"Doc, check him out for me; we going Washington and Orlando and he has a cold for the last week." "What you going Orlando for? He's only three." "I want him to see Mickey!"
Why take a three-year-old to see Mickey Mouse? Why take a three-year-old to Disney World? It cannot be to satisfy the three-year-old's needs. Three-year-olds can certainly know about and enjoy seeing the adventures of a talking mouse on television but what is the deal with seeing him in the flesh? Does that make the mouse more alive? Will the child enjoy himself more? Will the three-year-old remember Mickey? No.
And why visit Disney World at age three? A three-year-old cannot enjoy a place like Disney World. It's too big, too busy. Most of the rides are for older children. After two hours a three-year-old is tired. After four hours of carrying him, mommy is exhausted. Back to the air-conditioned motel, oui!
Like all first-time parents, we made the same mistake: taking a 10-year-old, a six-year-old and a three-year-old to Orlando. It was the early 80s and the new thing to do. Times have not changed much. The 10-year-old, with two American cousins the same age, ran wild. I ran after them and enjoyed myself almost as much. The six-year-old lasted a couple of hours and by midday had whined herself sick. The three-year-old clung to his mother from the start and only came to life back in the bedroom in front of the television watching the Disney Channel.
We returned five years later. This time we had so much fun that we returned home every night after 10 and the children got us up at six every morning. Never again! But the children were of an age where they could all enjoy the rides, interact with Micky and Pluto, enjoy the fireworks, gape at Cinderella and remember most of it!
So a visit to Disney before the child is six is either for the parent's satisfaction or for social positioning. For the parent, it means the joy of giving your child what you could not have when you were eight years old and the neighbour's child went away to a mysterious place in the sky called "Disney World" and came back and spoke about it for the next three months. And you, you went Toco for a day and a drive around the Savannah one night.
Or maybe you sensed that subtle change in social position that occurred after the Disney World visit. "Look! I took my child to Orlando. I better than you!" We know how important that is. I bring this up at this time to make my annual appeal to parents not to buy toys for Christmas for their one- to three-year-olds.
To put it bluntly, buying toys for children under the age of three is a waste of money. It may be emotionally satisfying for you and bring back memories of your happy days as a child at Christmas time. The thing is, those memories are of you when you were five or six years old. No one ever remembers the Christmas when they were two years old.
The best toy for a child is the one that stimulates the child's imagination. These toys are usually simple ones. The more a toy does, the less effective it is as a toy. It is what the child does with the toy that makes it a good toy. The essence of toys is that they trigger-off thought processes that enable the child to reach the wonderful world of make-believe. In this world, the child becomes omnipotent, the centre of attraction, the solver of all problems.
This helps the child to become self-sufficient and self-confident. Don't buy toys for children under one year old. At this age, the best toy you can give your child is yourself. There is nothing more that infants like than playing with mommy and daddy. Just walking the baby, talking to the baby and especially reading to the baby stimulates the baby's mind and this is the purpose of a toy.
Once the child begins walking, at around one year old, the next best toy is a large, brightly-coloured ball that the child can hold in her hands, roll on the ground, kick and throw to daddy. Other great toys for one-to three-year-olds are large, coloured blocks, which, in a child's mind, can become anything. Crayons, with lots of paper to draw and colour, are a must. And books, books, books and more books to continue reading and a big cardboard box to put them in or to sit inside and play taxi or plane or boat.
If you still feel like buying something, buy some clothes and dress up the child for the family to see you are indeed caring for the popo.