The Fine Balance

I can hear my girls outside the window.  They have used the garden hose to wet the ground and are creating Barbie town out of mud, sticks, and leaves.  Watching them play as they do gives me much to contemplate in the realm of materialism and consumerism.

When we moved here last year we lived in an apartment above the school house and had only what we were able to bring on the airplane with us.  Needless to say, the girls didn’t have a lot of toys, just a small collection of Littlest Pet Shop mostly, yet they rarely said that they were bored or indicated that the lack of toys was troublesome to them.  Instead they creatively employed toilet paper tubes, cereal boxes, bottle caps, old fabric scraps, and various other items and tailored them to suit their recreational needs.

However, when we moved back here this year and into our home we sold some of their toys in a garage sale, but brought most of what they had with us and created a playroom for them.  It seemed logical considering we were sending a container anyway, but here we are with an overstocked playroom for my girls, who really prefer to make their Barbie beds out of washcloths and fabric scraps, and towns out of sticks and mud.

So, yesterday as I was shopping online for facial cleanser that would be appropriate for a girl of Maddie’s age, I almost got sucked in by Discovery Girls magazine (something that surely my 10 year old needs since it is custom written for girls her age!).  I realize that  there’s nothing wrong with getting my kids toys, but I am also grateful that my girls have unwittingly reminded me that cute packaging developed by marketing experts who have done demographic research is not really necessary to meet their needs (or ours for that matter!)