hundreds of phrases” or an Air
Pogo, a “pogo stick on a string, hung
from a tree,” I’d choose Barney. And
I’m not even looking at the price all
that much.
I’d just rather have my daughter
play with a Barney doll than swinging
from a tree on a stick suspended by a
piece of string.
And then there was the group that
had a radio-controlled racer— $39.99
— ranked highly for children. It is a
two-speed car controlled by a remote
with a mini steering wheel.
Boy, would my daughter have a
ball with that, running over her baby
brother and the cat with the racer.
There was also one group who still
rated Cabbage Patch Kids — $20. 1
thought that craze died in the ’80s.
There was the Thomas Bump ‘N
Go Engine — $14 — that changes
directions after it bumps into a wall.
Just what every parent needs for their
child — something else the little
monster can mark up the walls with.
And finally, there was the No. 1
ranked, for 2- to 4-year-olds, Rocking
Rider Horse — $80. “A plastic rock
ing horse with adjustable height and
soft saddle on a big sturdy blue base.”
For $80 it better have something soft.
Now, I’m not knocking Christmas
toys or shopping all that much. The
reactions the children have when they
see their gifts on Christmas morning
more than makes up for it all.
When I see my children’s response
to their toys this Christmas morning,
it will make up for all the headaches,
hassles and rudeness we all share dur
ing this season of giving.
So, I guess. Merry Christmas is in
order.
Wright is a graduate student in journal
ism and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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