May I Take Your Order?

When I was a little girl, my cousin and I were spending the day at Grandma's house. Grandma didn't keep toys at her house for the grandchildren, but that didn't stop us from having enormous amounts of creative fun. One game we liked in particular involved simply a broken phone, a calculator, a pen and mail order fliers from the weekly coupon inserts. For hours we'd pretend to take calls from customers, filling out the order forms and filing them carefully. Oddly enough, I was praised for my phone skills when I entered the working world.

Today, I introduced the game to my oldest after we finished homeschooling for the day. He loved it!

And then there's the accidental bad mothering turned good that happened last week. My 3 year old needed occupation, so I gave her the only sheet of paper I had on hand to draw on. I was busy with one thing or another when my 5 year asked for paper. Not wanting to be interrupted again searching for a piece of paper, I handed him hubby's Want Ad Digest and a pen and told him to circle anything he'd like to have for his future farm. Well, that was last week and he is still circling. Daddy picked up a new Want Ad on Sunday and 5 year old has already attacked that with circling and "notes" scribbled in the margins.

All this begs to question: Do children really need toys?! LOL!