It’s not often you see many toys around the house once the kids get to a certain age. I guess they would consider toys a little childish once passed early to mid teens. I find this both positive and a little sad.
I’m sure many of you remember the days or look forward to those times, such as Christmas, when the house becomes overloaded with “stuff”. I know much of it can be tat and quite frankly spends little time being played with before… the black bagging!! However, many of these days bring with them great fun and enjoyment. I mentioned in my Christmas blog about having a degree in Lego Friends construction - I actually miss those days! I remember the joy on my daughters face - mainly because she didn’t have to spend time constructing it herself and her excitable Dad would just “ninja” his way through another five bags of bits and present this masterpiece. The funny thing is, she never really liked building them just playing with them once built. I think half the fun has to be the building - oh and then the smashing up to put away and the rebuilding the next time. Not for her - she would try and squeeze it into a storage box fully built! Pieces pinging off everywhere as the delicately positioned items such as signs, crockery etc look for an exit route.
As for now, this collection is simply one of many boxes stacked in the garage or shed. I’ll come back to those in a minute.
As for my son, he’s always been a car fan so still has these dotted around the house. Very much more dust covered than they used to be... That’s a shame too. However, the call of the F1 style racing seat and PS5 is a lot more appealing these days than the 1/43rd size toy car. Plus, these days, he has a real car he can drive now… no need to go brum, brum, neeoow as he pushes the little cars across the carpet!
Now, the thing I’m struggling with is the 'next step'. Maybe it’s to be expected but for some reason it doesn’t look like kids can 'let go' of certain toys. I mentioned about the boxes piling up in the garage, this is getting ridiculous! On many occasions I’ll spend the time and energy to extricate these from the depths of their storage location across all the 'Dad’s Spaces' within the Garage, shed and loft. Not an easy task - sweat pouring off me as I decided to choose the hottest day of the year… There I am, huffing and puffing away as I grab at each of the boxes, dragging them across the other decades of junk. Mind you, having done this so many times, I’m now shuffling boxes like they are a deck of cards in the hands of a skilled croupier.
I might then say to the kids “can we get rid of those old toys you never use?”. The response to such a question is fairly simple “no” is the swift reply. “Come on, this is crazy, you haven’t touched them for years.” “So” is the rather cheeky reply. “SO, basically, they need to go” is my less than impressed response as I feel a big dose of deja vu coming on. “But that’s our childhood, our memories - you don’t want to take that away from us - do you?” Oh here we go again, this is the start of their highly skilled plan. It must be inbuilt for kids - the emotional heart strings pulling!
“Dad, remember when you gave me that Buzz Lightyear? - there’s no way you would want me to get rid of that - he’s a ledge.” Is the clever reply from my son. “And - that train set is a keeper as it could be used for my own kids.”
“I still use the Lego - sometimes. I wouldn’t want to get rid of that” shouts my daughter. “Remember all the fun you and I had putting that all together? Let’s do that again this week.”
“I feel like I’ve been here before” my mind tells me as I consider how to get all theses boxes back where they came from.
“And - we can’t get rid of that Postman Pat stuff - he’s a ledge!” They shout in unison.
Well, that’s it I guess, I say to myself - I’ve failed again.
In some way, yes. But, as I struggle to put the boxes back in their 'home' location and battle with the other junk, I look down at the Buzz Lightyear. He sits there wings slightly crooked; his fancy paintwork a little chipped and looking a little less spotless than Woody lying next to him - mainly because Woody wasn’t tasked with flying down the stairs by our version of Andy!! As I carefully pack both Buzz and Woody back in their makeshift packaging (basically an off cut of bubble wrap) I think back to my son’s face when he first opened the wrapping paper that Christmas morning - legendary!
As for the Lego, I grab that box and take it back inside the house - ready for that day my daughter and I get building it again. As you can imagine, a month later, it is still there, unopened and unbuilt!
So there you have it, a battle you will lose but in the end have definitely won. Amazing memories and a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning ‘toy-ling’ away in the garage!
“Now, where did I pile up all their old school work - let’s get rid of that lot instead….”
