My 19 month old is completely obsessed with cars and trucks. He constantly wants to watch the movie Cars on TV. If we have a magazine, he wants to flip through it to find pictures of cars. And of course his favorite toys have wheels -- cars, trucks, trains, you name it. If you give him a new toy car he's completely entertained for hours, driving it on all different kinds of surfaces. I'm not complaining, mind you! This is a great way to keep him entertained in any strange situation. We went Christmas shopping for him last night. We looked at the cart when we were done, and everything had wheels. We started to wonder -- should we get him more that doesn't have to do with cars and trucks? How much should we try to encourage other interests? It's a bit tricky because I want him to enjoy his toys, and it's really a crapshoot if the toy is not a car. Are there any complimentary kinds of toys you can think of that aren't cars? |
Cars need ramps to ride on, walls of blocks to smash through, and pools of sharks to jump over. They need drivers to drive them, mechanics to fix them, and passengers to ride in them. They need any number of obstacles to maneuver around. Cars need to drive on huge sheets of paper drawn with straight roads, windy roads, and zig-zag roads. They need garages to park in, tow trucks to tow them, and occasionally, trains or giant trucks to transport them. Cars need to be maintained with a variety of power tools, hydraulic lifts, and replacement parts. And finally, the cars need their respective homes: fire trucks need fire houses, ambulances need hospitals, and race cars need race tracks. My conclusion: cars = win. |
Well, Christmas was a winner. He got 346,164,134 cars (exaggerating just a bit), books about cars, and places to drive his cars. He is a happy camper. :)