Crystal is a 30-something freelance writer and stay-home mom to 3, ages 7, 5, and almost 3. When not chasing after her kids, she can be found blogging about them at Kid Things.
I recently bought a new broom.
Sadly, I was way more excited than ever necessary about this purchase. My almost 3 year old daughter, however, thought she struck gold.
She carried it around with her everywhere, not wanting to give her stickly friend up. She held the broom, stomped the broom, twirled the broom, tried to ride the broom, swung the broom recklessly, and attempted haphazardly to sweep with the broom. If she had been better, I would have put her to work. As it were, she just wanted to play. Then, I looked in on her with the broom laid across her lap, it’s “head” resting comfortably on a pillow.
“Shhh… baby sleeping”, my daughter whispered.
Sure, because why play with one of your many baby dolls when you can just pretend it with a hard broom?
Which got me thinking about all the other items my kids have taken for toys that aren’t really toys. Such as, just this week alone:
- the lid to a pan (for Captain America’s shield)
- pee-filled toilet water (as a puddle for rubber duckies)
- my bedroom lamp shade (possibilities are apparently endless)
- potatoes (I don’t know)
- cat litter (thankfully clean, to use like a rattle)
- a container of cotton balls (just to make a mess)
- junk mail (obviously)
All that effort spent on cheap, plastic beeping crap when I could have just let my kids run rampant with things we use everyday. Money flushed down the drain, almost like the rubber duckies. Though I do know what someone’s getting for Christmas this year; A new mop!
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This post is so true! My 16-month-old LOVES to “help” me sweep. Then, when I actually do sweep, he dances in the dog hair/cat hair/dust/dirt/etc. and scatters it across the floor so I have to sweep again. Helpful, that one is. I haven’t bought my kids new toys since Christmas, and both of them have already had birthdays this year! Between hand-me-downs and presents from the grandparents, they have too many toys that clutter up our house and gather dust.
Things my kids have used as toys this week: Scotch tape, a dog leash, a pillow case, a plastic flower pot, an empty milk jug, and one of those little black canister that 35-mm film used to come in? Oh, and I caught my daughter hitting her little brother over the head with a brand-new loaf of bread today.
My kids go absolutely nuts when I bring groceries in. They think I’m bringing in bags of fun things to play with/hit each other over the head with.
I remember once my friend’s son shredded a potato on her a/c vent.
Toys are really overrated!
Just more proof that the toy industry is hypnotizing parents and kids into thinking that they need to buy tons of toys to make them happy. When in fact that is complete bullcrap. You exemplified this perfectly.
Yep. Favorite and most used “toys” here have been a large cardboard box, metal measuring cups, a paper hole punch and most recently, mama’s shoes. Wait, does this mean I get to buy more shoes?
My daughter LOVES shoes! I say it’s a great reason to buy more.
This is why I have stopped buying toys for my kids. They prefer to play with everything but toys.
My 2,5yo daughter likes to dress up as BA Barracus from the A team (the husband is a fan). She puts on her dads running medals and tells everyone she is BA. Not kidding.
At least I don’t need to spend a lot of money on a princess outfit.
Haha! I have to say, that’s a new one!
After every Christmas I look around at all the money I wasted on things that looked nice packaged up and the kids NEEDED but once had never looked at again.
You can do amazing things with soda bottles. We’ve made them into bowling pins, planters, and soon trying lava lamps.
I tell my kids all they need are bikes, sleds, art supplies, balls and books. The rest is overrated.
And don’t forget the soda bottle turned exploding Mentos.
That reminds me when my son was 18 months old – he had a love affair with a feather duster. He carried that thing everywhere! Sadly he outgrew that phase a few months later, but I loved it!
LOVE IT!
My son is turning 1 on on Sunday and this was actually a gift request I made. My sister asked what kinds of things he likes and I said, “All he wants to play with is our broom. Could you see if they make any kid-sized ones? He’s going to impale himself with this thing.”
My sister thinks I’m nuts. She’ll get it when she has kids.
–>You forgot a fly-swatter to scare off the evil monsters.
http://www.websavvymom.com
You haven’t lived until your kids finds your vibrator and starts using it as a light saber!
This tale is a true classic! And one that could easily happen in my Star Wars-obsessed household! Gotta run, gotta find a REALLY good hiding place quick!
I was recently given a “massager”… ahem… and my 5 year old immediately went around sword fighting with it.
Great to see you here Crystal!
Glad to see I’m not alone in this. My son’s favorite pastime? Removing every single item from my wallet and scattering it everywhere. Also? Throwing things into the toilet and pretending to flush it. Toys schmoys.
: ) Isn’t that the funniest thing?
Kids can make a toy out of anything.
Love that.
