Why Won't You Play With Your Toys?!

As I removed an empty glass olive jar from Hunter's arm today I pointed out some nearby cars and galactic figurines, asking him to play with those instead.  I replaced said jar in the recycling bin and turned to see he had found a dusting brush thing.  "Is that a better toy?" I asked half-heartedly as he bounded across the grass only to stop in fighting stance and began swingng his now mighty sword at (I presume) giant ants (because we fight those most of the time).  Obviously the answer would be yes.

Most parents have toys available, some more than others.  When Ocean was little she would not play with toys preferring instead to play with my plastics.  So when Ethan came along, I didn't buy any new toys.  They played with what little they had and tupperware.  I thought I was in the know.  By the time Aaron came along, Ethan had established quite the collection of toys so Aaron had access to a much greater assortment than Ethan once did.

One of Aaron's first words was "car".  He was obsessed with them.  It was comical to see his little face light up in a parking lot.  His little arm would be waving, he eyes wide as he looked this way and that, excitedly breathless as he pointed all around "Car! Car! Car!" By the age of 18 months, he could distinguish between an Olds Alero and a Chrysler Sebring because one was Grandma's and the other was Aunty's.  I could barely tell the difference.  Still.

Now Hunter has access to an array of toys because he has two older brothers.  They have costumes, lego, tool benches, cars and related items, books, figurines, trains, etc etc.  And he plays with recycling.  But is that really such a bad thing?  Although Aaron took to the cars like a duck to water, that was something he was obviously interested in.  Perhaps in the real ones more than the toys.  Maybe we just didn't notice because he had all those little ones too.

At first, while I lamented the $50 I spent on a Winnie the Pooh push toy for Ocean, I did think it was a bad thing.  Not entirely that she wouldn't even look at it, let alone play with it rather that I'd spent the money on something I thought she would like and she did not.  The tupperware lids and containers gave her hours upon hours of entertainment.  They had no sharp edges, didn't make noise unless she wanted them to, they could stack up, fall down, they were quiet even!  

And as I am enjoying so much of the time that Hunter and I get to play pretend, with or without props, I'm thinking that this is so much more fun ... and charmingly inexpensive.  Everyone else in the house has either an iPod, iPhone or iPad.  We're all addicted to the darn things because they're just so neat  (I hope I didn't just make Steve Jobs roll over in his grave).  Hunter looks at what we're doing sometimes and walks away.  He's not interested. 

There's a reason the little ones would rather play pretend. He doesn't often ask anyone to play cars with him because he can do that all by himself.  But he does want help fighting bad guys. When you play pretend, you want for nothing but a friend to share it with because you have everything else you can think of.  And it's fun.  I have hereby decided that this shall be Summer of Pretend at my house.  Once they get over the shock, I think they'll enjoy it a lot :)