And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Kahlil Gibran



Thursday, March 13, 2008

Good Toy or Bad Toy?


Just about everyone I know had one of these as a kid. Now Little Sprout has one. I can't decide if I am happy about this or not.

On the pro side, it is a good toy. Little Sprout loves it, and it is not the sort of thing that will rot her brain. It's a classic.

On the con side, you wouldn't believe the things she stuffs in this toy. I find socks, food, and anything else she can get her hands on in there. And it is one of those toys that mommy has to help with. This means I get to hold it, spin it so she puts the appropriate shape in the correct hole, help her turn the shape the right direction, cheer every time the little shape falls in, and open it up every time she runs out of shapes. That last bit is the main problem. I don't mind going through the whole process once or twice, but she wants to do it all day long! To make things worse, she has more than one shape-sorting toy and they are all different sizes. This is not a problem if the shape she wants to stuff in it is smaller than the hole, but when she finds shapes that are larger or don't have a matching shape on the ball she gets really, really mad.

Of course, that makes it mom's fault.

I love the Sprout, but her temper is unholy. Maybe I could just hide the durn thing until she is old enough to do the whole shape-sorting thing on her own?

4 comments:

Kati said...

Ooooh, THIS was my favorite toy till I was about 5, I think. This was always the best of the sorting toys, but I never did find one for DD when she was a baby.

I say, hide the OTHER sorting toys, only keep this one out, and be grateful that Little Sprout's favorite toy isn't a dancing elmo or barney. *wink*

barefoot gardener said...

Good idea. Too bad her OTHER favorite toy is "Chicken Dance Elmo", huh? :)

NCmountainwoman said...

If Little Sprout cannot put the shapes in by herself (by trial and error if necessary), and if she cannot open the toy to dump the shapes, she probably isn't ready for the shape sorter. I would put it away for a while and bring it out later.

It appears that while the toy is fun, it is frustrating for her and her little hot temper.

Kati said...

Dang!!! Sorry to hear that she does indeed have & enjoy a dancing monster toy. That sucks! ;)