I often bemoan the fact that my kids get sucked into fads or phases of obsessively playing with one type of toy.
T has in the past spent weeks doing nothing but building towers with Megabloks. He had a phase of only being interested in those chunky wooden toddler jigsaws and would get out eight or ten at a time and complete them simultaneously. Currently he is partial to Bob the Builder and likes to watch the programmes constantly while wondering round the living room ‘fixing’ everything we own by bashing it with a plastic hammer and a wooden saw. If I’m not paying attention he sneaks up and ‘fixes’ my foot.
Having been around a bit longer E has notched up quite an array of fads. His first was probably the repeated building and destruction of a tower of ELC stacking cups, luckily my mum was staying during that phase to prevent the repetition driving me completely insane. Since then we’ve had the daily reading of The Tiger Who Came To Tea, the Fireman Sam era, the tea party phase and both Skylanders and Power Rangers have dominated his thoughts for long periods.
What I’ve always found so bewildering is how these obsessions can develop out of nowhere so quickly and then one day just vanish without a trace, well except for the pile of fad related toys lying abandoned in the middle of the living room. ‘Where do they get this fickle nature from?’ I have often wondered to myself. Unfortunately today I may have to admit to myself that they get it from me.
Today I have been attempting a bit of a mass clear out in preparation for Christmas and have found evidence of just a few fads of my own:
- Decorating – I have phases of collecting pretty things, photo frames, ornaments, vases that look lovely and colour coordinate brilliantly but then I come home and realise that a) the kids will probably destroy them within a week and b) the house is too full of the stuff from their fads to fit anything else in. I currently have four lovely scatter cushions in a big bin bag in my dining room that have never even made it onto the sofa.
- Labeling – This is a recent one, the combination of some pretty vinyl pantry labels and new tupperware for my birthday led to a very happy hour completely reorganising my cupboards. Lets see how long that lasts…
- Cake decorating – Baking is definitely more than a fad, I do it all the time but my baking cupboard is completely over run with bits and pieces for decorating cakes. It was always going to be a short lived hobby as I’m far too keen to get the finished article onto my plate and eaten to faff about modelling fondant.
- Crochet – I have a weakness for all craft but crochet had the added bonus of appealing to my inner geek as I just wanted to work out how it worked. I’m currently attempting a baby blanket for Mum of One‘s newest addition although Hubs has joked that she better go somewhere cold for University as it will take me that long to finish.
- Scrap booking – What was I thinking?
So next time the boys decide they now love samba dancing/yodeling/water polo I guess I only have myself to blame.
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