Toys, Toys, Toys....

Since Josh's birthday is next week I've been thinking a lot about toys. What are "good" toys and what are "one-minute wonder" toys.

Today the "free" portion of the Atlanta Journal Constitution came and in it was a big article titled, "Toys that Rock." I thought to myself, "cool... that should give me some ideas for his birthday..." Well, no. The article is sub-titled: "Playing with Interactive Music" and was all about all the high-tech toys that you can plug your iPod or other MP3 players into.

I see these at the store... the i-Fish, the i-Dog, i-Cat, whatever... Honestly, I never got the point of these "toys." What do they do? You plug your MP3 player in and the "toy" dances and lights up. What's in it for the kid? Do these "toys" encourage kids to listen to more music? Does the "novelty" of these toys wear off?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I'm sure some kids enjoy these toys. I just don't know how they would stand the test of time.

Today, Sam was upstairs in the play room listening to his songs on an old CD player we have. He was singing AND playing with his trains AND dancing (well, as best he can with a cast on his leg). If I had the i-Pod plugged into any of these devices for him to listen to his songs, would he have stopped playing?

I love that my kids love music. I love watching them dance and sing. They make up songs, pretend to play instruments, bang on the key board. Josh even does a little air jamming on both "air guitars" and "air violins." We make up songs every day.

My in-laws always say that the toys that last the longest are the ones that the kids can be creative with and use their imagination. I'm sure the "i-Toys" are are cute and can be a fun for a time, and I can guarantee we'll have some around our house in the future.

But for now, Lego's, blocks, balls, crayons, stickers, cars and trains. These are the toys that have stood the test of time in our house. Classics that I grew up with and will be around for a long time. I think we'll (try) to stick with them for a while longer!