This
time 8 years ago we came on holiday to Norfolk with our then 2 year son. The holiday was wonderful but one of our
biggest & fondest memories was going to Roys of Wroxham and buying him Buzz
Lightyear & Woody toys. Over the
years, as in the stories, they’ve been loved & played with and passed down
to our second son.
Now, the
reality is that they’ve been stuck down the bottom of a box of fluffy toys for
the past year or so. Ever present but largely ignored. I’m afraid lego, Star Wars and a myriad of
other toys have replaced them somewhat.
Last
weekend we had a spontaneous “tidy up” of our sons bedrooms. In parent talk, “tidy up” is a euphemism for
clear out the detritus and fill a box for the charity shop so we can actually
vacuum the floor. You can see where this
is going…
Everything
was going great. The kids were watching TV
and I was going great guns in the youngests bedroom. In our house, the loft is where we put those toys
that we’re not quite sure whether to pass on yet. They aren’t getting played with but maybe
they’ll come back down for a 2nd lease of life. I’d already moved a few things up there
including Buzz & Woody.
I knew
it was a marginal decision but I wasn’t kicking them out of the house. In fact, I thought they may stay with us for
a future generation. When I told my wife what I'd done her face dropped - wrong decision. I was quickly scuttled
back up to the loft to retrieve both Buzz & Woody and put them back in the
bedroom!
No
harm had been done & we’d worked out the best thing to do, albeit driven by
emotional attachment towards two inanimate outgrown toys! No-one else knew what nearly happened.
The thing is now I have guilt, just like Rex in the original Toy story film...
I think the dialogue between Slinky and Rex is probably what my wife and I experienced!
How about you? What
are your stories of kids, toys and emotional attachments? Does anyone else “manage out” the outgrown
toys? Would love to hear from you!