My kids used to love my OXO salad spinner, which had a push-button on the lid to make the thing spin inside. Filled with legos, beans, small plastic doodads, or empty–hours of delight. I actually have given them as presents at toddler birthdays–I get weird looks from parents, but the kids are always thrilled. And who can forget the simple joy of pots and pans: lid on, lid off. Lid on, lid off. Bang a spoon around the inside of pan, produce cacophonous sound: JOY!
My four-year-old STILL loves to make Lego soup in my salad spinner! I am amazed the thing still works after all the crazy concoctions my boys have piled in there for a spin!
Hey, maybe I should send OXOX a letter & some snaps — think they’d send me a new spinner to keep for myself?
Now I wish I had a salad spinner. I’ve seen them used before, and it does look fun. And yes, the pots and pans. But I try to keep them out of those as much as possible because it makes a lot of noise.
I’ve always enjoyed putting prop boxes together for my kids. I don’t buy toys for my kids, I figured that’s what grandparents and friends are for. When I was getting my degree in early childhood, one of my classmates asked for advice on what the best gifts for young kids. The professor replied, “Young children do not need a lot of fancy toys, stick with the “Bs”: bubbles, balls, books…and there’s also boxes, and now of course, BROOMS!
The everyday household items are the best. I guess it’s because they see you playing with them everyday and want to play with them too.
That’s probably why my Iphone has permanent drool damage, the dog’s water bowl is always emptied on the floor, my laptop has been puked on more times than I can count.
Lol! My kids had more fun with an empty box or a trash can than most of their “toys”. With a little imagination the whole house is their playground.
We were just commenting that in our house and backyard there are thousands of dollars worth of toys and our two and a half year old was happily playing with the empty water cooler jug and a wooden spoon (drums of course!) and then moved on to destroying what was left of the newspaper! I could have saved a LOT of money had I known this before I had kids!
I found my kids out in the garage making “instruments” out of items they found in the recycling tubs. Playing with trash or the ultimate recycling?
I’ve been telling everyone I’m gonna start boycottin toys since my son picked up our swiffer and refused to give it back. Some “toys” he likes to play with. Dog toys (I told my best friend to get him chew toys for his 1st birthday and those were seriously one of his favorite gifts!), calculators, pots,pans and of course any box that makes it’s way into our home :)
This thread cracks me up. Alot of funny posts from parents and stuff that I see all the time at home, but rarely comment on. I did write a post a few weeks ago about 4 common household items not to be used as toys. Kind of a joke, but still funny – http://daddybydefault.com/4-household-items-that-are-not-baby-toys/
Ha, so true. My daughter loves our broom too! My other daughter loves tupperware – she climbs right in the cupboard with them. If I could post the picture I would, its priceless.
This was fantastic, and so true. My kids only ever want to play with my cell phone, the Swiffer, the yoga mat, anf keys. We have a room full of toys… FULL. They don’t care, but I am happy they are not attached to their toys, happy with whatever.
My kids love cell phones, too. Though they seem to find a way to delete half the apps before I can even turn around.
I once told my mil that the g-kids have no imagination. This just proves it. If I were to give my sd a box she would tell me it’s just a box. But my sisters and I always loved boxes. We would ask for the empty paper towel and wrapping paper rolls. Sd and my nephews see things as they are and that’s pretty much it. Sad.
I swear you can buy the most expensive, flashy, hip & up-to-date, ‘help your child learn this!’ toy, & what gets played with until it dies? The box!! My kids LOVE boxes & have had many adventures with the boxes!! They’ve been on the Titanic dodging icebergs, skating on ice, boat rides, and who knows what else!
Hi
My kids aged 1 and 3 also happily play with household items (still amazes me that spinach is an issue but the little guy will happily put a toilet brush in his mouth) and we also have hundreds of discarded birthday and Christmas gifts bursting out of toy boxes scattered around the house.
But let them go on a playdate…they play with the other kid’s toys so hard and so intently that I almost always feel guilty that I just didn’t get them the right toys.
The broom is one of our most used ‘toys’ in the house and my 3 year old is actually quite good with it tends to go hand in hand with the dust pan too. Hope he never grows out of it!!
OMG Cat litter. Love it.
My son uses chopsticks, paper and rubber bands to build things. He is seven and I am thinking engineer in the future. If I gave him a broom, then he would probably ask for rope and duct tape. That would scare me. lol
Isn’t it “funny” what they love so much? My boy wants a vacuum of his own. Excellent. Perhaps he’d like a whole bucket of cleaning supplies to go with that?
my children both still prefer the boxes any toys come in to the toys them selves. Is it too cheap to get the free supermarket ones for xmas, i would wrap them up but then they’d prefer the wrapping to the empty boxes :-)