It's that time of the year again–no, no, no, not this Thanksgiving, which we have not yet managed to appropriate as our own fete day! What is there to be thankful for in this besotted island where the health care is poor and the educational system is based on a system of producing clones of imagined white British colonial children who can recite from memory long-discarded dissertations but can't cross a main road? Where there is a breakdown of law and order and the pimping of what used to pass for culture, and Carnival cricket is the order of the day?
It's not Old Year's Day, now called New Year's Eve.
Nor is it "summer" vacations, known BA (Before America) as August holidays. Nor is it Halloween, which used to be All Saints Day, and which has become a children's costume and sweetie parade.
Folks, it's Black Friday, not Friday 13, the "new" Black Friday, ie the after-Thanksgiving Thursday Friday, when you can buy all the toys you always wanted for yourself, and pretend it's for your children's Christmas gifts. Shopping Friday! So hurry up and book your passage to Miami before Walmart and Target sell out–although there is as much chance of that happening as a commission of enquiry coming to a conclusion.
While you are shopping for toys "until you drop," keep in mind some things, nuh?
There are good toys and bad toys. There are safe toys and unsafe toys.
Not too many years ago, when life was less complicated, this business of buying toys for Christmas was easier. There was little of the advertising pressure that people have to contend with today. Pressure to buy expensive toys. The more expensive the better. Pressure that is often directed at children, the "gimme gimme factor" known locally as "eat ah food syndrome."
There was less social pressure from friends and family to buy anything special. Having less money no doubt helped. Particularly, there was none of the nauseating advice from know-it-alls to buy the latest educational toy to "make sure your child fulfils her enormous potential."
Buying toys for Christmas for children under the age of four 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. Those memories are of you when you were four or five years old. No one ever remembers the Christmas when you were under four. So never buy toys for small children. At this age the best toy you can give your child is yourself. There is nothing more that infants like than playing with Mummy and Daddy. Just walking the baby, talking to the infant and especially reading to the child stimulates its mind–and this is the purpose of a toy.
If you still feel like buying something, buy some clothes, so the child can be dressed up for the family, to see you are indeed caring for the popo,
Once the child begins walking, if you want, buy a large brightly coloured ball that the child can hold in her hands, roll on the ground, kick and throw to Mummy.
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.
The best toy for a child is the one that stimulates the child's imagination. These toys are usually simple ones. Toys should be as simple as possible. The more a toy does, the less effective it is as a toy. It is what the child does with the toy that makes a good toy. The essence of toys is that they trigger off thought processes that enable the child to reach the magical 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.
A technically complex toy does not allow the child to use its imagination. Children may initially be attracted to such toys, but soon become bored with them. The parents then complain that the child has "so many" toys but never has anything to do. How can he, when the toy does everything?
So the child turns to a really fascinating set of ready-made toys in the kitchen, pots and pans. If you can tolerate the noise, and the pots and pans are old, these make some of the best toys imaginable. The child can do so much with them: play drum, roll them around like cars, or cook, like Daddy. Children love playing at being mother or father. Play like this, which mimics adult activities, is necessary and children do it spontaneously because the objective of every child is to become an adult, no?
Unfortunately all of these toys require the parents to spend some time with their children. Too many people are looking for a toy that will keep the child occupied whilst the parents go feting.
Buying toys to try to make up for the lack of attention during the rest of the year doesn't work. Children always know why we do things like that. Give yourself a break, save some money and spend some time playing with your child. It's surprisingly relaxing, even if Christmas is not.
For a list of the latest unsafe toys, see:http://toysafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/10-Worst-Toys-2014-w-Photos.pdf