[admin]

There's a tenth anniversary version of Tickle Me Elmo that experts are saying will be the must have gift for Christmas this year, and it's already proven to be in very short supply. Most stores are selling their supply the day it arrives.

Are you looking to buy a TMX? Have you been lucky enough to already get one? I have a young daughter that loves Elmo, but is probably too young (19 months) to appreciate this fully animated TMX. What are you thoughts?

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Never buy toys that appeal to you, the parent. You will be assembling the toy and installing the batteries, and the kid will be happier playing with the box. At 19 months, there is nothing more fun than an upside down metal pan and a big spoon to bang it with. Ummm...for the kid, that is.

Over the last few years, I've been giving away and throwing out the baby and toddler stuff. The things I thought the kids would love, they didn't, and the stuff they really did play with surprised me. I found out I was more sentimental about the toys than they were. I did enjoy stuffing the yellow Teletubbie "La La" in the trash, listening to her muffled song under the other garbage, and I took a perverse delight giving my neighbor a box of toys that all irritated me, especially in the long ago days of naptime. (Naptime is for parents, not for toddlers!) Like the xylophone with the attached stick was my mother's brilliant idea. The kids even liked to bang it in the bathtub (good echo!) The box of foam letter blocks that I must have picked up 40,000 times, the magnets that covered my dryer, the many cars and trucks minus a few wheels...come to think of it, I should have saved them in the attic and brought them out for the eventual grandchildren, and to annoy the snot out of my kids later...sweet revenge. Alas, all the baby stuff is gone, replaced with Barbies, Bat Man, Imaginex, and enough art supplies to stock a Wal-Mart. They grow so dang fast, don't they?
Johanna

[Johanna]

Never buy toys that appeal to you, the parent. You will be assembling the toy and installing the batteries, and the kid will be happier playing with the box. At 19 months, there is nothing more fun than an upside down metal pan and a big spoon to bang it with. Ummm...for the kid, that is.

Over the last few years, I've been giving away and throwing out the baby and toddler stuff. The things I thought the kids would love, they didn't, and the stuff they really did play with surprised me. I found out I was more sentimental about the toys than they were. I did enjoy stuffing the yellow Teletubbie "La La" in the trash, listening to her muffled song under the other garbage, and I took a perverse delight giving my neighbor a box of toys that all irritated me, especially in the long ago days of naptime. (Naptime is for parents, not for toddlers!) Like the xylophone with the attached stick was my mother's brilliant idea. The kids even liked to bang it in the bathtub (good echo!) The box of foam letter blocks that I must have picked up 40,000 times, the magnets that covered my dryer, the many cars and trucks minus a few wheels...come to think of it, I should have saved them in the attic and brought them out for the eventual grandchildren, and to annoy the snot out of my kids later...sweet revenge. Alas, all the baby stuff is gone, replaced with Barbies, Bat Man, Imaginex, and enough art supplies to stock a Wal-Mart. They grow so dang fast, don't they?
Johanna

[sari]

My older daughter was given an Elmo doll when she was a child, and his eyes scared her - she never played with that thing. These fad toys are the creation of the toy manufacturers to suck the parents into paying for them - I don't think they're really manufactured with the kids' interest in mind at all. They always create a huge marketing hype for them, and then don't make enough of the item to satisfy the demand they've created. Anytime you have adults fighting one another in stores to buy a toy for their kid, something is wrong.

Johanna, don't get me started on Barbie stuff. I just sold the Barbie plane in a yard sale - good riddance of that. I've stepped on enough Barbie high heels, hairbrushes, and other ridiculously small items to give me a lifetime of nightmares, not to mention all the horrible clothes. Trying to dress a Barbie doll is like trying to put socks on an elephant, which is why they always end up naked.

[admin]

Never buy toys that appeal to you, the parent.

I think that explains most the phenomenon that surrounds these "must have" toys. I've never seen this TMX, but I know the Internet is a buzz with it. At some point I don't think it matters what the toy does. Just the fact that others seem to want it, and can't get it, make it somehow appealing.

[Kat]

Beka was an Elmo freak when she was little. When the original Tickle Me Elmo came out, I bought one right away..BEFORE everyone went nutso. I had it hidden, still in the box, for a Christmas gift. I could have sold that sucker for a couple thousand dollars! Crazy, I tell ya! I didn't, of course. She loved it..and still has it to this day. She had about 30 stuffed Elmo's of all types, beginning when she turned about 18 months. She also had all of the movies, some clothes...blanket, slippers, etc. I'm glad she passed that phase, AND the barbie one. Now she's all about Polly Pocket. *sigh*

Johanna..figures you unloaded baby stuff! I could use some.

[dsenette]

i'll buy one...so that i can blow it up with copious amounts of explossives....elmo is the devil! could there be a more annoying voice on the planet? (i'll take barney over elmo anyday)...in the modern age of falling SAT scores and what not...why do people keep encouraging a toy/character that doesn't speak english (it couild speak spanish a la dora the explorer...if it wanted to as long as it wasn't broken spanish)...i'm all for baby talk with babies...but...only when you're palying...not when you're trying to teach them...isn't that the point of elmo? (and all of sesame street?) to educate? nothing good ever comes from talking in the third person (remember "the jimmy" from seinfeld?)....during the first tickle-me-elmo fiasco...i was personally responsible for the headache of alot of wal-mart general managers...i hid every single elmo that i could find...it was fun..

[thakid]

ok 1st off I dont see the big deal with a talkin red rug maybe it is just me but even when the tickle me elmo 1st came out I was like that is the dumbest thing ever but as for little kids I could see the point but teens adults everyone needed / wanted that thing except me I hated it but at 19 months I agree they are more impressed with the box then the toy it self if you get it wait a year or two and then give it to her and she will play and have fun with it put it to good use or get it for yourself

[warriorscot]

The best toys for young kids are the simple ones, when i was born my uncle gave me a merryweather teddy(really good expensive ones i could even now sell it for a boat load of cash even with its bib missing) and i had that for years and years as a toy and even longer as a decorative item(just didnt want to part with it) its now carefully put away in the loft along with my other childhood favourite a cuddly dog called wrinkles the things is also indestructable which helps as a kids toy its now went the same way as growlers(the bear).

The best toys are the simple ones, they last longer and have much more sentimental battery, sure i like my star wars play sets as things even now almost 10 years later but they are collectible items i keep them because they are worth money more than anything else they dont bring that little smile when you remember the simpler times.

[chelton]

Elme's disgusting, Barbie's colourless and stupid and very dangerous in her ability to fill the house with these tiny useless items of hers.
Johanna, I see what you mean by not buying toys that appeal to parents not children, but what about parents' role in forming your child's persdonality by a careful choice of toys. I do believe that a Barbie child and the one with hand-made dolls and creativity-stimulating meccanos will be different.
My first daughter's toys were those made by me during pregnancy, when I was trying to be sensitive to the creature inside me and fulfill her wishes.
The toy, probably, should express your ideas and views in upbringing and be your instrument.